Toronto folksinger Bob Snider stretches the definition of a book in his new work. On Songwriting consists of the relatively short title essay accompanied by the lyrics to, and the stories behind, 10 of Snider’s songs. Brief, to be sure. But the work’s brevity is a concentrated burst of insight into literary creation and the vagaries of living a life true to one’s art.

The essay, which Snider originally prepared to deliver to an English class at Acadia University, is a loose, ramshackle exploration of creativity in all of its glories and contradictions. While specifically rooted in the tools of songwriting (with explorations of song structure, rhyme, repetition, and audience response), the lessons are easily applicable to other literary arts. “Distrust your favourite parts…. Distrust them but do not discard them outright,” for example, is advice, usually posited as “Kill your darlings,” that too few novelists observe, never coming to accept that the work will be stronger and that “you will learn by letting go and it only hurts for a little while.” Distilled to its essentials, On Songwriting is keen-edged, insightful, and thought provoking.

The second section reads like notes to the boxed set that (unfortunately) Snider may never see compiled. “Ten Songs & How They Came to Be” includes the lyrics to such favourites as “He’s an Old Nova Scotian,” “Darn Folksinger,” and “What An Idiot He Is,” along with brief accounts of their genesis and construction. These lively autobiographical and theoretical notes provide a window into the daily life (construction jobs, busking, late-night restaurant stops) of a journeyman artist committed to a life where work and art are conjoined as they should be.