Hustling My Stories

The main pleasure of my recent literary life is hustling my books to Oregon readers. I’ve always relentlessly gigged, but somehow it feels different these days as I distribute almost exclusively via street libraries and through homeless vendors themselves.

I derive almost no financial gain through my distribution, outside direct sales via the blog and website, (thank you readers if you have supported Nestucca Spit Press in this manner!) but it doesn’t matter; it’s about getting the stories out while I still can. One day, I won’t have the wherewithal to do so.

I have a talent to write, design and produce print publications, enlist other creators to help me in my endeavors and time and energy to distribute my writing across the state in haphazard fashion. There’s nothing quite like stocking the street library in Drain and Elkton and getting thanked for it by someone I’ve never met before.

Many of the publications I produce and distribute are anonymous. Bylines don’t matter to me anymore. It took a long time to figure this out. More writers might enjoy their labor if they got their writing out to the public by any means necessary and not wasting their time trying to hit the big score. In the last two decades of my literary career, I have met so many writers who have languished and suffered or become unbearable because they wanted prestige with their published work, not readership with the potential effect to move, educate or entertain people. Sad.

Next up for 2024? A children’s book about…you guessed it, the homeless in Oregon. My dearly departed husky Sonny makes a star turn in the book. I’ll never let that dog go.