End of Year Message to Readers

After eight months on this Blog--I began on 11 May 2013--I have managed to place almost all the material backed up in my computer's memory, rewritten and expanded on a few of the essays, and even created some new poems, sayings and book-reviews.  What I haven't done is to retrieve all the old essays that I published many years ago in now rare or lost journals, newsletters and magazines; perhaps someday I will figure out how to do the proper scanning for that.  Similarly, though in the early days of the Blog I inserted illustrations, I soon forgot the method and all efforts since then have failed.  Not only can't you teach an old dog new tricks, but once you have there is no guarantee he will remember them.

There was a period when I could post three or or four items per day on the Blog, but now the lapses start to appear.  Illness and other commitments get in the way, to be sure, but also the need for time to think, rest and absorb all the books that I am reading.

Very few people have sent in their comments.  For those who have,  my deepest thanks.  One of the reasons for starting the Blog was, in addition to having a place to archive all my old writings and to reflect on ideas that are still churning about in my head after twenty, thirty or more years, is to have some feedback, to enter into conversations with readers--perhaps even readers who I don't already know.  Imagine that! a reader who I don't already know, and yes there are a few.

Let me add another invitation to those of you who publish books yourselves.  (They can be written in English, French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese.)  If you have review copies sent to me, I will do my best to read and review them.  Contact me for a mailing address.

As we slow down for the end-of-year holidays, all best wishes for whatever you celebrate and good luck into the new year of 2014.  I will not bother you with predictions about what will happen on this Blog, what new books I hope to complete--at least four or five are in the pipeline to be more or less ready to send out to publishers next year--and what new events will happen that draw me in for comments.

To my one official "follower" and to everyone else, all best regards.

Norman Simms