My morale bolstered by so many signs of spring, I went out for a walk today. Involuntarily, or just carelessly, I entered a bookstore on my way, and leafed through a couple of odd books. The ignoble variety bewildered me at first, and subsequently I started feeling ill at ease surrounded by so much indiscretion, hope, and stupidity. But only after I had imagined my own Residua perched somewhere on a crowded shelf in expectation of a stray customer I begun to feel such remorse and revulsion that I stumbled toward the accursed entrance and practically ran out into the street. The taste of spring and prospects of the inevitable summer only gradually restored my humor and my sense of proportion. After all, there is no escape from the animal kingdom.

Addendum I (October 25, 2013)

Since I imagine no longer my own Residua perched precipitously on a crowded shelf of a bookstore, I do not stray into such places any longer. In fact, I avoid them like the plague. I not only feel ill at ease when I am surrounded by so much indiscretion, hope, and stupidity, but I feel positively outraged by the never-ending spectacle, as well. As far as publishing my writings is concerned, the World Wide Web is entirely to my liking. It did not even exist so many years back, when I could not imagine ever becoming my own publisher. As well as my own most avid reader, for that matter. Alleluia!

Addendum II (March 8, 2016)

I year after the first addendum was written, I found a publisher for one selection of pieces from my magnum opus. Printed and bound, now it can be found in some bookstores, as well. Bound by my contract with the publisher, though, I cannot offer it for free on the World Wide Web. And that annoys me no end at this stage of my life. Thus I skipped publishers with three selections that followed. Now they can be found on the web. Sooner or later, all the selections will be free, and I will become my own publisher for true. There are as many as ten of them at present, and it is quite likely that their number will not change in the years to come (“Ten Selections from My Residua,” December 18, 2015). After all, they are meant as pointers to my writings, which can offer many a selection on a wide variety of subjects. If anyone wishes to make one, and even publish it as a selection of their own, they are more than welcome. Subject to a few straightforward rules, my writings are open to all (“A Publisher’s Nightmare,” February 11, 2016). Ah, what a bookstore experience it would be for me to chance upon a book of my own that I have never even dreamed about!