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Becoming!: A Lifetime of Prose
Becoming!: A Lifetime of Prose
Becoming!: A Lifetime of Prose
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Becoming!: A Lifetime of Prose

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BECOMING!


A piece of canvas becomes a work of art
Once the artist makes his final mark.
A piece of stone becomes a sculpture
Once the sculptor chips away the last chip.
For a poet,
A plain piece of paper becomes a priceless gem
Once he finally lifts his pen.
God is the artist
That's painting beauty within the heart of our soul.
God is the sculptor.
That's chipping away at the flaws in our character
To make us into His perfect image.
God is the poet
That would turn the plainness of our lives
Into poetic praise.


Contained within this volume are words of prose
that were written while in the process of becoming.
(ORGANIZED ALPHABETICALLY BY TITLE)
LanguageEnglish
PublisherXlibris US
Release dateMar 28, 2014
ISBN9781493183098
Becoming!: A Lifetime of Prose
Author

Bob E. McGlothlin

As a fifteen year old boy, I had very few friends. So, I began to spend much time with my Dad’s animals and in deep thought about life. I began to express my thoughts on paper in the form of Poetry and much of my time I spent taking care of my Dad’s animals I spent singing to them, making up songs then writing them down later. Although none of the music had the priveledge of being written down, I hung on the the words. Many of my poems actually started out as unwritten songs. In 1994, as an accomplished poet I had an idea. Probably not a new idea, but it was new to me. There was one of my poems that I knew had some depth to it and I knew it was as good as “Foot Prints In The Sand.” What sparked this idea was walking through a new store. On their walls they displayed some decorative paper. I envisioned my poem printed upon some of that paper. So, I typed it up and then had it transferred on to one of those decorative prints. Next, I walked out on the street just a few feet away from the shop and ask a man if he would like to read my poem. He said, “Sure.” I handed him a copy. He read it. Then I said, “you can have that copy for $1.00.” He just reached into his pocket and pulled out a $1.00, and gave it to me. I started that afternoon with 5 copies on decorative paper. 2½ months later I had grossed $1,000.00 in just the sale of that one poem. And that was just one-on-one direct sales. I knew that I had something. I got busy working with other poems I had written as well. In about two years, not only had I saturated my local market, but my efforts sparked other poets in my area to do the same. So, my local market played out so to speak. I knew that if I could somehow enlarge my market, I could do well just publishing and selling my writing. Another poet from Natchitoches, Louisiana heard about my business of selling my poetic works and sent me a letter enquiring of me as to how I do it. She also asked me if I could handle hers. Below is a copy of the text of the letter I sent her in return in September of 1997. ——— First of all, Bob’s Poetry Shop is, at present, merely a business name in which I conduct business using my poetry as the basis of a product line. I’ve created most of my product line through using the equipment and the materials housed at local self serve printing services; and utilize the services of the same. For large orders I utilize the services of a local print shop. It all started with one poem entitled, “Two Buds,” which I developed into a decorative frame-able print. Then I went door-to-door commercially selling copies of just this one print. After 2½ months, I had sold over 1,000 prints of that poem, one print at a time. That market test was a huge success; so I started developing more of my poems into the same type of product, and found that they also began to sell. Then I found I could sell laminated prints of the same. Now, I’ve published a book, and my newest product line is calendars and bookmarks. Right now, I’ve been operating a licensed business with virtually no overhead (no building, no machine maintenance, no electric bill, etc . . .) for the last year. I’ve actually been selling this product line for more than four years now. Don’t get me wrong. I do have plans to build a shop that would house two computers, a laminator, a binder, and sufficient storage space to operate a publication and distribution business. At present though, the physical shop is merely a dream, a goal that I’m reaching for. Right now it is just a part time business; because I also work a full time job at KFC here in Alexandria. So far, my most profitable method of distribution has been direct sales; although I do have some books in stores such as Books-A-Million, White Steeple Books and Music, King’s Emporium, and the Baptist Book Store. I am also planning on using the Internet as well. I’ve tried distributing the poetry of two other writers in the past; but I’ve found that the biggest problem I have right now is tracking. I am currently not set up to tract sales sufficiently to produce or sell another author’s work. As soon as I am set up, I plan to do just that. About 50% to 75% of my writing is inspirational or Bible-based material. With this letter I will enclose a couple of my most noted pieces. I have written tongue-twisters, romantic prose, nursery rhymes, Sunday School songs, and just for fun poems. I’ve been writing poetry for 27 years; and have probably lost literally thousands of pieces over the years; because I didn’t really didn’t understand the gift that I had. Now that I have seen my work touch people’s lives, I’m dedicated to the cause of publishing my work, hense the creation of Bob’s Poetry Shop. I want to thank you for your interest in Bob’s Poetry Shop, and I’m open to further communication with you, even meeting you, should you so desire. Perhaps as fellow poets we can share some interesting inspirational moments. I will look forward to hearing from you again soon. If you have access to email, my email address is bps80 at hotmail dot com (no longer active). ——— Since this letter, I’ve changed the name to Bob’s Poetic Ministries, and the new email address is apoetbob@myway.com. And the book referred to in the letter is a poetry book entitled, “Let This Light So Shine”. In the meantime, I’ve written another book entitled “The Focused Fast,” and I placed it first of all at a few local bookstores, then finally made it available online at www.bobspoeticministries.yolasite.com. While the book was in the local artist section of Books-A-Million in my area, it achieved best-seller status among the local authors. But then Books-A-Million decided to change their purchasing policy and began requiring all local authors to have an ISBN and a bar code. In the short time that it was there I sold out of my first print of this new book. Then I decided to reformat the book and try to sell it as a correspondence course. I sold about 50 more, not through mail order, but as whole binders of the complete course. So, next I reformatted again, and sold it as a half size book (5½ X 8½). So, far I’ve probably sold about 250 copies, including the newest CD version. Being that it is now online, I just assumed it would fly. But I now know, without the proper knowledge of how to promote the book, it won’t sell there either. This book is too important (not just for me, but for the masses that could be changed by its message) to just quit and give up. I’ve got to find a way to get the word out to people that will not only buy the book but also read it and absorb its message. Once in a while a book comes along that has the power to change lives. And, believe me, this is one of those books. I’ve seen it work in people’s lives already. One of the ladies that I ask to proof read the book told me that each paragraph she read sent her to her knees weeping. She had to pray through each paragraph. Now, I know that it won’t affect everyone like that; but I’m sure there are others that will be affected that way. Finally, I uploaded several books online that are presently for sale at the following sites: www.bobspoeticministries.yolasite.com; www.poetbob.com; www.poetbob.ws; www.poetbobsgiftsuperstore.com including a four volume set of my Inspirational poetry entitled “Becoming”. If you would like to be encouraged, strengthened, uplifted, or edified in anyway, take some time and visit my bookstores and review my books. More Recently, I moved to the Paris, Tennessee area where I have spent much more time on the publishing end of my writing. And now, I have entered into this working relationship with Xlibris publishing to bring you one new book, “Rivers Of Inspiration”, a best of collection of my inspirational work and a new version of “The Focused Fast”, A Spiritual Warfare Traing Course.

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