I have just been offered a professional job as a writer. Mind you, I have made money from my thoughts and prose in the past, more so than I do now with this newsletter. There is nothing better than a big payday. After that, the second-best thing is royalties. I will not be getting either, I am afraid from this offer, but, what the heck, doing something is always better than doing nothing. Get the work out there. Someone might notice.
Such is the dilettante’s rallying cry, especially if he has no connections because he didn’t go to Brother Martin.
Someone asked me to contribute to his ‘zine. He typesets it with a typewriter, mimeographs it, and only distributes paper copies. There is something to be said about tangibility. Holding a book in your hands is different from holding your phone. Smelling an old book that has been paged through and studied with underlining, that is different from smelling an old phone. Get too close to an old phone and you might get ear mites.
This ‘zine comes out once or twice a year. It is quite an honor to be invited to contribute. The editor, who is also the typesetter, says that I am in if I can write 500 words on topic. I think I can manage.
The theme for the next issue is “heat.” I am sure I will come up with something. I will experiment behind the paywall. You can read more in a moment if you are a paid subscriber. You can see how the sausage gets made.