Wheat from chaff

Sorting the wheat from the chaff

Really Ray don't you think

That sounds kinda naff

Clichéteriffic

But it is what I am doing now

In more ways than one

Come to think of it

In many more ways

As carefully I chose

The direction of

The rest of

My life

Something we all do

From time to time

But

In this case

With some degree of urgency

An emergency sort out

Of sorts

Starting with the stories

Poems and essays

An assay

Of my written work of gold silver tin

And what really oughta go in

The bin

Dearest reader,

You may well find me publishing and republishing lots of stuff as I go though a large part of my body of writing to decide what may be worth keeping. I figure that the more I am able to weed out the weeds, the easier it will be to identify any of the material that may be worth reading.

I may even collect together enough material worthy of the bookshelf. Be it:

• Short stories and even shorter flash or micro fiction

• Poetic or lyric works

• Articles about the creative arts in many different forms

• Articles about other subjects

What would you do if you discovered you only had six months to live? When asked this question, Isaac Asimov is reputed to have said that he would type faster. I have taken the view that, since discovering I have a life-limiting illness, I need to go in a different direction.

I need to hit the [Del] key quicker.

Over the past five decades I have produced a huge volume of written work. Much of this is not readily accessible but most of the rest is of no particular value. I like to think, however, that there are some gems, some tiny pockets of shiny golden metal, that are worth reading. By washing away the slurry, I hope to unearth the glittering stuff.

Who knows, I may even come up with some new ideas for one or two.... now what did we use to call them.... oh yeah! I remember now:

BOOKS