If it seems like I’m not only posting more often than usual, but also releasing cool non-column things more often than usual, you’re not wrong! That’s because the combination pandemic, climate crisis, and political hellscape* has served as a massive memento mori to remind us that tomorrow is in no way guaranteed. So I should probably try to do some of those things I always planned  And thus my past few posts where I’ve finally put out my first book of short poems, and finally put out an eBook version of From God To Verse.

Today I’m also pleased to share another cool non-column thing, which is that one of my stories that I told at a story slam has been animated by Mary over at SketchMyStory, so if you want to see a stick-figure Seth become stranded with an ancient warrior god and tasty baked goods**, you should absolutely check out my episode of SketchMyStory.

Which is not to say I’m not still writing things! Whether it’s satire about America’s foremost Anti-Vax Spokesperson, or my column about the time I accidentally squandered a life-changing opportunity, I continue to put words in order. Now that I’ve released two books in the past two months though, I may calm down again with the publishing. Like my brief spate of submitting poetry to many journals last year, it’s fun to get things published when I’m reminded that life is fleeting, but usually afterwards I realize that life also has no meaning, and that goes double for publishing books.***

But being alive is still great, I absolutely prefer it to the alternative, so to that end… get vaxxed if you haven’t already, wear a mask, avoid crowded indoor spaces, and try to survive the pandemic so we can see how the climate crisis goes!

* I’m at the Pandemic! I’m at the Climate Crisis! I’m at the combination Pandemic and Climate Crisis!

**I mean, if you have to be stranded, I definitely recommend having tasty baked goods.

*** Can you believe that nobody wants to hire me as a motivational speaker?

If you’re in a rush, I think the post title pretty much obviates everything I have to say here, but then again people in a rush aren’t really reading this blog to begin with. Anyway, as you may be aware, two decades ago in 2001 I started rewriting the entire Torah/Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) line-by-line in rhyming couplets. Interrupted by life, jobs, lack of motivation, and a couple other books, I finally released From God To Verse in 2010, in print form.

It was, and still is, my magnum opus: a complete line-by-line rhyming version of the entire Torah, including short rhymed chapter summaries in addition to the full text. To kick off the Jewish New Year, two decades after I started writing it, I am finally releasing From God To Verse in eBook format.

eBook-ified!

* I hired a copyeditor, and someone to format it all for ebook to make sure all the pages line up right and the Table of Contents is all hyperlinked to every single chapter. I even hired one more person, who I’ll tell you about in a future post in a few weeks. Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder if I should have spared some expense, since given the low price, I am going to have to sell some hundreds of copies just to break even on financial outlay, let alone receiving any recompense for my time and effort.

** And I mean actually $5. I’m sure that I’m losing out on algorithm points by pricing things at whole dollar amounts instead of $4.99, but it always seems like such a gimmick designed to fool people’s brains. I realize it’s a gimmick that works, but I’m trying to be honest and straightforward about things, and thus, $5. This attitude is one of the reasons I will probably never be a huge commercial success.

*** [William Tell Overture] Buck-a-book, buck-a-book, buck-a-book book book, Buck-a-book, buck-a-book, buck-a-book book book, Buck-a-book, buck-a-book, buck-a-book book book, Buck-a-book… a-buck-a-book book book [/William Tell Overture]