The two questions I get asked the most often are: "When you write, which comes first, the music or the lyrics?" and "How did it just get the middle toe?"
I'd like to answer the first one. There's the quick answer: "Whichever shows up first!" And then the long answer that goes something like this:
The music and the lyrics come last.
First, sharpen your pencil, turn off your phone and sit down to write. No song gets written without this most important step!! Inspiration hits when you make time for it!!
And to begin there is listening, listening and more listening. Then comes practice, practice and more practice. Writing song after song, listening to songs you love and trying to learn why, then applying that to the next song.
Eventually, you start to find your own voice. The way you set a scene or spin a melody. Then comes the point where you get a melody and you chase until it tells you what it wants to be about. Or you get a phrase or a stanza and you work to discover the melody that feels natural with it.
It sounds trite, but songs don't write themselves, writers do. And all you need to do to be a writer is to start writing.