Sometimes I censor myself because the words are too painfull to write. I write about my family a lot, specially about my mother and there are times when I can not put some words on paper, one song I made for her said in a verse "It's not fair for you to stick with what you have when you could have so much better" talking about my dad, my brothers and me. I had the lyrics pretty clear in my mind but took me a good 2 hours to get the courage to write them.

And about censor... maybe because I don't expect people to listen to my songs, and maybe because I'm from Mexico and not a lot of people speak english here (and I write mostly in english) I think I can express myself more freely, but then again, I guess that's the reason my lyrics are in english, so I can write them without second guessing me.

I remember a lyric in a song called SONGS ABOUT NOTHING, it was supossed to say "My parents had this little boy and turned him into a little motherfucker", in the end I couldn't do it so I wrote "and he turned himself into" instead. So yeah, I guess I censor myself sometimes... Songwritting is not always cathartic, sometimes is just painful

I used to censor my writing, but right now I literally write about anything I want. If you're singing about something you don't want certain people to hear, you can do either of two things; not play the song or use metaphors to illustrate your point.
There's an advantage and a disadvantage to censoring like this. The disadvantage is, obviously, that you'll either have to keep some songs private (I've stopped doing that one) or háve to use metaphors. Metaphors are nice, but if you don't put them in the right place, they'll just distract people or it will seem like you're making a big point out of this little detail that you didn't want you family to know about; it can mess up your message
The advantage is obviously that your lyrics will be more true and more 'you'.
I've written songs about being in love with another girl, while having a girlfriend, about smoking pot while my parents are completely against it (I'm from the Netherlands, it's legal!), about political or social opinions my folks don't agree with, etcetera.
So suit yourself.

p.s. As a singer-songwriter you'll probably create more of an identity and more of a connection with your fanbase if you are just painfully honest about everything

I could have put it better myself, but it would have used metaphors

But yes, excellently put. It seems to hit what I've been trying to get at in my last few posts in this thread.

I have so many ideas that I would love to write songs about centrered around other girls I know, have had crushes on, work with etc but really cannot consign them to media as my wife would be mortified.  I have thought about creating a third party character and writing from their point of view in order to be able to justify the song topics but haven't gotten round to doing that yet.

I've also written a song about my boss which I daren't go public with in case he gets to hear it and it gets me in hot water!  It's a tongue in cheek song called "eat the boss!" and I really like it

Great topic by the way 

You can write songs about other women without your partner ever knowing.
After all, just like novelists, we are story tellers. I'm sure that ( an author ) doesn't really commit 17
bloodthirsty murders and drink the blood of virgins for real even though the story is written in the first person.
You can write about anything you want

Although just in case my partner reads this, I NEVER do this myself   

I don't ever censor myself. I think its the fastest route to writers-block. I try and get out of the way of whatever is rolling out at the time. I save it, leave it for a week or so, then go back to it (unless I know right then and there, which I sometimes feel, that it should be shown to people). I might edit it later, or keep the lyric/song in my journal and not let anyone see it.

I also never try and write a song. But thats just me. If it is meant to be, its meant to be. I hate forcing things. A couple of bits of advice I remember:

1. Michael Jackson: get out of the way of the music. Dont write the music. Let the music write itself.

2. Freddie Mercury: Never force it. If it works, it will flow. If it doesnt, drop it.

3. Mutt Lange: Dont be precious. Dont be afraid to delete what you have and start over. Again, if its meant to be, it is meant to be. It will come around again.