Valerean

Yesterday I showed the first book in my NA series to my partner, and we discussed what I want to do with the series. She's encouraging me to self-publish it, which is probably the best route, and made some very helpful suggestions. I have a lot to think about now. If I go one way, I'm going to end up becoming an independent author/publisher. If I decide against doing that, then I'll probably have to consider scaling back or even retiring from the business in the near future, depending on my partner and my health situation. It's another one of those crossroads moments. You'd think at my age this stuff would get easier, especially as I've done it so many times in the past, but nope. It's still as difficult as it was back in '98 when I got the call from New York. Maybe more so because I know how easily I can fail even with a great idea for a novel series. So: thinking. :)

To begin the process of dipping my toe into self-publishing I went and tried to create a website for my new pseudonym on Wix, which turned out to be a massive headache that I don't need right now. So to save time and pain I've created a simple blog on Blogger for my alter-ego, and over the next couple of days I'm going to be relocating most of my posts about the NA series over there and deleting the rest. I might mention how it's going on this blog now and then, but I want to keep the NA project and Valerean separate. I'm beginning to realize just how much work and aggravation self-publishing is going to be -- massive -- but I'm trying my best not to freak out or talk myself out of it. I still think I can do this if I don't let the challenges discourage me. I'm not stupid, just intimidated. I've already solved the web site problem by opting to do what I know versus what I don't. On the side I'll be working on some free stories to put o...

This morning while I was hunting around for a synonym for the noun vigil (it sounds a bit too archaic, and watch is overused) I noticed Dictionary.com's word of the day: frazil. I'd never before seen the word, and I really don't like when that happens, so I clicked on the link for the definition, as follows: The relatively uncommon noun frazil “ice crystals formed in turbulent water, as in swift streams or rough seas,” comes from Canadian French frasil (also frazil, fraisil ), an extension of French fraisil “coal cinders, coal dust.” French fraisil is an alteration of Vulgar Latin adjective facilis “pertaining to a torch or firebrand,” a derivative of the Latin noun fax (inflectional stem fac- ) “torch, light.” It is unsurprising that frazil first appeared in the Montreal Gazette in the winter of 1888. From light to fire to ice, what do you know. It's a Robert Frost of a word -- really, you could build a poem out of the meaning and evolution of frazil. ...