Resting, Icing and Heating -- Not too much fun.

All week I have been "resting" and using ice and heat on my back. Thankfully, it is helping. 

I have not abandoned this blog, but I have forced myself to stay away from my keyboard for awhile.

Monday evening as I started to climb the stairs from my studio, I felt a sharp pain in my thigh, and then my leg crumpled and I dropped to the floor. I crawled up the stairs because my left leg was too weak to support me. So, that  is why I am resting, icing, heating and taking anti-inflammatories. I've been told to rest, but not to sit for long periods. No sitting means staying away from my computer. The inflamed muscles in my back and leg need to be stretched, gently. I lie in my recliner for awhile, then get up and walk around the house, then sit for awhile and sleep or watch  TV. I read and water my flowers, piddle around doing this and that, but I am impatient for the pain to be gone.

Do you know you have a piriformis muscle?
Piriformis syndrome is an uncommon neuromuscular disorder that is caused when the piriformis muscle compresses the sciatic nerve. The piriformis muscle is a flat, band-like muscle located in the buttocks near the top of the hip joint. This muscle is important in lower body movement because it stabilizes the hip joint and lifts and rotates the thigh away from the body. This enables us to walk, shift our weight from one foot to another, and maintain balance.  ---from WebMD

I know I push myself and try to do too much. I  hear it from all who know me. I am motivated by my own desires, my own enthusiasm to do that which I enjoy. But right  now, I realize that I can only do so much. I  am being told, "Slow down and take care of your body. It is the only one you will ever have."

So I am limiting my time at the computer. I am going to set my timer, get up and walk, stretch and rest, and I will soon be back to doing all the things I enjoy--writing posts for three blogs, writing poetry and prose and teaching. In fact, I just agreed to teach a four week course at Tri-County Community College in August. Hope to see some of my readers there.

Self-Publishing, Pros and Cons

In the changing world of publishing today, many authors turn to self-publishing. I received a copy of an article in an email today and decided to share an excerpt with you. I don't know who wrote this, but if you do, please let me know so I can give credit. I 'd like to hear what you think about these words on self-publishing.


"When is it not a good idea to consider self or subsidy publishing?

In the first place, let it be said that self-pubbing is usually only a viable business plan for non-fiction authors, not novelists. That's just a general caveat. And by "business plan" I mean, of course, a plan with some potential to recoup the original investment and eventually make a profit.

My biggest caution would be to you authors, particularly fiction authors, who have been trying to get published for less than two or three years, and you're getting impatient to get your books in print. Especially if you've been told your writing is good and getting better. For you, the process of traditional publishing may actually be working for you; i.e. encouraging you to continue improving your books until they become something really good that many people will read.

To self-pub out of impatience may be subverting this process and short-changing yourself of the experience of continuing to grow yourself as a writer. Besides, last I checked, impatience doesn't bring with it a marketing plan. You may be impatient to publish, but if you do, you may end up with the same old problem: nobody's reading your books. First, because they're not good enough, or at least not as good as the competition. Second, because you have no way to sell them."

These words bring to mind a remark made to me by a former student of mine: "Yes, I had no trouble getting the book published. Now I have boxes of books in my basement, but I don't know what to do with them."

Once the books are printed, do you have a marketing plan? We'll discuss that in another post.