Thank you, Ranger1. I was happy when it was done, and one or two of the songs still appeal to me, but I find the stuff I'm writing now to be better quality, more expressive and matured. My voice isn't what it was--not that it was ever all that good. But the truth is that all I ever wanted to be is a songwriter. The course of my life made that dream impossible for one reason or another. However, I have been writing a fair amount lately, and I honestly think my last two are ten times better than anything I've done before. I'm in love with the newest melody I'm working on (may have something to do with open E tuning) and the words to a song I completed a few months ago make my other writing--with maybe the exception of Fool Like Me--pale in comparison. (Sorry to go on so.) Two others I have 'in progress' are good--but they lack what I call the magic quality. I have been very encouraged by the response of so many people on this and the other thread. It has been helpful to me in deciding to do another CD, God willin', and to get back to writing for whatever time the universe allows me. As to the 'modesty thing', I have never been all that good at accepting compliments--they embarrass me. It is a skill I wish I had, but don't.

Thank you for YOUR kind words, and don't get POed because I said that. I do know that if the latest song--still unfinished but coming close to being finished--gets in the hands of someone who has decent distribution available, it will hit the top 20 in the soft rock charts. (Now, that's just a bit immodest dontcha think? Sonuvagun, I am as excited as I ever get about a song. Now, I will shut up about it. BUT, it's really really good. LOL. Really!) It's a love song with a super melody--very catchy and easy to sing. It ain't the greatest song I ever heard, but it is the best I ever wrote. Good words, GREAT melody and neat, slow rhythm in 4/4 time. My fingers are getting back in shape and slowly so is my voice. The words and melody work together, and that's what's taking so long. I was never a fast writer, and considering I'm 'starting' again, it's coming apace.

Thank all of you for your kind words, encouragement and support. You will never know how much this has meant to me. I am back writing again because of people on this site, and it's one of the two best creative feelings I have had in over 30 years, the other being some short story efforts that are still underway. Merci bien beaucoup.