When I was a kid, third grade maybe, my parents gave me a guitar for Christmas. It wasn’t exactly a toy, but it was made out of plastic. The cool thing about it was this rectangular gizmo that I could strap to the fretboard. When I pushed down the buttons it would form chords. I immediately set about annoying everyone I knew with my playing and singing. Unfortunately, my prized musical instrument broke after a few months and my parents didn't seem to be in a big hurry to replace it. Finally, however, I got a real guitar when I was fifteen. Storytellers talk about “finding your voice” and, to tell you the truth, I’m still struggling. My journey started with that plastic guitar which led to a real guitar and then to songwriting.