Hello Tabster (for those of you who don't know she wrote Icarus and Moth - covered by Martin Simpson and others - seriously great songs in anyone's book, and lots more besides).

Songwriting, eh? Well I thought I'd jot down a few notes, a sheet of A4 to hand out at workshops - and before I knew it it was 40 pages long (it's on my site if anyone's really really bored)!

And every time I read a page like this I remember more things to add - it'll be a hardback if I'm not careful. But the brilliant thing about songwriting is that no matter how long you do it, the process remains a mystery. No other art form (that I've tried, anyway) is so ephemeral. Doesn't matter if it comes in one hit (rare for me) or takes months of painful chipping (more typical), good or bad - I still listen to myself singing and go - good grief, where the heck did THAT come from!

The important thing is to do it. Best therapy ever invented.

Tom (stuck half way through verse 2 as usual)

www.tombliss.co.uk