Their inspirations are likely no different from yours, Joe. Every song starts with an idea. Whether it's Todd Rundgren, Sting, Roger Waters... they all started with an idea. Make a habit of always having some way to commit your ideas to paper or phone recording. You may get a line that would make a good hook, an event of the past that pops into your head, someone who broke your heart, or taught you something, or as is often the case, both. I think a lot of us have one thing in common, and that would be napkins, envelopes, the back of receipts and such with a lyric phrase. I did a throwaway song about 3 years ago (meaning I wrote it, hated it, and jettisoned it) based on someone posting a meme on Facebook that said "Now would be the time". That grew into "if we're gonna fall in love, now would be the perfect time". That sat in a text file on my computer for over a year, and slowly I added lyrics to make verses, came up with a chorus with that hook, and then decided it was a pile of crap and just killed it completely.

BUT... that's how inspiration starts sometimes. With an offhand comment, some catch phrase that pops into your head.... There's really no magical moment that is any different for the big time songsmiths and the little time songsmiths. The big time songsmiths just have paths for their songs to find artists that we don't have. Those Nashville writer types in the jeans, boots and blue blazers who sit in cubes and churn out songs that sound the same all day (from 9 to 5, and every song exactly 3:34 in duration) just have their toes in elite water. We don't. We have the muddy "crick" out yonder....

I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.