Are there any songwriters out there?

Honestly I've written songs that have taken up to three years to finish and others I've finished in 10 minutes (as long as I write it as I'm thinking it and don't stop) I usually comes up with a title then a story, or sometimes a story with like two lines and I work of off that. I don't write melodies or the music, just an idea of what it'll sound like, but I complete lyrics

I'm primarily an arranger and secondarily a composer, with songwriting a distant third because lyrics do not come naturally to me.  As a result, I never write songs on spec but only on demand.

I also assist with other writer's songs, most often altering arrangements, chord progressions, lyric layout and minor rewrites, etc., but do contribute new lyrics from time to time.  In one extreme instance, I composed 80% new music and 80% new lyric, including an additional bridge.

I try to get a clear idea of the basic plot, without getting too concerned with details.  On one project written for a large doo-wop tribute band, I decided to feature a male and female lead, telling the story from their own perpectives.  The plot centered around a romance affected by significantly different social status.

One "detail" I decided early to exclude was stating their social classes — no cliché bouncer or hairdresser, son or daughter of a wealthy family — just a social gap for their respective friends and fanilies to reasonably react to, reactions that they could oppose.  Nor does either principal hint who's where on the scale; there's no suggestion of "(s)he's beneath me, but I know what I want."

As there were two verses for each lead plus a shared verse, and a bridge each sang independently (and not quite the same), I used 7 notepads, one for each section.  Over a couple of weeks, I wrote about three times as much lyric than needed, and moved fragments around a lot to get closest to the meaning I wanted, with the best flow.

I never erase, but strike lines with a single stroke to keep them readable and reusable.  Quite a few "deleted" lines ended up in the final draft.  One pair in particular got moved among three verses but I couldn't make it work, until I finally changed just four words.  Then, it was perfect right where it started ...

As I'm not a natural lyricist (although I write good lyrics), I have to craft them somewhat laboriously (on this one, for a month or more).  To that end, Sheila Davis's "The Craft of Lyric Writing" has been invaluable.  I also feel strongly that reading well-written literature gives a great advantage.  I also have a copy of Strunk & Whites "The Elements of Style" on hand (I try hard to abide by Rule 17:  "Omit needless words").