I felt sick to my stomach from the second I opened my eyes that morning, but it wasn’t the familiar queasiness of too little sleep, or too much bourbon the night before. This was more like me as a child on Christmas morning, holding my breath as I unwrapped the box to reveal either the off-brand Cabbage Patch Kid, or the real one.

No matter what, that evening the curtain was going to open on me standing center stage in my first Broadway show. I just wanted it to be a real Cabbage Patch Kid.

The musical is “Waitress,” and I have seen it well over a hundred times. I wrote the music and lyrics for the show and have spent the last four years of my life with it as the center of my own little universe. The invitation to join the creative team came at a time when I was feeling stale and uninspired with my work as a pop music songwriter, and I welcomed the chance to be challenged.

I had no idea just how challenging it would be.

Writing for characters in a new medium, intense collaboration and an extremely demanding schedule were all part of the difficulty. But the rewards were revitalizing, and reminded me of the start of my songwriting career, when I wrote from a place of exploration and innocence.