Well, I was down at the WEA on the weekend, doing a half day course on Self Publishing. I booked in months ago hoping it would give me some tips and hints about how to self publish, but more so, if self publishing is actually the right path for me. It was a great course with loads of information and lots of down-to-earth, cautionary advice. Self-publishing has a pretty terrible reputation due largely to a lot of really poor quality material out there. I’ve seen and read a number of these books myself and they can be really awful! One of the things that is crucial is having – or sourcing – all the skills needed to publish a book yourself. There are a lot! But, I’ve also read some truly awful books offered by traditional publishers, and for certain markets – for example poetry, self publishing is really one of the only ways to get a book of your work out there. Most publishers wont touch poetry because the market is too niche. So, for poets, being self published doesn’t carry quite the stigma it does for novelists.

What I want to publish – or rather, things people are requesting I get in print for them – are poems, prints of my art, and the contents of my various talks. Earlier this year I did a presentation in Melbourne about Peer Workers that was very well received and people would like me to make a small booklet of my talk. I showed some examples of my work to Martina Taeker, the very skilled woman running the WEA course, and she suggested that my particular work was well suited to self publishing, partly because I edit it to a high standard, and partly because I have arts/graphics design skills – people often forget that you have to put the whole layout together yourself and you want it to look good! She’s the third person who has experience in the industry to give me a green light heading into self-publishing now, so I’m going to pursue it, and ‘bad reputation’ be dammed! I like the idea of retaining full control of my own material, especially my art, and being able to update, revise and reprint whenever I need to. I also like the idea of trying to keep booklets cheaper so that people on pensions – like me – can actually afford them if they wish. It would be lovely to print some fancy hard cover full colour books as well. I’m hoping to have something in print and ready to launch next year.

The challenge now is going to be getting hold of the software on which you create the actual book layout – the industry standards are expensive – and then learning how to use it. Patience, patience! Ahh it’s all so painfully slow when you’re starting out! I’m also going to be launching into the digital world sometime soon. I’ve been asked to create a digital version of the Melbourne talk, using the art from my power point and a voice over. (mine, obviously) Which I’m terribly excited about as I’ve never done anything like that before. I would dearly love to explore animating some of my little people in my ink paintings… another whole skill set I don’t have yet… but so many interesting things to look forward to!

In the meantime, this blog is my serious writing project, and I’m thrilled with it! It’s incredibly satisfying to get emails telling me something I wrote was helpful or beautiful or amusing. The mental health posts take so much longer to write and edit to a standard I’m happy with, but they are so important to me. There’s so many people feeling alone, overwhelmed, confused and afraid out there and the internet is such a powerful way to connect us. It’s certainly helped me. So, thank you everyone reading and sharing this blog, it means so much to me. I’d put on my business cards “Artist ~ Poet ~ Writer” and I thought that the writer part was something I’d feel was genuine when I saw my work in print. But, getting emails from people telling me something I’ve written has been helpful or insightful, I’ve changed my mind. This blog isn’t an aside, it’s a major project and the start of something really good. And I am a writer. 🙂