Salary expectations: how do you answer? - what worked for you?

I have been out of work for 5 weeks and feel pressure to accept less. I worked as an office manager before this. I looked up ranges in St. Louis and they vary a lot. Does giving a range hurt?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 10 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.