One of my favorite Christmas gifts hangs prominently in my studio (see above). It served as the prompt for my first full instrumental song, No Words. Initially, I had written the music as an expression of a particular mood I was in at the time. Once the music was pretty much complete, I began the task of exploring possible lyrics for it, which is part of my usual songwriting process. It became clear pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to be able to easily do so. Most people that know me would describe me as chatty and I have always felt that my strength is more verbal. As I struggled, it hit me that sometimes words are not necessary or even capable of expressing certain emotions. That realization also helped me identify the perfect title of the song, as well as make the decision to keep it as a full instrumental.