OK, so this is me airing my dirty washing in public. No answers expected. I'm just really annoyed with myself and my bad songwriting habits....
 
When I come to 'write a song' I inevitably;
 
1. Come up with a chord structure for verse and chorus
2. Build some arrangement around that
3. Come up with a catchy (to my mind) chorus, which I record
4. Add in solos where appropriate
5. Tinker with the arrangement/existing tracks.....
 
And that's it. I'm then stuck - totally unable to write a verse either in terms of melody or lyrics. 
 
So nothing EVER gets finished. And that's been the way for 20 years. 
 
I think it's because I always follow the same stupid routine above, I end up with the 'moment' gone, then have a head full of recorded guitar/piano/whatever solos where the verses should be. 
 
Rant over. Sorry. 
 

Perhaps you could try making the verse first or maybe you could try collaborate with someone. There are probably many here in the forums who would like to help you by doing the verse with you. I am sure there are other suitable places too.
kakku

They say that insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
 
So if what you're doing doesn't work, try a different approach.
 
OPTION:  Try writing the verse first. If you write using a guitar, switch to a different instrument. Even the smallest change from the way you normally do things can result in totally different results.
 
OPTION:  Force yourself to write a verse or three. I think the biggest fear to writing verses to what we perceive to be a really good chorus is that the verses won't live up to the standards we have ascribed to that chorus. Very likely, this is nowhere close to being accurate. If you're at the point as a songwriter where you can't get verses written to a chorus, you still have a long way to go. How long, is totally up to you. So start forcing a few verses even if you don't think they work well..... do SOMETHING to get some forward momentum going. This notion that you have to be "in the mood" to write is utter nonsense spouted by folks who probably don't write often and use that as their excuse for not writing more. Once you start to write, even if it's a forced writing session, very often, you will get into the mood as you start to be creative. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.  Once you break through that barrier, you may find that verses are just as easy to write as choruses.
 
OPTION:  Find a cowriter who can help finish the songs. Look through the folks you have available here in the Cakewalk forums. Quite a few are songwriters. Listen to the music on their music pages and find someone who writes in the genre that you do. PM them to see if they're interested. Don't ask a writer who writes rock and hip hop to help you write a country song and vice/versa.  Some of my best writing has been done in the various collabs I have been involved with through the years.
 
OPTION:  Join a group like The Nashville Songwriters Association International.  As a member of this songwriting group, you have access to their extensive video library. You can view video seminars put on and hosted by some of the world's best songwriters as they talk on everything from song structure, to lyric writing, working with collaborators, melody, to the business end of this musical thing we all do.  While the name would indicate they are country, and they are, they also have staff who are experienced in rock and many other genre's of music. In addition to the online video library, you have credits to submit 12 songs to their staff for a professional, detailed, honest, evaluation.  It was by using this service and submitting several of my songs to them multiple times, after making corrections they had suggested, that I managed to get those songs into top shape and the songs were ultimately signed by publishers.
 
There you go...... only you can decide you want to move forward and get better as a writer.... it takes just doing one or more of the things above. As a writer, you never stand still.... you're either moving ahead, or you're moving slowly backwards.  One more thing..... unless you write, write, write, and don't worry about how the songs sound..... just write, you will have a hard time progressing to the next higher levels. Jeff Steel, hit country writer with over 24 number one hits to his credit, writes one song a day, every day. Most are throw away songs..... but those gems in the bunch..... those are the ones that make it all worth it.
 
Now, go and force one of those songs and see what happens.
 
EDIT: One more thing..... do NOT worry about the arrangement or the solo's until AFTER you have successfully written the song. It's way too easy for folks like us, who enjoy the recording process as we do, to become distracted with "building the song" before we actually have a finished song to build. Write it first, then tinker with the arrangement to your heart's desire.  
 
Some advice I got from the NSAI folks on my tunes that they gave advice on.....
Keep intro's as short as possible... get into the song quickly
No one wants to hear fancy guitar solos.... if you must play one,  use a short turn around
The Chorus needs a monster hook.
Get to the chorus before the clock on the song hits 60 seconds.
Be done before the clock on the song hits 3:30... or there about.
 
Of course, this doesn't apply to every song.... but that is the commercial country basic formula currently being used as writing guidelines.
 
 

When I've come up with a chorus first, I just push it down the midi timeline and start working on stuff that will lead into it, working from the chorus back to the intro. Leave everything midi as long as possible, which can mean using crap instruments that will be replaced later as placeholders. That's okay.
 
Regards,
Dan

All, thanks for the replies!
 
Lots of fantastic ideas, and good honest feedback. 
 
This weekend I am going to FORCE myself to work on verses. 
 
