My songwriting "career"

One thing that was on my mind in 1981 was getting some of my songs published.  I was briefly a member of a group called "Kansas City Songwriters" in 1980, and performed a couple of songs I had written at a show put on by the group.  A local publisher named Frank Fara (Comstock Records) approached me, wondering if I'd be interested in having him as my publisher.  You can imagine my enthusiasm, because SOMEBODY WANTED MY SONGS!   
It was an exciting time, seeing those 45 RPM records with my name on them as the songwriter.  When I received my first royalty check in 1981 for $62, I didn't know whether to frame it or spend it.  Given our financial situation, I cashed it and spent it.  
My songwriting career went downhill from there; I received other royalty checks, but they were progressively smaller.  Frank Fara, I finally figured out, was just looking for songs to entice no-talent locals into signing contracts with him; they paid him big money to take them to Nashville and record, when they could have cut out the middleman and done it on their own.  A google search tells me he's doing his thing in Arizona now.  

  I still have those 45 RPM records of the songs I've written, five different songs.  I look at them and recall how excited I was to be a published songwriter.
I coulda had class; I coulda been a contender.  I coulda been somebody.  
I was disappointed for a few years that nothing came of those efforts, but these days?  Not so much.  It's been a good life, and I didn't have to move to Nashville to find happiness.