You try to improvise in a compositional manner. You don't just do some stupid lick you've been practicing, scale form exercises or something.

I don't think I really started to seriously compose until around that time when I was 40.

I feel qualified and competent to try anything that's thrown my way because I don't have to be a success. I can just try.

You stick your nose in the dirt until you find something that smells good.

Being a professional does not have a very high standard.

I have tons of tunes, maybe 30 tunes that I still think are great, and only because some jerk at a record company didn't think it was great, it's not out there.

You just write one word and that tells you what the next word is going to be.