UP AT 3AM while breastfeeding her second child some 20 months ago, the florist by trade, part-time photographer and school guitar teacher was also glued to YouTube - streaming videos on her phone from the channel of a local recording hub and banking some creative courage.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"Once we had our first child - Makayla, who is now five - I was thinking, you know what, as much as I loved those two careers, something was just bringing me back to music," Megan Woods said.
"I've been playing guitar since I was 8-years-old and I've always loved playing music - it's a beautiful thing to share the gift of music with people."
Originally from New Zealand, Mrs Woods moved to Cargo nine years ago where her father was, before winding up in Orange after meeting her now-husband.
She's also a music teacher across five different schools in the Calare region, commuting to teach around 150 students how to jam it out on the guitar.
Though, they've given the kiwi-borne creative much more fuel than they're aware of.
"I wanted to show them that hey, you can have a career in music and if you want something bad enough - and you're willing to do the work and put yourself out there - then, you can have it," Mrs Woods said.
"And let's be honest, it's pretty scary being in the limelight and putting yourself out there - saying 'hey I've created this and I hope you really enjoy this' - its scary, but it's also very exciting.
And I just didn't want to regret it later in life if I didn't do it - I wanted to be able to say that I tried.
- Megan Woods on chasing her music dreams
"So, if I can show my students that I'm willing to have a go in spite of the fear and at the same time, show them that they could potentially have an exciting career in the music industry if they practice, knuckle down and work hard - that inspires me, so much."
After continuing to "chip away" at gigs in the Central West and giving birth to a second child, she'd made the decision to "kick it up a notch" - making inroads to record and release a song.
"I wanted to give it a really good go, I wanted to give it a red hot crack," Mrs Woods said.
"And I just didn't want to regret it later in life if I didn't do it - I wanted to be able to say that I tried."
Now, not only the newest artist liaison with Orange's Dotted Eight Studio, she's done just that - with her first debut "country/pop-sounding" track set to drop on May 27, titled Shirt on the Floor.
"At the moment, its obviously been pretty cryptic across the socials with what it's actually about, but it's definitely a break-up song," she said.
"The first line in the song is 'I could never love someone who couldn't love me, but I'm proven wrong just by your memory'. So, it's about all of those emotions about realising the other person sitting across the table just doesn't have the same feelings for you and you just don't want to waste your time on that ... but damn it, you're still in my brain and I'm thinking about you - have we not all been there?"
Written by her close friend, Rebecca Arantz, who drew on her personal brush with heartbreak, the pair collaborated gradually after meeting through mutual friends about four years ago.
We're pumped, throwing lyrics down on a page, grabbing the guitar and making the song up; it was a bit like Bernie [Taupin] and [Sir] Elton John - she does the lyrics and I do the music side of it.
- Megan Woods on collaborating with Rebecca Arantz
Later, in-conversation, they discovered that they could potentially make quite the duo when it came to content creation.
"We were basically just chatting about careers at the time and I was saying how I wanted to record a track and how I'd love to do produce something, but I'm just not that great at writing songs; and she couldn't believe what she was hearing, because she absolutely loves writing songs and poetry but didn't have the producing side of things," Mrs Woods said.
"So, basically it just started snowballing from there - we're pumped, throwing lyrics down on a page, grabbing the guitar and making the song up; it was a bit like Bernie [Taupin] and [Sir] Elton John - she does the lyrics and I do the music side of it."
After reaching out to Craig Honeysett, owner of Dotted Eight Studios in Orange, Mrs Woods says he "worked his magic" with the song, bringing the "masterpiece that it's become" together - which people will be able to listen to from Friday.
Mrs Woods will debut her first track live at the Forbes Inn on May 27, playing from 6:30pm onwards. She's also set to play at The Metropolitan Hotel in Orange the following Friday on June 3.
"It's such a great industry and everything I do revolves around music now," she said.
"It's a beautiful thing and I'm feeling beyond thankful. It's just so special to be here."
For more information on the artist and her upcoming song drop, head to the Megan Woods Music page on Facebook.
To read more stories, download the Central Western Daily news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
WANT TO HAVE YOUR SAY?
- Send a letter to the editor using the form below ...