Produce some instrumentals?  Or some music with non-word singing, think: Lisa Gerrard.  She's awesome but doesn't bother with words or meaning in that sense.  Perhaps it is time for you to make a departure from normal lyric-based song composition.
 
I'm 51; I've not yet received the inevitable tap on the shoulder, so it's certainly not time to call it quits!

Another thought is to take a genre you've never worked in...analyze it...and try to master it.  Put a challenge in front of yourself.  

Everyone at some point will go through some "musical slumps". Since music is such a BIG part of our lives and it's something we all have a passion for, I doubt I'll ever call it quits.....maybe taking a little break will refresh the mind, body, & soul?
 
Or.....you can collaborate with some of the excellent musicians on this forum and re-inspire your musical flow/feed off from others. This may also (hopefully) take out of getting those a blank moments as the slight change in direction may be all it takes?
 
 
 
 

We all go through this from time to time.
 
I have 3 acoustic guitars, 3 electrics, a bass, a mandolin - and I haven't picked any of them up for about a year.
 
I've got well over 20 unfinished songs but none of it is inspiring me at the moment.
 
The last 3 "songs" I've "finished" have been a result of playing around with a couple of loops/samples & filling them out with soft synths.
 
Depressing to say the least.

I was in a sort of forced hiatus for only 4 years. I can relate. Things opened up for me once I started collaborating on this forum.
 
And The Coffee House Band was born (all thanks to SteveStrummerUK).
 

craigb
You're missing the most obvious answer:  Collaborate with someone who writes lyrics!  There are definitely some who currently think chord progressions and melodies are hard, so it would help them too. 

This isn't too bad of an idea, fundamentally. I think maybe because I've been on my own so long, I tend to think of things from a personal perspective. In that, I mean, the music and lyrics have all come from within myself in the past. My songs are all very personal to me. It feels... odd... to have run out of things to say. I suppose I could do some collaborations, but would I feel the same about the results?

Serenarules

craigb
You're missing the most obvious answer:  Collaborate with someone who writes lyrics!  There are definitely some who currently think chord progressions and melodies are hard, so it would help them too. 

This isn't too bad of an idea, fundamentally. I think maybe because I've been on my own so long, I tend to think of things from a personal perspective. In that, I mean, the music and lyrics have all come from within myself in the past. My songs are all very personal to me. It feels... odd... to have run out of things to say. I suppose I could do some collaborations, but would I feel the same about the results?

Well, many don't have the decency to stop once they run out of things to say, so I'd say you're ahead of them! 

I hear Ed starts with Am and, er, well, pretty much stays there! 

Jesse Screed
I have a friend who has to have 9" of his colon removed.  

Does that mean he has a semicolon now? 

That's cool that he has you to talk with.  Most people in that situation don't.
 
As for cool songs, I've got a few started, but finding a job to keep a roof over my head comes first!  Then I'm sure GAS pains will return hard and heavy. 
 
(Heck, I'll probably update SONAR from Producer v4 then as well!  )

I didn't read all the post replies... I read a few up top....
 
Is it time to call it quits? 
 
No way.
 
A few things..... as long as you are still alive and have your mental facility in tact for the most part, you can write music. Look at the people who have no arms who paint beautiful art by holding a paintbrush in their toes or their teeth. It might take longer but they still express their art.
 
In another forum ...Band in a Box.... there is a member there who is disabled and in a wheelchair and apparently has limited use of hands, and can't speak anymore.  Yet he still composed music using the BB software and posts in the user showcase from time to time....and is active in the rest of the forum.  Your description of yourself isn't quite to his level of disability, so based on what he's doing in music, you don't have a good excuse.
 
There's always a way....
 
So...another short story. I attended a songwriter's convention in LA a few years back and got to hear the great songwriter Jeffry Steel as well as several other hit writing songwriters including Jason Blume.   Steel spoke about his songwriting and said that he writes every day even when he feels like he doesn't want to. In other words, he forces himself to sit down and put the proverbial pen to the paper. Others above have mentioned working with a collaborator. There are a number of songwriter sites where people are looking for musicians to put music to their lyrics or vice versa.  Some of the better songs I have written and been a party too have been collabs where someone sent me some words on a piece of paper...or via e-mail. It's amazing sometimes to see how simply reading the words someone else has written can very often, ignite the spark of creativity in yourself. 

A bunch of my songs are co-writes with Pat Bishop. I also have a number of co-writes with some other writers, but pat and I have done probably a dozen songs or so. We met through a collab with a 3rd person many years back. We're worlds apart politically and philosophically, but in the same groove when we're writing a song, and that's all that matters. She's a lyric writer and sends me her lyric ideas. About 1 in 5 or so turn into a finished song. It's magic when you realize that you're witnessing and involved in that special moment at the birth of a new song and the creative juices start to flow and the song starts to take shape from the simple written words of another person.
 
So there you have it.... find a way to get back involved. As long as you're waking up every morning, you can be writing and sharing music and being a part of the creative process.
 
 

I haven't finished a song in several years, but have ~20 in progress.
Some just needs lyrics and maybe some more cowbell, and I intend to finish the more worthwhile projects... someday.
I still find myself listening to them and adding more stuff or changing the instruments, thinking what might sound better or what can be removed, so even though I'm not finishing them, I'm still making music.

michaelhanson
Collabs are a great way to keep writing and recording.  Scandalous Grace is the collab/ virtual band that I am involved with, founded here with members from the Sonar forums.  We have 3 members (Gracers) and I have witnessed all 3 of us struggling from time to time on getting our songs written and finished.  Having the support of one another to bounce ideas off each other, is extremely valuable and leads to new ideas and en devours. 

Not to derail this thread, but I'm wondering about how people make these virtual collaborations work. The mechanics like file-sharing, etc., are straightforward enough, but how about the trading ideas part? My collaborations have all been face-to-face where you can suggest a lyric or play a riff and get immediate feedback. Is there an efficient way to do this online?

henkejs

michaelhanson
Collabs are a great way to keep writing and recording.  Scandalous Grace is the collab/ virtual band that I am involved with, founded here with members from the Sonar forums.  We have 3 members (Gracers) and I have witnessed all 3 of us struggling from time to time on getting our songs written and finished.  Having the support of one another to bounce ideas off each other, is extremely valuable and leads to new ideas and en devours. 

Not to derail this thread, but I'm wondering about how people make these virtual collaborations work. The mechanics like file-sharing, etc., are straightforward enough, but how about the trading ideas part? My collaborations have all been face-to-face where you can suggest a lyric or play a riff and get immediate feedback. Is there an efficient way to do this online?

You just...do it.. Easy enough to throw MP3s and emails back and forth to trade ideas. I collaborated for years with a guy in in Connecticut before I met him face to face. There's a band called 'Distant Towers' who frequent these boards who rarely (AFAIK) meet in person. They have 5  excellent CD's under their belts so far.

craigb

Serenarules

craigb
You're missing the most obvious answer:  Collaborate with someone who writes lyrics!  There are definitely some who currently think chord progressions and melodies are hard, so it would help them too. 

This isn't too bad of an idea, fundamentally. I think maybe because I've been on my own so long, I tend to think of things from a personal perspective. In that, I mean, the music and lyrics have all come from within myself in the past. My songs are all very personal to me. It feels... odd... to have run out of things to say. I suppose I could do some collaborations, but would I feel the same about the results?

Well, many don't have the decency to stop once they run out of things to say, so I'd say you're ahead of them! 

ha