Hello, I finally wrote the song and worked out chords for it and finally played it to my husband and he cried. It was based on the story of how we got together and things we have gone through so it has a lot of meaning. I can remember the chords but not the lyrics itās so embarrassing. I would like to share it but just not yet Iām far too shy. I would also love to do an open mic night but agsin how could I if I cant remember any songs off top of my had plus shyness.
I sing on smule most days and Iām Confident singing but doing both argggggg itās tricky. Thanks for replying to me sorry itās been a while.
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Hi Iris 
How awsome is that? Own song, and made him cry!
You are absolutly right, playing and singing and not forget youre lyrics is very tricky. Or at least i find it to be a bit tricky.
I can with out any problem sing and play songs from memory when i am by myself and there is no Ā«nervesĀ»
But as soon as i feel some pressure/nerves i tend to get in trouble.
The more you practise, the easier it becomes. It is vital that you at some point dont look at youre lyrics, it is almost impossible to memorize them if you have them in front of you all the time.
That saidā¦ i can do all that with out any pressure, as soon as i feel some pressure/nerves i do get into trouble quite fastā¦ but then again, perform in front of someone is another experience/feeling than doing this stuff aloneā¦
i am not sure why it is like that, but my guess is that i do not have enough mental capacity to both things when i am a tensedā¦
What really helps me out is to have lyrics in front or close by, i do not have to use them much, but they are there as a backupā¦
I would love to be able to do it without, but right now i cant get it to work.
It is not unusual at all that people Ā«cheatsĀ» with ipads, phones, and what not when performing. I have seen that my self on OMs and a quick google search indicates that it is quite common.
So it is not just you and me that struggles with this
And that shyness issueā¦ record youre self and listen to it until you get used to youre voice, at some point you have to just take that step out there, in this case this forum is the best place to do itā¦ i am 100% sure that you will get a confidence boost and push you furtherā¦ i have been in that boat myself, and i went from never sung anything to anyone to real life OM. Something i would never ever have done if it werent for this forumā¦
Wish you the best of luck Iris
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Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. Itās myself holding myself back I will work on it though 
Use your notebook or tablet for the lyrics. I have a friend who has performed for 50 years in public and still uses a 3 ring binder. Nobody ever says a word and he is quite successful. Amazing story of you writing your own song. I would love to hear it if youāre willing to share sometime.
Jeff from California
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Another thing adding to advise already given regarding writing stuff down would be to write it down on yellow legal pads. The color yellow helps with memory (itās why sticky notes are yellow). I used this for my Anatomy and physiology class in college and never studied for more than 20 minutes followed by 20 minutes of some form of physical activity. Then follow up with the spacing effect. Good luck 
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I struggled with this a lot myself and did a lot of research on how to go about it.
So here are the things I find helpful.
For learning lyrics:
I take parts of a song and read them out loud. While Iām doing that I imagine being on a stage, reciting a poem. I try to really feel what Iām reading and act accordingly. If the lyrics are somewhat angry, I become louder and tense my body. This does 2 things for me. I get connected to the story the song wants to tell, which helps with playing/singing it with emotion and it helps memorizing the lyrics.
another quick and dirty hack for me is reading parts of the lyrics out loud a few times and then writing down the first letter of every word. Then I try to say the lyrics out loud again, only using the letters Iāve written down before. This works surprisingly well if you need to memorize lyrics quickly.
For riffs/ licks:
I sing the melody of riffs and licks until Iām able to āsing it in my headā. This works well for me and it helps with training my ears a lot. Because I automatically learn what certain intervals sound like on the guitar.
For chord progressions:
I sing the movement of the root note or the fifth, depends on whatās easier to hear in the original. I donāt know if this works with non-diatonic chords or extended chords, though. Iām not that advanced yet. 
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This is amazing advice.