Francesca De Valence

Episode 4: Show Up and Practice

Francesca De Valence, as well as being a gorgeous songwriter and performer, is the founder of I Heart Songwriting Club - an online platform that connects songwriters to a global community, and helps them hone their craft.

I’ve known Francesca since before she started the club six years ago, and was one of the founding members…. And I’m still in it! In all honestly, I wouldn’t be the songwriter I am today without having this community, the support it provides, and a simple weekly prompt to work on my craft.

Francesca is an absolute powerhouse, and we chatted about building community, finding the right people to walk alongside you and the power of aligning with creative energy.

But what does that really mean?

Well, it turns out that creativity, ideas and inspiration are all waiting for us. Our job is to simply show up.

Yeah, it gets a little more in depth than that… We also need to build the skills so we know how to tune in, catch the creativity while it’s flying around us, and refine our work.

So, the way I see it, our job as creators (whether you’re writing songs or creating anything else) is to show up and practice. That’s it.

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about The Elusive Creative Genius in her book “Big Magic”, in her podcast “Magic Lessons” and one of her infamous Ted Talks. The idea that “the genius” is the creative energy that wants to be expressed THROUGH us. We are not the genius… we’re just a vessel for it’s energy. We’re a worker bee. The creative energy is our queen.

In this episode, Francesca and I talk about all this and more. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.

And, if you’re a songwriter, PLEASE go and check out I Heart Songwriting Club. It’s for all levels of experience and, being an online platform you can access it from anywhere in the world.