Songs require physical space to form, to take their shape.

I've been songwriting, but my living space has kept me feeling constrained with how loud I can sing. I wrote entire songs this way, never fully singing out and performing the songs.

I am workshopping some of the songs publicly in a few days; the deadline has pushed me to test the songs in the way that I'll be sharing them. When I actually sang in a fuller voice, in the way that I would when performing, I noticed many places where the songs didn't actually work.

Some of the lyrics were too wordy and close together; some of the lines were out of my vocal range; some of the lines didn't have the right phrasing to take a breath. I had written the songs in my head, in the stratosphere of the ideals, not fully appreciating my own physical limitations.

The experience has highlighted the importance of having a space where I can feel safe to fully perform my work. Ideally that's in my home, but renting a studio space may be the practical option.