It's funny how things work out, like those "bad" things that happen that end up making us who we are, and sending us further along our path. Recording music is an ongoing and involved process that only ends when "it feels right". I've been aching to finish this record for a while now, but even as it seems to crawl along, things keep happening that make it better and better. Sometimes a new lyric will come to mind that makes a song so much better that you can't imagine how you didn't think of it in the first place. Or I'll realize that I need to change the tone of one of the instruments to get the feeling right. In the end, it's not the sounds that truly determine whether the song "feels" right - I have to wait until the song transcends sounds to become a vehicle communicating something more than words or sounds. It seems obvious as I write this, but it's not so obvious when you can't figure out why a song isn't working.
And that's where time kicks in. Yes, I would prefer to finish this thing and start the marketing process, but the changes I'm going through also inform what a song should sound like, and that takes time. I've been wrestling with one of my songs that was recorded a couple of years ago, and I finally realized that it needs a lighter touch. So even though I thought it was finished, I'm having my friend Steve C put a new rhythm guitar on it. After that, I'll sing a new lead vocal to match the new feeling that he creates.
The songs tell me when they are done - not the other way around.