Nashville songwriter Matthew West (Rascal Flatts, Diamond Rio, Jo Dee Messina) came up with an interesting way to create ideas for new songs—he asked everyone he knew, and tons of people he didn’t, for stories from their lives.

Matthew spread the word online and any other way he could think of. He got back more than 10,000 letters from all 50 states and 20 countries. Then he spent two months in a cabin outside Nashville and wrote songs from those letters.

“As stories began to pour in by the thousands, I quickly sensed that not only was something special taking place, but that my life was about to change,” Matthew said in a press release.

“During those months, my eyes were opened to see the world outside my door like I had never witnessed before.”

The songs deal with challenges from abuse to surviving cancer, and hope seems to be the theme.

The resulting album, The Story of Your Life, comes out on Sparrow Records Oct. 5.