31 Days is an annual writing exercise I complete. The purpose is to write one song every day in January. Each year, I end up with about 20 songs and 11 song sketches, though it varies.
The project started in 2013. On the first day, I wrote a guitar riff with a drum loops, and just looped it for about 2 minutes. On the second and third days, the results were basic sketches (throwaways). The fourth day yielded my first strong skeleton of a song in about 10 years. Hm, maybe I am onto something. I continued through January 31st. I listened to each song (or sketch) and made a mix CD of the strongest ones, which went on a road trip. Melodies and lyrics were written. Hm... What is this? The songs continued through the revision processes. After awhile, it became apparent that the songs were going to need to be completed. And that's what became Beyond the Boundary.
Why do this? Creative work is much like any other kind of work. It must be completed intentionally, within a set amount of time, and with a clear set of tools. It also must lead to some sort of final product, even if incomplete. Did I expect to end up with an album's worth of material? Never! But, after that surprise, it made sense to continue this process, if only for 1/12 of every year. It's a good musical outlet for me.