A poet once told me that if you want to write poetry you have to love words. Everybody has heartfelt feelings, but by themselves they don't mean squat. No amount of feeling will make the right words come out. You have to start with words and the feeling will flow naturally.
   
A lot of people seem to think that songwriting comes as a natural consequence of being a musician and singer - that songwriting is a musical ability. Wrong! Songwriting is, first and foremost, writing. To write songs, you have to do the things that other writers do. You have to develop a love for words and the ways that writers combine and manipulate them into meaningful bits of language. And you have to practice, just like you do with an instrument. And, just like with an instrument, if you can't learn it on your own, you may need to go take some "lessons".

And don't just write "songs". Write poetry and short stories and essays. Hell, this forum is an excellent place to hone your writing skills. I've seen posts here that are worthy of in-print publication. And the "communal writing" things like the "Mudcat Tavern" threads are really nothing but online writers' workshops.

So, put your fingers on the keyboard (or get out a pencil and some paper if that feels more natural) and write something! If it sucks, throw it away and write something else. Don't worry about trying to "say something". Just write. It's all about words.

Bruce