One of my most requested songs is a song about the misery of trying to restore an old boat during an el nino that struck mostly on weekends. It is written about my experience but in such a way that others hearing it can say: "Something like that happened to me." In other words, they can own a piece of it.

As I see it, the most important thing is that the writer must have something to say, not just a whine about how miserable they are. There has to be a major element of 'relateability' to it or the public won't.