well, after having the thing sitting next to my desk since late june, i have finally done my tax. i was scratching my head for the longest time as to whether or not to staple my payment summaries to it until i saw a line in the literature that said not to do so... after doing it for so long and then trying to fold it all so it fit neatly into the dlx envelope (never postage paid, though, have you noticed???) provided, the habit dies hard.
i'm hoping this will kick start a savings account so that i can go to the u.s. next year to visit portland, oregon, home of the portland zine symposium! it seems to be held around the same time each year, so now my only question is going to be: two weeks or three?
regular readers will notice too that i've updated some links over on the right. for the past several months i've been volunteering at a shop in town that sells zines - small, typically short-run, photocopied, independant publications created by artists, writers, sf geeks or hardcore band fans, and a whole bunch of other people. zines rock. i have had about thirty-six copies sell through the store so far of one particular zine title i've been doing, "three". the three separate issues had varying print runs but that they've sold out is amazing to me! i've even received mail from people who've read them!! i've also been asked to contribute to a collection of poems put together by an artists collective here!!!
probably the most amazing thing of all came in one of those letters that i received, an excerpt from which i include here:
last week i went into the store ---- and got your zine "top ten poems issue #1".i was touched that i'd touched the life of a complete stranger in that way.
i have never before read poems so i found that the poems together with your writings was a great introduction to poetry.
thank you...
i have been blessed throughout my life to have people around me who've encouraged me to write and who have borne with great longsuffering i'm sure the results of that encouragement. from what i've seen in the world around me, writers seem to be a bit of a motley crew and i don't see many who don't crave being read. in terry pratchett's novel going postal, the tremendous collection of undelivered mail accumulating in the ankh-morpork post office distorts the fabric of reality around it because that which has been written wants to be read - and writers are full of that which wants to be written...
i want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's ever given me praise or criticism regarding my writing, everyone who's ever read it, everyone who's ever passed it on to someone, everyone who's ever inspired me to write. the list is longer than i'd ever be able to put into words. thank you.
