This thread is very interesting! My earlier "pen, paper and talent" was somewhat flippant, but essentially right. I agree you don't need a pen and paper literally - you could use MS Word or whatever. And the ideas I get are usually when I don't have a pen or paper handy. My problem is remembering the ideas until I get somewhere where I can jot them down. I've lost quite a few that way.

The other problem is how to motivate yourself to finish a song. I seem to lack this, and feel that maybe if I had a deadline or something it would force me to work on it. Perhaps I need to set myself deadlines - does anyone else do this sort of thing?