Poetry and Photos Part 1

The first two books I'm going to talk about today were compilations of poetry I'd written over the years, the "best of" my endless ramblings of prose and rhyming works.

The first book I ever put together was Poetic Zen, around about 1998, before I had a computer.  I actually went to a print shop (yes, they had those then too) and had several copies made.  They sold in local bookstores and at book signing events. 

Years went by and new poems had been written.  The digital world was now accessible to me and I proceeded to create my own publications in Office Publisher, converted to PDF and uploaded to a nifty printing site (referred to as POD:  Print On Demand).  With new poems added and a new layout and cover design, I purchased them for local sales and gifts. 

Around 2006 I had this crazy title for a poem rolling around in my head;  Jesus and the Cheesecake Factory.  It never left me.  I wrote the poem but was reluctant to use it for a book title thinking it might put some folks off.  

So the next book was born;  The Afternoon of Life.  It didn't sell well but I think the title was too depressing.  I meant it as something positive, but you would have had to read the poems in it - and I don't think anyone got past the title, lol.

Finally in late 2017 through early 2018 I was on a roll, writing new and bolder poems than I ever had, revealing dark secrets about my past.  I was also shooting new photography.

So I decided to take the plunge - compile the best poems from the Afternoon of Life with the new poems and images - and finally use that title:  Jesus and the Cheesecake Factory.  

Well this bold artistic expression lead to more, and before I knew it I was a writing fiend again, spilling my emotional guts and experimenting with new images.  

That lead to book number 3 which I'll talk about about in the next post.

Poetic Zen (the second edition) and Jesus and the Cheesecake Factory are available from right here on the blog, on the Publications page (link in top bar).  Just click on any book image and it will take you to the MagCloud site for purchasing information.  These two are now available for under $10 each and digital versions are also now available for only $2.99.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the saga.