Why hasn't a blog appeared on this website appeared in a while?
Writers' note. From Merriam Webster: Most grammarians feel that awhile should only be used to modify a verb and a while should be used after prepositions or in phrases like a while ago or a while back. Then M-W suggests it's okay to go with your gut.
While more or less on the subject, you've no doubt been avoiding using flounder and founder like I have. No problem as nouns. But here's M-W on their use as verbs:
"Flounder is a relatively common verb that current evidence dates to the late 16th century, when it was likely born by means of an alteration of an older verb, founder. The two have been confused ever since. Today, founder is most often used as a synonym of fail, or, in the case of a waterborne vessel, as a word meaning "to fill with water and sink." Formerly, it was also frequently applied when a horse stumbled badly and was unable to keep walking. It's likely this sense of founder led to the original and now-obsolete meaning of flounder: "to stumble." In modern use, flounder typically means "to struggle" or "to act clumsily"; the word lacks the finality of founder, which usually denotes complete collapse or failure, as that of a sunken ship."
Neither the blog nor I foundered unless you count a war here in Israel over the past two and a half months. A glitch regarding transmission of blogs that I've failed to address allowed me to procrastinate on writing more of them. In the past, this website has rattled on about the production of Baby Doe, published two years ago, and now reaching sales pushed somewhat by the magic of Facebook ads, (Paperback and Ebook) of over 2000 with added sales of a more recent audiobook.
Over the last year or so, with the help of friends, writing buddies, developmental editors, beta readers, line editors, proof readers, and book designers (yeah, it does take a village), the second novel in the Neonatal ICU series was readied for publication, and DiBene's Offer is now available through the usual online vendors, and your favorite neighborhood bookstore (if you encourage them with the following information:
For the those unfamiliar with the use of the Unicode Character “🔗” (U+1F517) used to embed hyperlinks in the text, you can click on either or each of the underlined titles in the two paragraphs above to further your aquaintance with the aforesaid novels. And the verbiage inserted below is meant for you to hurry out and buy your own copy of the paperbacks if you have primed the manager with this information:
Baby Doe is a novel based on a true story that happened (not in our hospital) when I was neonatologist in Boston. Eli Kurz has a minor role as a seinior pediatric resident in the book: In early 1984, newly appointed assistant professor Sophia Shulder and her husband, Martin, have plenty of time to start a family, that is until an act of forgetfulness results in a surprise pregnancy. The day after the birth of their apparently normal son, the new parents learn that their baby has Down syndrome and other major problems requiring immediate risky surgeries. In shock, they resist consenting to aggressive treatment. As their baby’s condition worsens, the hospital begins legal proceedings to take the medical decisions away from Sophia and Martin. Doctors, nurses, administrators, lawyers, activists, and politicians all have an opinion on what should happen with their baby. Should a severely disabled baby’s death ever be preferable to life? In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration implemented regulations threatening prosecution of anyone withholding treatment from a newborn with birth defects. Who should have the ultimate right to decide?
DiBene's Offer, the second novel in the Neonatal ICU series, starts a decade later when Eli has a junior faculty position in Boston. Some of my discerning colleagues may recognize a few highly highly fictionalized events that I was involved in:
In 1994, young Dr. Eli Kurz is in over his head when he's appointed to a coveted position as head of a major division at Harvard's Department of Pediatrics. After a gaffe during his presentation at a major departmental review, he is "advised" by his chairperson to get up to speed on his research at a distant basic science lab or risk losing his position altogether. Basic science for Eli is synonymous with un-understandable, but he stumbles on a discovery with some clinical promise. Convinced by his rich and raffish new friend, DiBene, that he can fast track his research at a private lab on an island in the Antilles, Eli learns the lab is not as it seemed, and he must find a way quickly to save his job, his reputation, and his life.
