Gumroad Disappointment: Free Poetry Giveaway and No Customer Downloads

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 And the immediate action I am taking today. Image by  Gerd Altmann  from  Pixabay - Edited by Marilyn Glover with Canva Self-publishing is no simple task. I find the marketing aspect a little overwhelming, and to be completely honest, highly disappointing.  At least so far. While I've been an online writer for six years, to date, self-promotion has involved LinkedIn, X, cross-publishing between Vocal Media and Medium, and utilizing Pinterest. Easy peasy, and I've enjoyed it. However, now I am set to release my debut poetry collection, a Jungian-themed chapbook, and I am learning the nitty-gritty details beyond the art of words. Writing and formatting my book is only the artist's vision, but releasing that vision into the world and finding actual readers requires skillful marketing. For someone who thoroughly enjoys the artistic side of matters, this has proven quite an eye-opener. It's a completely different beast. Which leads me to Gumroad. Three weeks ago, I ...
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Weight of the Contour

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A detailed pencil sketch of a smiling woman holding her sunglasses, featuring lines and shading.
Image by Riki32 from Pixabay- Edited by Marilyn Glover with Canva



A Jungian-inspired exploration from the forthcoming debut chapbook, Shadow’s Reprieve


The following poem will be featured in my late May 2026 chapbook, Shadow's Reprieve, a poetry collection inspired by Carl Jung's theories. In this poem, I compare shadow work to pencil sketching, speaking of a frustrated artist, one who fears sharing their creations with the world.


Weight of the Contour



My pencil art: outer lines
Traced and retraced, bled into a drawing—
Dark and distracting
Overburdened, a sketch leans too much on boundaries
Interior details lack eye appeal
leaving the contour to defend itself

Right hand dominates
Creating only for my eyes to see—
Unhindered, free-flowing
Art display thwarts my process
Blocking my abilities, revealing a left-handed visual
Unnatural, confusing; I prefer a personal sketchbook

Erased lines, pencil smudgings
I am a frustrated artist
Internal structure: features, planes, shapes—
Nothing looks right
Detail, dimension, texture— fail
I cannot fill in the boundaries; negative and positive space
A blending shame, I retrace outlines
Contour stands on its own
My weight to carry

This poem is a glimpse into the themes of my upcoming collection, Shadow’s Reprieve. If these words resonated with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments—and please follow this blog to stay tuned for more from the chapbook.









Location: New York, NY, USA

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