Tracy, it’s time to break out your pencils and notepads. Pull out that old guitar, and wipe off the piano that’s been gathering dust in your living room. Oh, and don’t forget to warm up those vocal chords.

It’s songwriting time.

Tracy songwriter and vocal coach Kim Krenik is hosting a songwriter’s circle from 7 to 10 p.m. Aug. 8. The event will be at the Calvary Tracy Building, 500 N. Corral Hollow Road.

There’s a $10 registration fee per song to enter, with a limit of three songs per person. The money goes into a pool toward the grand prize. All submitted songs must be written between now and Aug. 8 and will be performed during the circle.

Each song must be complete with a full verse one, chorus, verse two, and chorus, in that format. If a song is incomplete, it will be eliminated.

The grand-prize winner will receive a free session at a local professional recording studio, a consultation before the session, and also a free hour of coaching from Krenik about how to prepare for the studio performance.

Each song must be no longer than four minutes, and the writer must have 25 copies of the lyrics to hand out to the voting audience. The emotion that the writer wishes to evoke with the song must be written at the top of the lyric sheet.

The winner is chosen by both the audience, which accounts for 20 percent of the weighted decision, and judges, who account for 80 percent of the vote.