Experience isn’t knowing every answer. It’s knowing that answers rhyme.
I helped my son with a tech project today that wasn’t exactly like any project I’ve done before. But I’ve done so many different tech projects that I intuitively knew the directions to head to get it done.
It’s the same with music. I know how to interpret this piece mostly because I’ve interpreted a hundred pieces that shared aspects with it. They rhyme, musically speaking.
I don’t know exactly what I’m going to say when I step up to the mic during a concert – but I have confidence I’ll be okay because I’ve spoken enough times that I know the landscape really well. My speech this time will rhyme with so many others speeches.
The pieces I write rhyme, and recognizing how they rhyme makes it easier to write. The words I write rhyme (not literally) – so every time I sit down to write, it’s infinitesimally easier, because I know how I write just a little bit better.
The good news is: this always happens. The bad news is: this always takes time.