Everything has to start somewhere.  So it is with an initial post.  I suppose that we all are looking for something when we commit our thoughts to sites such as this.  My present quest began many years ago and has endured through youth, middle and advanced age.  I am a writer.  More to the point, I am finally a published writer.  I do not create deep, profound works of timeless literature.  My life will not be the subject for classroom discussion five hundred years hence.  My goal is simply to entertain, to provide a few hours of diversion and perhaps to provoke a thought or two along the way.  The biggest change for me is that I am now published.  No, I have not been accepted into the folds of some major publishing house with the attendant advances, royalties and access to their massive distribution arms.  I am self-published through an outfit called lulu.com.  Lulu is one of many digital publishers, those folks who have completely turned the business of publishing upside down.  Back in the day would be authors faced a catch 22.  To be accepted for publication one had to have an agent, to be noticed by an agency one had to be published.  I used to keep a large manila envelope next to my typewriter.  Written across the front of the envelope were the words: “Rejection slips, to be used to counter the effects of a swollen head”.  The envelope was full nearly to overflowing.  With the advent of digital publishing the onus has shifted.  Now getting into print is an amazingly simple process but distribution is up to the author.  When you reach the stage where you have successfully published your work you will undoubtedly be deluged with offers to purchase distribution services.  These service providers seem to have taken the place of all those folks who used to offer to prepare your manuscript for publication, for a fee.  As with any service or product, some are good, some are bad and some are strictly scams.  As with any quest worth entering into, planning, study and due diligence are requisites.  In the past year I have managed to produce six books but I am still working on the distribution angle in order to increase sales.  Amazon and Lulu have been very helpful but there are many more fields left to plow.  To all of you who are thinking about self-publishing I say, come on in, the water’s fine.