hi GDP
there are lots of different ways that i write;
sometimes i just make myself a project, i make up say 19 titles [enough to fill a CD] then write the songs around the titles. i have not done this for about 2 years, and i'm in the middle of a project now called park, get to that later.
other times i may just get a fraze in my head eg when i wake in the morning, so i just write it down [it's handy to keep pen and paper by the bed] then come back to it when i have time.
i may be practising guitar or keyboard and a nice riff or chord progression may come to me, and that will spark off a song.
right my park project... it started with one song that had nothing to do with anything, "birds fly away" [on myspace] from that came a second song, because i liked a character called benchman in the first song! then more songs came to me with one theme linking them all...a park! you know play ground, lots of grass [the green stuff not what you smoke!!!lol] a cafe, duck pond etc, i'm still writing and recording it, and because i'm a bit picky, i'm not satisfied with some of the recordings and i'm redoing them.
then theres the songs you write about people you know or love, these songs you just put down on paper what you think of them, what you like/hate about them what they look like when they are sleeping etc...
i may also be inspired by what i see on this site, i dont steal anything but what someone else writes can sometimes inspire me to write on a similar theme.
hope this has been helpful [and not too boring]
phill