march updates: yuan's literary endeavors

too busy this couple of months while suffering so much from my hatefully poor health: my eyes hurt so much that i fear they might burst with a persistent high pressure (last week my left eye had such hemorrhage that i had to keep my eyes shut for two days); my knees, esp my left knee, are also so painful that i have almost lost my mobility. for these two major reasons, i cannot function normally either intellectually or physically. my life has been filled with such painful paradoxes. yet, i have been busy with the following::

1/ revising, copyediting, editing, proofreading, formatting all the parts for the book create abundance (the author is represented by a big business institution, which constantly changes its specs or requirements about the book: for instance, they want me to publish the book as a bilingual [english-chinese] edition rather than an english edition, hardcover instead of paperback...);

2/ trying to find a printer, negotiating with it, coordinating between author and printer, and preparing the printing/publication contracts for all parties concerned about create abundance ... how i hate this business aspect! while i have to learn about all such boring things, i am working hard to hopefully send all the print-ready files to the printer in shenzhen china within a week;

3/trying to find a good translator to translate the book from chinese into french, but so far i have been able to find one yet - eventually i might have to find a translator to do the job from english into french;

4/ reaching the goal of having my poetry accepted by 1,000 publications worldwide - as of today, it is 998 (23 acceptances for january, and 17 for februrary), that is to say, in a few days, i will begin to feel significantly less self-imposed pressure;

5/going to write a 200 response to a one-question interview for a book titled progressive poetics, edited by prof. Harvey L. Hix, from whom i have just received a kind invitation today...

6/accepting/'rejecting' poetry submissions to my magazine poetry pacific;

(7/moving from one house on jan 10 to another; refinancing my mortgages; hunting/interviewing financial advisors, accountants and insurance agents to work on my 'last financial arrangement' for myself and my whole family; getting ready to file tax returns; dealing with tenant/maintenance problems as a property manager; taking my younger poet son to see doctors - the internationally famous dr zuo in particular - about his disc problem... oh gosh!)

........

while i have been able to write little poetry for the past 2 months and submit much less poetry than usual, i feel a bit excited that my press is becoming a real business operation although i started it as a hobby - i wanted to play with a publishing house of my own when i was still a graduate student about 20 years ago. i am supposed to be at least semi-retire, but i am getting even busier than duirng the heyday of my work life...