Well, I was down to about 50 after the first cut, and now have 22 left. Whew! Picking the top five is going to be tough.

For the record, I think the next time no one should be allowed to for for themselves, and postings should be anonymous. I don't think the way things stand presents any fatal flaws, but I think it would be better with those two conditions.

I think the criterion that weighed most heavily with me was originality. But poorly crafted songs, no matter how clever, didn't make the cut.

There were a lot of songs in the throw-away pile that were good, well-crafted songs. I think some of them could be hits. They just didn't grab me personally enough to stay in the running. I was surprised, in fact, at how few really bad songs there were.

There were several things that tended to turn me off: songs written in all caps, obscenity and obscene songs, propaganda songs, misspelled words, "cu" instead of "see you," and songs I couldn't figure out.

Nevertheless, some of the songs that made my first song did so in spite of such turn-offs.

I guess the thing I was looking for, the thing that I'm always looking for in songwriting, is that song that leaves you thinking, in the words of Rilke, "You must change your life."

But then, a few of the songs still in the running are just clever, funny, or hooky.

Now I have to let it simmer for a few days.

Award-winning, original acoustic songs with "the kind of lyrics that make Nashville writers salivate."