Noble House U.K. emailed me on today, asking whether I could submit one of my favorite poems for publication in 'Songs of Honour'. Apparently they came across the poems that I wrote, which were published in books in the US. To quote:
"Your publication in this edition will establish you as an international author and afford you the respect and admiration attendant to such an honour. International Copyright notice for your poetic artistry will, of course be in your name, assuring that you will retain worldwide rights to your work of art."
I'm not putting this up to toot my own horn, and I should be flattered, if not for the underlying knowledge that the email was probably a generic one which was sent out to 1000 other people, and all they did was to change the name of the addressee. Maybe one day someone will read the books (if they ever buy it in the first place, and I'm not surprised if they don't because it's wayyy over the top in its pricing) and remember my name and call me up and maybe by then I'd have enough poems for my own book, and since I'm dreaming, I also wish for a pony.
Even though I know they are doing this in an attempt to have enough content to publish a book, so as to earn profits etc. (I mean, I don't even get paid for having my poem featured, and I still have to pay the full price in order to get a copy of the book), I still pretty much enjoyed the process of writing and maybe that's what being passionate about something is all about. Even if there are no returns whatsoever, the satisfaction to be gained from a job well done is more than sufficient for me. Maybe I should just retire to Scotland and into a small cottage by the sea and write poems by the fireplace for the rest of my life.