As I have just joined the site today and would like to help in any way I can, could anyone give me any suggestions for songwriting programs/applications? It would be much appreciated.
Finale 2014. ;)
If you're looking for a free program, I highly recommend MuseScore. I still use it fairly often, it's not that hard to use, and you can do almost anything with it. You'll just have to export your files as XML and open it in Finale Notepad (also free, but more limited) to save it as a .MUS.
If you're willing to spend money, Finale Printmusic is really good. And while its not that cheap, its much cheaper than the full version and can do most of the same things.
Although I personally have the full Finale 2014, Printmusic and Musescore would be my most recommended options.
If your goal is to help out with NSM, you should get familiar with Finale
Printmusic 2014 does everything you need for slightly less money