Gerald,
It will probably hurt less than you think because you are already doing some basic study before you get here. I am pretty sure you will already be looking at music differently before you get here. That is the benefit of being involved in this site. I try to explain what goes on "behind the scenes" before hand but there is nothing quite like being here.
My favorite example was one of our older members from Canada, Dean, or Deaner. he had been involved for quite a while and we had gotten to know him by the time he and his wife showed up at the Frank Brown festival for the big Ramper time in 2009. Before they came down there, they spent a couple days here.
Dean had this one song, I'm drinking Double, she's acting Single" that he was very proud of. I had heard that combination used thousands of times since the 70's but wanted him to see it.
Over the weekend, we went out to several places and he heard the same title done about three or four times. The last one was at a songwriters party, and he had to get up and play following another guy who had the same title. He never forgot that experience.
That is what most of this is. If you are playing team sports and everyone is about the same, you don't think too much about it. You just play. Then when you get into bigger leagues, more orginized competition, stronger and bigger people, you suddenly realize there is a lot more to it. Most people quit.
In songwriting it is the same thing. When you just write for yourself you have no constraints, not rules, no limits. But when you start trying to get around other people, performing songs, trying to get and keep attention, trying to get co-writers, publishers, recording, etc. you suddenly realize there is a LOT of things to it. Especially when you around both VERY AMATEUR WRITERS AND VERY GOOD PROFESSIONAL WRITERS.
No, every one is not going to turn into a magically great writer. Most will fade out, and do it as a hobby. But if you see it from a different perspective it starts to come into focus and give your own music some different ways of looking at it. Suddenly you write tighter. You skip the average rhyme. You reject titles that before you would have jumped into. The details become clearer.The songs get shorter but you say MORE.
That is what we do here in TWANG TOWN. Looking forward to meeting you.
MAB