Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.

As far as songwriting, my inspirations came from love, life and death, and viewing other people's situations.

In my songs, I'm not saying something that's never been said before. The have lyrics aren't going to blow people away. It's the emotion and the melody that drive it home.