Welcome. I'm glad you decided to stop by and learn a little bit about me.

I've been a student of human behavior since I was old enough talk. I've worked construction, cut and sold wood, collected bottles off the side of the road, moved displays around Sears in the middle of the night, taught for a short period, made flavors for ice cream, worked in a human development lab, collected and analyzed oils in herbs, made/sold jewelry, made fishing lures and a few other things. That was prior to 1980. For the last 20 years I've been a professional archeologist and technical writer, and I've dabbled in songwriting.

I learned fairly early that I wasn't cut out to be a performer. I played percussion as a teen and a little piano, then switched to bass and finally guitar, which I've stuck with now for about 30 years. That doesn't necessarily mean I've mastered it, just stuck with it. Somehow, I've amassed a collection of 120 to 130 guitars, mostly pre-1985 electrics; but my favorite is still a 1964 Guild Mark II classical I found in a pawn shop years ago.

As a writer, I've authored and edited 100s of technical reports, written maybe 20 short stories and a novel and a half. I started "songwriting" as a kid, doing parodies on everything from TV commercials to Christmas carols. My only goal at that time was to make people laugh - sometimes it worked, sometimes I got in trouble for being insensitive (i.e. truthful). Over the years, I learned - I hope - to temper the truth with the right words. I suppose we all do. If I had to pick the five most important influences on my writing I would have to say my wife and four children.

For me, songwriting has become an exploration of all emotions - not just the popular ones. When I write a song it's a cross between a migraine headache and a vision - it's distractive, obsessive and exhilarating until it's finished. I strive to write good songs and came to the Songwriter Forums to learn how to write better songs. I treat every lyric I write as though it's the only chance I'll ever get to express that idea. My music is a little looser, because I'm not really a composer but a writer.

It's my philosophy that almost every written thing can be improved through constructive criticism. I never say anything in a critique I haven't thought over at least a half dozen times. That doesn't mean it's right, but I do think about things before saying them.

The Songwriter Forums is a great resource and I look forward to sharing my opinions with its members. More importantly, I look forward to learning from you all.