Pic: Me being native, ever so, with a man who told us about illegal hookah practises and how much kiff, spliff, bubble and yoiks he turned over on a weekly basis. Which has nothing at all to do with this article apart from how confused one can become simply by blowing, or rather sucking smoke…
To my existing readers - poetry is on it’s way; and new ones, please examine my folio... Meanwhile, I have slipped into edit/admin mode, in preparation for a cottage industry type publication. Why cottage, you might ask. By way of passing on my experiences, I hopefully give you insight into your own descisions in that respect. Being somewhat chagrined by research, I have slipped orf my academically snotty horse too. And as sports types say, I’m super happy for sure…
I have amassed enough freeverse to create a booklet or two. Originally I had a folder on the iMac titled “Verse”. It mostly went there, but as you know, notes end up in “Documents”, others are in books in drawers, but let’s bypass all that for now. Because we type them up eventually, don’t we? I had begun to collate a collection, when an opportunity to use other poems in a different, colluded project arose. I dutifully created a new folder, named for the project. I moved the poems for that project from the Verse Folder into the project folder. Sensible, you’d have thought. Until you forget which and where they are… Others I began to just copy (so you get files called “Title-Copy”).
Sometime later I realised I’d edited some but wasn’t sure which version to keep. I kept both, thinking I’d go over them later and consolidate one good verse. There were however several. To correct it I created another folder, “Verse II”. Everything was copied to here. However, the PC would ask me to skip, replace or keep both. I kept both and ended up with various folders and little idea which version of what to delete/keep nor indeed where any of them were. Or hopefully, are. Try the cloud, said a little voice…
If I copied everything there, as in Google since it comes free with email accounts (until like me you rent more space) - I could then keep all versions and one by one… Once I’d loaded many many up there, I began to sort them. This is probably an Apple V The World problem, but when I went to begin the edit to end all edits, Google made me down load my up loads, as there seems to be no longer an option to edit things on their cloud. Once opened with my terrestrial ‘go to’ edit software, my formatting was irreparably junked. Ruined. Oh, lummie, I wailed.
All thanks be praised, I found the specimen in question “somewhere” on the PC and was able to start yet another folder (Latest Verse, as in MK III) with said file. While I was there, I decided I’d copy and paste from any other folders. Like the ones named after other projects that I’ve forgotten existed. Over ten years of iMac use I’ve accumulated much multi media tat. A message said I’d have to clear some space to do that. It seemed I’d actually filled the iMac! I rolled my eyes. I then remembered, the Apple icloud. I only have the free version, (note to self, cancel Google subscription) but nonetheless some icloud. Could we save our verse to one’s cloud but still edit it with one’s (Apple) software? Answer - i, we could. So even as I type this paragraph, I am finding verse on the mac and sending it icloudwards. And then immediately deleting those folders from the mac. Scary. I know they’re dealt with, right?
It has been ongoing for some years - me wondering how to categorise my verse. Alphabetical listing works if you know/remember what you’re looking for. Sub categories like Love, Nature, My Bestiary Perversions etc sadly leave the mind blank - and some verse is about bestial love in the wild. Do we put it in all three? If/when we edit it - which version did we update? Alphabetical won’t tell us. If we save chronologically we don’t know when we wrote what so… you get the picture (hubblebubble). Thankfully I did not download the Google app for “as above - so below” function, since it’s incompatible. It would have meant whatever I edited on the cloud, happened on the mac and vice versa. No more pasting, copying… Will Icloud do it I thought, so I tried. Bearing in mind I can’t buy new software and my current sofyies are no longer supposted [because apple are snotty about folk who make things last - IE get their money’s worth}. When I open a file on the cloud - it opens in my software anyway! Huzzah! My problems are at last becoming eased…
Except as we note from earlier, there’s more than one booklet on the go now. Three actually. With a fourth in the offing. So which poems are in which? My initial method was to copy from a main list into a subfolder, but the main list doesn’t tell me which have been copied nor where to. Only today, I realised I needn’t copy entire verses - just make a list of each one - with a comment about where it’s been used, next to the title. So the upload to iCloud must go on. There’s little chance of any chronology now [you know, so that historians can study my life and writings], but I think I’m getting somewhere. And there’s a lot of typing to do about various works on said list. What a dreaded administrative mess - but that’s what comes of a creative rather than organised mind. And I know which I’m happy with, even if I am vulnerable to eejit mistakes.
Tell you what though. It put a thought in my mind. You know how you hope/dream your booklet will sell - however many copies being relative to how big your dreams are. Take note, if you go indie via even reputable online publishers, be prepared for the onslaught of verifying accounts, synching with bank, and other very very techno things that speak in acronyms. And help pages that don’t. You know, when a vid says (at 200 miles per hour) click on settings - then select bimbo from the drop down menu - but there’s no bimbo in your settings. What le actuale. If like me, you go DIY, you still have to set up (and choose a safe) a way to accept payment - and explain how that works to everyone who orders a copy. You have to work out postage costs, printing costs - sounds obvious? It’s riddled with surprises and you start to think some publishing orgs actually earn their pound of flesh. But as I mentioned in a previous article, even some big name writers are going with online providers and freelance is becoming recognised as a better financial deal - at least if you have a customer base.
So there’s still much to do to acquire customers. Going to readings, competitions, periodicals, every and any opportunity. Social media, email lists… Blackmail and threats… Having spent a lifetime doing this sort of thing chasing a record deal, I really can’t be arsed any more. I’m just bimbling along, popping to open sessions now and then. Heck, you never know what’s round the corner - and the printer who was recommended to me has asked if I’ll read at one of her sessions - which are obviously well respected. And it’s more by invite than putting yourself forwards. So maybe I’m finding my way. I already treat my music as a hobby - which lifted a weight from my shoulders. So suddenly I get what ‘retired’ means. Not bored, just happy to kick my slippers off and fall asleep in front of the telly. There’s many things to suggest how a writer in earnest might proceed. Easiest route I can recommend is research it. Research how to research first - and you’ll find life marginally easier. But we still need patience and be prepared to be wrong. So many people blame anything but the fact that their approach doesn’t tease out the results they expect. Oh, and as I always say - expect the unexpected.
Just before I do dream up how I’m going to deal with a third booklet before the first one’s even printed, I decided to research ‘how to organise files on a computer’. The link won’t share to here - there is something petty going on with software compatibility, isn’t there! Anyway, the language in the help I found needs a degree in administration, which rather defeated the object. Again I recommend the Writer’s Yearbook 2023, though I’m sure things have moved on re publishing so a later version is probably just as good or better.
Meanwhile, I’m going to walk the dog before I do any more messing…
Alex