You can do it once, and occasionally twice, but after that everything just fizzles away and enthusiasm dies.

This is not to say that there have not been some amazing successes and worthwhile gains.

One of these was the recognition that there are some prodigiously talented writers in PNG.

Another was the discovery that there are individuals who love and value literature in the country and are dedicated to its success.

Unfortunately these people are too few in number and too scattered to be an effective force as envoys of the written word.

The tyranny of distance is a problem that will continue to plague development in many fields in Papua New Guinea for years to come.

It is therefore heartening to have benefited from improved technologies that can assist Papua New Guinean writers along that journey.

Chief among these are the establishment of digital publishing, including ebooks and print-on-demand facilities.

These global developments have legitimised and given what was once called vanity publishing a degree of respectability and has nullified its exploitative nature.

Well-known and established writers now use these facilities in conjunction with more formalised publishing outlets, especially where they want to be free of invasive editorial control.

This is how I think Papua New Guinean writers can best become independent and control their work - right through from creation to marketing.

What concerns me is the slow uptake of this opportunity by writers.

I suspect this relates to the hard work involved. From my experience with Pukpuk Publications, I know many writers prefer to hand over half-baked manuscripts in the expectation that someone else will fix them and see to their publication.

It’s a curious paradox, writers put in the hard creative work then suddenly become lazy.

There are exceptions of course. People like Baka Bina seized on the new technologies from the word go and hasn’t looked back. Michael Dom and Leonard Roka also recognised the possibilities early in the piece and produced their own books.

Another adopter was Jordan Dean. He has not only used the new technology to produce his own work but has taken to assisting other writers to use it. The Simbu Writer’s Association is doing something similar under the guidance of Francis Nii.

This is an exciting development and may be a valuable addition to individual writers doing their own thing. Small cells of writers helping each other could be another way forward for literature in Papua New Guinea.

There have been some significant issues related to the Crocodile Prize aired on social media and elsewhere in the last couple of months and I’m not sure its future is assured.

At the same time I am comfortable that no matter what happens it has done its job and revived and given new life to what was a moribund literary scene in Papua New Guinea.

That in itself is a worthwhile achievement.