Negotiating pay when I have been out of work (update)

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a bookkeeper. I have read a lot of threads here and could not find my exact situation. I looked up ranges in Cleveland and they vary a lot. What did you say?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.