Out with the old, in with the new.

Or, as Elvis once sang, "the future looks bright ahead".

Who knows where the time goes?

It is one year since the publication of my first book, “46 Contemporary Poems in Various Styles”.

It’s been a year of sketchbooks, keeping my Twitter / X page active, as a place to promote my book and my art. One might say it’s been a year of promotions. But it’s also been a year, at least the last few months, of starting my second book. And this I have done.

So, I’m thinking the New Year is going to be in need of a new blog. The blog you are reading now is totally public. The new blog won’t be for a while yet.

All text and photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

Writing through October.

 I have spent the past couple of months preparing for self-publishing an eBook of my poems.

I think the earliest piece comes from the late-80s, but all the rest certainly from 2007 – 2020. However, everything chosen has been re-edited and improved. A lot of my writing used to be basic, stream of conscious stuff that I put on Blogger or sometimes even set to music. Those original posts provided just a starting point to now edit, embellish, or indeed mix together to make new works.

Today, after reading various self-publishing guide lines, I reached that point where all are now “ready to go”.

All text & Photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

47 poems.

 I set myself a target and a deadline, and I made it.

47 poems is the idea. (The number 47 has a family history). The challenge was that, even though I had a lot of writing to sift through, much of it was intended for song lyrics, or basic "stream of conscious" pieces from old blogs. All of that needed a lot of editing and re-writing.

Break now to do some sketching for a while before getting my head around e-book self publishing.

Illustrations.

 I have re-worked these two "intended illustrations" for “my intended novel”. Having kept the individual scans, I only had to drop them all into Photoshop, and clean them up a little so as to be clearer for possible Kindle publishing. Truth be told, I think I am extending the "intended project" too far. The chapters would be enough.

All text, pros, poetry & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.