Q: The best lyric writers take a notebook around with them wherever they go. That way, when a clever line strikes them, they can record it down before it's lost forever. Make a habit of writing down the random thoughts that come into your head on a day-to-day basis. Keeping a thesaurus around with you will help as well. You may find your creativity reinvigorated if you give yourself a day or so to rest away from your work. It is easy to burn out in any creative process. When you come back, you'll hopefully have a refreshing perspective on your art.  Most often, sleeping things over will give your brain time to consolidate your thoughts. When you make up the next morning, you'll have a fresh insight on what you worked on the day before. If you're getting stressed out over the creative process, go for a walk and take half an hour to relax. Any songwriter worth his salt will tell you that the best song material is written from the heart. Although this can be different if you're attempting to "make it big", do the best you can to be emotionally invested in whatever music you're making. Even if you're not the one who will ultimately perform the music, you should be communicating an inner part of yourself to your prospective audience. Taking a page from your own life will make it easier to evoke a real emotional response. Take a life experience that moves you and write about it. Some of the best songs tell a story. If there's something noteworthy that happened to your recently, consider writing a track about it. Base your verses around telling the story, while the chorus can reiterate the general theme of what you're attempting to convey. Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" tells the story of a man who is accused by a one night stand of being a woman's father. The story incorporates romance and a dimension of tension. An easy beginning mistake in writing lyrics is to place the importance of the rhyme above anything else. Rhymes can be very effective when used cleverly, but they can just as easily make lyrics feel amateurish if you're building a song specifically around them. The same idea applies to overused cliches and cheesy sentimentality as well. Although you may feel you need to rely on bombastic emotional insights to get your feeling across, you'll get better mileage by toning it down for something more intimate. Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" sneaks in rhyming within the same lines, but the rhymes are only used because they advance the story. Repetition allows a listener to latch onto something familiar in a song before the first listen is over. This is an important psychological aspect of music appreciation. Take the most pithy line in your lyrics and repeat it. A small verse section can be re-imagined as a chorus. The most repeated lyrics in a song often ends up as the song's chorus. Finally, integrate your lyrics with the melody in your song. This may involve tweaking your melody and rhythm to accommodate the lyrics. You should keep in mind however that the music should almost always come first, as it's the thing people will be focusing on the first time they hear the song.  You can stretch vowels and vocal sounds to match the music.  If you're writing a hip-hop track, a skilled rapper will usually be able to fit irregular verses into any steady rhythm. A song title should catch the audience's eye immediately. Some great titles may be plucked from the lyrical ideas you've already written. While there is no single step-by-step process on how to get the perfect song title, play around with a few words or phrases and decide for yourself which one matches the message your song is getting across. You might pick a title that captures the essence of your song. If your song is story-based, pick a word or theme that describes what it's about. If your song is about someone, name the song after them. Michael Jackson's song "Billie Jean", for example, is named after the primary character.
A: Keep an ideas notebook. Give your inspiration a rest. Offer a sincere emotional insight. Tell a story with your lyrics. Avoid cliche and forced rhymes. Employ repetition in your lyrics. Match your lyrics to the music. Come up with a fitting title.

Q: You might not be able to find a book that addresses the child's issues, or you may not feel that the books available are appropriate to your child. You may decide to create your own story about a child facing a similar problem.  You can decide if you want to write out the story, and perhaps illustrate it, or tell the story aloud to the child. Look for a bibliotherapy or writing group nearby where you can get support and assistance. Meetup.com is a great place to start looking. Think of ways the child exhibits a particular behavior or deals with a certain situation, common consequences to the child's actions, and the outcome you would like to see.  Describe the child's current behavior or situation at the beginning of the story. Have the child engage in this behavior and then receive consequences for their actions. Or, the child is exposed to a new situation and doesn't know how to handle it. Describe the character's reaction to the situation. For example, “When Sally the Bunny was teased on the playground, her ears drooped and she got very quiet.” Or, “Even though the teacher had already told him to raise his hand, Johnny couldn't resist shouting out the answer again. The teacher told Johnny to stay after school.” The child should be able to relate to the main character's “crisis” in the story. Enter a character like parent, teacher, or someone older and respected. This character connects with the protagonist and helps them understand what they are feeling, giving them ways to change their behavior. Present a solution that you think your child would be willing to try.  Give the character another opportunity to face the same situation, this time using the techniques they learned to successfully solve the problem. For example, “After talking to Miss Cabbage, Little Onion knew just what to say when the other kids at Vegetable School called her stinky. And she made sure to take a good bath in the sink that night.” Your character in the story will successfully face the situation in the story using the new behavior or coping skills, and will live happily ever after! People like to be entertained, not preached at. Provide silly moments in the story and don't let it get too heavy. Remember, you want to give the child tools to deal with the issue, not leave them overwhelmed or daunted by it.  Don't give the character the same name as the child. Consider making the protagonist the child's favorite animal, or give them a silly nonsense name to make the child laugh. Use language close enough to what your child hears to allow them to make the connection to their own life, just make sure you are changing it up enough so that it does not sound like the story is about them. For example, “Tommy, make your bed!” could become, “Silly Goose, make your nest!” Create a fictional place for the setting. Don't give it the same name as the child's town or school. While your story may need to contain consequences for the character's behavior, do not make the consequences so dire that you will frighten the child. For example, “Robbie behaved so badly at school that he had to miss the pizza party,” would be better than, “Robbie behaved so badly that the principal locked him in the janitor's closet for the rest of the day.”
A:
Consider writing your own story. Develop a story. Keep the story light and fictional.