I’ve been interested in writing poetry since I was a little kid. I started out writing haikus when I was eight. I used to write about nature all the time and I kept a book of the haikus I’d written as I collected them. I loved counting out the syllables to fit words to the form. I later wrote all types of poems but this was the first form I found. I got my first lesson in how to publish your own writing because my mother decided I should make a booklet of my haikus and send them to relatives for Christmas.
My sister had written some poems too, and we used a copy machine at my Dad’s office to put together our own little books. They were a huge success with the relatives we sent them to, or so they said. Years later when I had friends who were writing their own zines and publishing little chap books, I wanted to self publish some of my poetry, so I learned more about publishing a book myself through the use of Kinko’s and tape, staples, and glue.
I knew a lot of poetry slamming poets because I used to delve into that scene myself at times. Almost everyone I knew was trying to publish their own books.
My partner at the time was also learning book marketing on his own by making a bunch of silly little books that were supposedly for children. But really any parent would be annoyed if they went to get a book for their child and got one of his. He would randomly choose words from the dictionary and use the same selection process to choose random pictures from a collection he made that didn’t really go with the words at all.
He made a book called ‘A is for Walrus’ which was supposedly a loveable alphabet book for tots. But it really was a weird random art project for adults to read and laugh at.
He inspired me in my own quest to self publish. It can be a lot of fun to make a project for yourself where you put it all together. I enjoyed doing the folding and maneuvering that is needed to make books.
Years later for Christmas presents I joined a friend in her project of making home made journals for friends out of discarded paper and string using a hole drilling machine. This took me even further in my learning process of how to publish books as the books we made turned out pretty official looking.
We could have sold them if we wanted to, we were told this by everyone we gave one to. To me though it was basically a fun crafts project to do where I would end up with personalized presents I could give to the people I love.
