A Brief Pause
Dear Readers,
The time has come for me to make a temporary change in this weekly forum. In order to focus more fully on completing my novel-in-progress before my hands give out, the nature of my posts will be shifting for a couple of months. Instead of the ruminations on life and death I have been posting, I will be sending out such things as a link to something interesting I’ve read recently, or a sneak peak at the new novel, or I might bring your attention to a quote or a word that fascinates me. I might even invite some “guests” to write in my place. (Contact me if you’re interested in writing a guest post!) In short, you won’t be hearing so much about my condition and my thoughts about impending death, but I hope to entertain you — or provoke you — and string you along until I return to the narrative I’ve been following for the last twenty months or so. I haven’t counted, but I believe there must be over one hundred mini-essays posted here since my ALS diagnosis on Feb. 4, 2021.
I plan to return full force in January, possibly earlier if the writing goes well. In the meantime, in addition to working on my novel-in-progress, I will be doing all I can to support the two new novels of mine that were just published last month; I’ll be taking another guided psilocybin trip (you can expect to hear about that); I’ll be hosting my whole family for Thanksgiving — and meeting my new grandniece, Radley — as well as adjusting to whatever challenges ALS presents me with (send good thoughts for the strength of my hands!).
I’ll leave you today with a word I recently learned and which I’ve been obsessing over for the past few weeks:
AGATHOKAKOLOGICAL
I admit that it’s an intimidating word to look at, one you might never use in casual conversation, and it appears impossible to pronounce, but if you break it down a bit, it becomes fairly easy to say.
Agatho-kako-logical
The reason for my obsession, other than the fact that I am always obsessed with words I’ve never met, is its meaning. It means: composed of good and evil. I can’t think of a better word for describing the current moment, an inextricable helix of good and evil. I would love to use the word as the title for the novel I’m working on now, but I’m not sure the sight of that word on a book cover would lure the casual bookstore browser!
Speaking of luring readers. I hope you’ll check out the new novels, Unleashed and Livid. They both tell engaging, surprising stories. If you enjoy reading novels, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And if you like them, please spread the word.
See you next week with something I hope surprises us both!
Happy Autumn,
Cai
