Publish or perish?

As the saying goes, if you want something done write you gotta do it yourself.

When it comes to publishing your book you have a choice in the game. Roll the dice!

Follow the instructions in traditional how-to-market books and articles or self publish.

"In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker. The company attributed a significant proportion of that rise to an increase in the number of print-on-demand books."

Option #1. Research literary agents. Send out query letters and a one-page synopsis by snail mail. Make sure you mention it's a "simultaneous submission" so all the literary agents and secret agents and cleaning agents know other prospective purveyors of literary genius are reading your breathtaking query letter. The letter has been honed to a sharp point. 

Then you Wait. You keep writing. You read all the publishing trade mags. You keep writing. You recycle material out into the slush pile. Read and recycle rejection letters, "Thank you very much for considering our agency. We have read your query letter and synopsis with great interest. However..."

You know your epic is not a hum-drum mainstream literary creation. It does not follow a prescribed plot and narrative structure. It is an anthropological journalistic blend of scatological hubris, an amalgamation of styles. It's a jazz poem, photographic riff montage. It's a combination of poetic prose, mud, meadows and strange vivid dream landscapes.

You create it. You self-publish it. You share it.

More....

Metta.

Living with ghosts

Neil Gaiman won the Newberry Award for children's books.

The Graveyard Book 

Spooky stuff. Fade in-fade out.

Metta.

Year of the Ox

Joyful Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Ox. Strong, conservative, patient, hard working, loyal.

We are in the middle of a total solar eclipse. 0606 GMT to 0952 GMT. It is traversing the Indian ocean toward Mindanao where it will open its light shade.

Birds sing dusk twilight songs. Bored children in a green field play yo-yo. They need solitude. Nature. They have 532 "friends" on a social network website. They feel strangely alone. They are alone. Authentic. Restless. Their televisions tell them to seek short attention spans.

They are Slumdog Millionaires. See it. Rotten Tomatoes more...

The sun spans the moon. Lotus leaves dance in piano winds. Rolling thunder.

Speak in silence. More...

Metta.

Water's heartbeat

Well now, such an elegant universe. Bamboo wind. A drop of memory carried by a pure and simple recall, shadowed reality of sand, coral, diffused surface light, edges of black glistening diamond sand, palms and dirt trails.

The water droplet reflected everything it dreamed, imagined and bird songs escaping from a single throated sound. Yes, this water sustained a yellow leaf on it's gently rising energy, feeding the green veins with harmonic flowing surge. Pulsating.

Metta.

Zeynep - Wonder Kid

Once upon a time there was a traveling teacher and he left Asia Minor after a year of exploring and returned to Southeast Asia.

He began helping 4th graders. As a student he was making new friends and sharing on another very small part of the spinning planet filled with orchids and astonishing butterflies. Ah, the joys of travel, teaching and taking risks!

Meanwhile, back in Bursa, Turnkey, a magical place on a border between Asia and Europe, at the Western end of the Silk Road, Zeynep is a precocious 5-year old.

The front of her t-shirt reads, "Nobody's perfect." 
The back reads, "I am Nobody."

She pointed around her restaurant and whispered across the table.

"See these adults? Why do they look so sad and/or angry? Because, when they were young, they were punished for dreaming."

"Yes, fear is a real imaginary way with them, this perpetual adolescence."

"And I'll tell you another thing," said Zeynep. "I experience joy through writing, painting, drawing, singing and dancing."

"Yes," I whispered, "I am happy we met here. You are my best friend in the world. I trust you and love you." We shared a hug and dissolved into tear reflected light.