And I can already think of some people I could ask to collaborate with me - just been too shy to ask.. but why the heck not?!
 
Will let you know how it goes! 
 
 

"Some advice I got from the NSAI folks on my tunes that they gave advice on.....
Keep intro's as short as possible... get into the song quickly
No one wants to hear fancy guitar solos.... if you must play one,  use a short turn around
The Chorus needs a monster hook.
Get to the chorus before the clock on the song hits 60 seconds.
Be done before the clock on the song hits 3:30... or there about."
 
Great advise! But its not just the "current" country formula; it IS the "formula".
 
T
 
PS: wish I had that problem, the one where the chorus comes easy I mean!

I think it's easier to write the verse before the chorus because by then you'll know what you want to say with your catchy hook. Trying to crowbar a verse in between choruses is a real challenge. It rarely happens that way for me.
That being said, there is obviously no right way of doing it but I agree with above in that you should do something different to unlock your progression. I would suggest a complete u-turn and force yourself to write a complete song start to finish with just one instrument before producing a finished version. Just so you know you can. Don't worry if you think it's good or not, it's always a cloudy perception anyway.
Or get someone here to send you a chorus and set yourself the challenge of finishing the song. We aren't so precious about other people's music as our own so it may just free your mind.

I'd suggest starting with the melody. I think creating a backing track to a song that isn't there is a recipe for mediocrity and frustration. Melody is the heart of the song, if it's strong everything else will fall into place. It can also stop you going straight to 'muscle memory' chord changes.

You could also try setting aside the instrument and just write lyrics.  Once you get the lyrics with the message you want, you can add the melody and chorus/hooks, then figure out the appropriate chord changes.  You can use the melody and chord changes to support the stability or instability of your lyrics.

Let me expand a bit on co-writing.  I'm certainly no expert on it but I have worked with a few co-writers successfully and gotten some good songs as a result. Quite a few that I tried to collab with simply didn't work well.
 
I have some ground rules for co-writing that I explain before we start. I think these are probably universal to good writing teams but I always make sure to point them out so we're all on the same page, so to speak.
 
1. Nothing in the song is sacred.  Everything can be changed IF a better word, phrase, sentence can replace it and it improves the song.
2. I won't get offended if you suggest changing or deleting something that I wrote.
3. Don't get offended if I delete, or change something in the song that you wrote.
4. There are no "dumb" lines or ideas.  Simply ideas that work or don't work. 
5. All writing/composing/credits are 50/50 with 2 writers or evenly divided if more writers are involved regardless of the actual physical contribution by each to the project if the project ever makes money.
6.  First time we write together on commercial projects we sign the songwriter's agreement before we start working together.  At the latest, it gets signed before the project is done if it's looking like it might be a viable commercial project.
 
 Once we're all on the same page, things can move forward with others throwing out ideas without fear of offending or being offended. Songwriters tend to have thin skin when it comes to their song creations and the creative process is a fragile one.
 
This is important to understand>>>> As you set down to write....whether alone or in a collab, always think of what you are writing as a "first draft" as opposed to being a finished song. That one thing will take a huge amount of pressure off of you to "nail it" on the first try.  Think of the first draft as a rough outline of your ideas. You will no doubt, keep some of the lines you write in that first draft shot. But, having the freedom to change things later, to re-arrange verses and choruses and lyric lines, gives you the confidence to throw things out to see what might work and sometimes.... you will simply be amazed.
 
I have been known to object to the removal of certain lines in songs, and I fought to keep them. Ultimately, that line was the one people who heard the song commented on and spoke of the mental picture it created in their minds.....very vivid imagery.  But you choose those battles wisely. My co-writer on that song did agree later that keeping it was a good idea even though it kinda broke the "rules" a bit.
 
As you write, you only tend to see things from your one perspective. A second writer will NOT see that story line the same way and will want to take it to places, and use other words and phrases that never crossed your mind. As they add that perspective into the lyric/music, suddenly, you now see new possibilities that you never imagined and so it goes.... back and forth, each one contributing something new, never imagined before and as this process works back and forth, the song becomes polished and the best it can be as you both add and remove lines.

Some of my songs have been bounced back and forth more than 8 times....and one is probably closer to 16 times back and forth over 2 major re-writes of the song. Then came the outside reviews from NSAI staff and more re-writes as a result of that.
It might seem like magic, the way things can fall together in a song when the two writers are in the same groove and working together well. But it's really hard work.... taking that amazing line your partner wrote and then thinking how can it be improved and what comes next.....

Finding a co-writer you can work with and that you can understand and get along with may take some time. It certainly did for me. And not everything I am sent or that I send inspires a song.....some just go nowhere quickly.
When you find that special writing partner, you and they will know it.