The Australian Association of Writing Programs

Following my last blog post about immortality and the great responses and comments, I post this update. Earlier this year I published 'This Poor Collection' on Lulu.com on behalf of Jeff Lassen. Jeff by the way is still alive and defying his doctor's predictions of his life expectancy.

He has a copy of the book in his hands, always a great thing for any author, although in this case as it is a collection of his poetry I guess that should be always a great thing for any poet. I have his short story collection roughed out and awaiting more time and know how. This publishing game is a heck of a learning curve, believe me. I have so much to do and just the same number of minutes as everyone else I feel ripped off when I read Twitts claiming they are bored.

I have to say it was worth the time I put in to produce something for someone else. I doubt it will ever sell more than three copies without proper distribution and marketing and that is not something I have the itme to invest given my expectation of return. But then I never did it for the money, he cried. I did it for Jeff, for his family and for me as well as perhaps for all of us writers who would like to think that we will be remembered and read long after we are gone. That there will be someone there willing to take up the cudgels and get out work out there.

I am fortunate to be living in the age of the internet and self publishing made relatively easy. It is my duty to leverage this technology for the good of those who were born before me and have just about missed the boat.  If you care, surf over to http://www.lulu.com and search for 'This Poor Collection'. I made it a free eBook download so that people can read his poems once they find them. They are worth the read I think, if only to glean some understanding of the man himself.