I don't write much but do have 2 pieces copyrighted.
Just FYI
@MegaRhyme , you do not have to officially copyright your music. The moment you create your music is the moment copyright begins.
My process: I have been writing songs on guitar for over a year. but I've only been playing for about 2.5 yrs. Professionally, I've been a wordsmith of sorts, so I start with writing the lyrics, like
@UkingViking . For a while I could only come up with lyrics, and had about 25 songs written, but nothing musical attached to the lyrics. I've never had musical training and can't read or write music, so my process is probably different from those who can.
The theme of the song and the words frame the overall feel or vibe, and I start to noodle around with a melody. I have a small keyboard which I don't know how to play, but I know how to pick out notes. Once I start singing something I like, I record it. Just use the mic tool on my laptop. Then I listen to it over and over until I get it in my head. Then I start to play notes and chords on the guitar to go with the melody. Record the pieces again. Sometimes I'm happy with what I've created and I play and record the entire song. It's very rarely completely done at that point, but sometimes it's close to the finished product. Usually, though, I put the song away for a couple of days or weeks and come back to it and listen to the recording(s) of I've done, because sometimes I don't remember the melody at all. Then I edit, edit, edit, both the words and the music, continually recording through the process.
When I'm all done, I do an audio recording in addition to a video recording that I post on another guitar forum that I'm on. There are a bunch of songwriters on the Forum, some who have their songs on CDs or on streaming services. And sometimes I get feedback on the songs. It is can be ego crushing to get unsolicited criticism about your work, but I always do my best to be open to it.
In my other Forum, there is the songwriting section plus monthly Zoom VOMs (virtual open mics) where we play our songs and talk about songwriting. Don't know if I'm violating policy, but it's justmusicgeeks.com