Caroline,

I use the line from my friend Ralph Murphy, "great songs are re-written, not written." One of the central elements of co-writing is so how you get outside yourself. It begans the process from the outset of looking at your songs from a variety.
Most writing appointments in Nashville are booked in twos.
One to start or develop the idea, the other to finish it. So yes, we pretty much emphasize it a lot. The steps are get it pretty much finished, get it reviewed, step by step on the recording process, put it up against other songs you write, get full demos on the best. Repeat process.

MAB