Beginning Year 4

The very first booklet I sent out to maybe 3 people. That first issue of "writings june 2021" was 16 pages laid out with Scribus and typeset in Futura without much margin, no images, no cover stock, and an extra dose of intellect. Since then I began using kraft paper for covers, connecting with my feelings, adding public domain images from the Met Museum's archive, learning Affinity Publisher, printing in color, and writing so regularly that the past three months of booklets clock in at 88 pages. A picture condenses the time in a pretty immediate way.

I've changed in the process. I left a relationship, took a break from San Diego, moved back to live alone for the first time, and entered a new relationship. I started seeing a therapist, switched to a different therapist, and experimented with saffron, St. John's wort, and California poppy. I learned how to bind books (seen in the photo going from 2021 to 2022), began running binding workshops in San Diego, was noticed by the library and invited to share bookbinding with the public. I worked at a book store, learned to make pottery, and began tutoring math and giving music lessons from my home. I started Meetups founding the San Diego Experimental Writing Group in 2022 followed by the Aesthetic Development Group in 2024 to bring people together in creative community, and ran several paid 8-week writing workshops focused on creative process.

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. - Leonard Cohen

And I learned, over and over, that my achievements don't make the measure of me. I practiced listening to the people around me, finding value in things they knew that I didn't understand. I learned how to enjoy losing, and how to laugh at myself. I gave parts of myself over to the community and received new parts of myself back. I became both less of an individual, and more. I embraced responsibility for my well-being and practiced supporting the recovery of those around me. I discovered self-confidence, first for my writing, followed by so much more, coupled with the humility that comes with change, acceptance, and love.

I couldn't have done these things alone. There are thanks and names scattered throughout the booklets, in the middles and ends of essays in which I learned things from the friends and family around me. It's been a pleasure and a privilege to be close to so many wonderful people, to be supported and received by them, to hear their replies to my words, to get their words in return, to grow alongside them, and to celebrate together.

So let's celebrate!

If you would, please send me a response to a piece of writing in any of the past 3 years of booklets. Pick any piece that speaks to you, that makes you laugh or think or feel. I'll republish it on this site and, if you're comfortable with it, include your response as well (it could be as short as a single sentence, or longer than the piece itself). If there are more than a couple replies I'll create a commemorative booklet of the collection of pieces people replied to and send it out in the mail.

Finally if you'd like to share splitbound with a friend, reply with their mailing address and I'll send along a copy of June 2024. For those who would like to be closer to the process and receive each booklet as it comes out, a reminder that you can subscribe for a monthly fee on this site. I would love to have you along for the journey and hope to hear from you as you encounter my process one booklet at a time.

Thank you. It's been quite the ride and I'm so happy to go into year 4 and see what comes from it.

-George