READING, WRITING AND THE ARITHMETICS OF PUBLISHING

I'm overwhelmed every time I walk into a bookstore at the number of books published every year. It's a daunting task getting a book published. Even Jane Austen couldn't get Pride and Prejudice in print until her father paid for the first publication. My brother, Duane Ernst, was a great letter writer. He had studied English literature at the University of Chicago and later at UC Berkeley. He was the best read person I'd ever known and was capable of turning a bon mot. I asked him once why he didn't write prose and his response baffled me. He said that there was no point since anything he wrote would never be published. He died at fifty and all I have are a few letters from him which I treasure. I know how he felt now. I hope one day when I've 'thinned out' as Woody Allen put it, my sons and nieces will be happy to have what I put down on paper as something other than memories to remember me by.