[SixStringSlinger]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm really talking about lyrics more than anything else. I can find my own way as far as arrangements and whatnot go.

I'm not talking about making any money with it, either. I never made but 25 cents playing my guitar, and I threw it back at the guy. I'm just interested in songwriting as another way to get something across.

Sometimes I'll just be walking with my mind wandering and I'll randomly think of (what I think to be) a clever phrase, or an observation that's somehow striking to me. I've been thinking I'll just write these random things down and see what kind of stuff keeps coming up, just to start with, anyway. To see where it is exactly that my mind goes when it wanders.

I realize all that "hit song formula" was more a joke than anything else, it's not really too far from what I'm thinking. Not in the sense of pop hits, but in the sense of keeping things simple and concise, lyrically.Sometimes I hear a song that's so damn wordy but barely says anything. I prefer something simpler that really packs a punch as far as what it provokes in the listener.

Thanks again for all the replies.