We could have been talking about dedicated guitar-players, song-writers, school-teachers, or brick-layers. An artist, performing his or her craft, doesn't do less of a job, express themselves less fully, because they're getting paid less.

For over 25 years I have earned the bulk of my living from writing songs but the truth is I have written far more songs that are unrecorded by anyone but me than songs that have been big hits. I always remind myself that the big payoff is the song itself, not what happens to it.

Hi. I'm Jonelle Vette and I am the Editorial Director at Songwork. It's a real honor to be part of the Songwork team. Having studied songwriting first with Bonnie Hayes at Blue Bear in San Francisco, then at Berklee with Pat Pattison, and Jimmy Kachulis i am really familiar with this material. So it's truly fun for me to pour through the Songwork content in order to help present it to you in the best way we can. There is such a wealth of content here that in my opinion can be helpful to writers at almost any level. And for me personally, it's really exciting to be a part of the next generation of people making education (especially arts education) readily available online. Becoming a songwriter changed my life and in no small part was it due to the teachers you'll find here at Songwork.

Listen to Bonnie and Steve talk about the main differences they see between pop and country and things to consider if you would like to get a song cut by either a country or a pop artist.

Are writers different than other people? If so, how might they honor and trust this aspect of themselves?

So you want to move to Nashville? Here are a few tips you might like to take with you.

There are traditional and not so traditional ways to get your songs heard. Listen as Steve Seskin highlights some of his experiences on this topic.

Hopefully you don't have to choose between "heart" and "craft" when you write songs when you could be using a combination of both.

Why do you write songs? Think about it and let the answer be your guide through your own development as a writer.