is a term commonly used to refer to the years between a turtle's hatching and its return to coastal waters as a juvenile. Although there have been sightings of hatchling-sized turtles adrift in sargassum and other sea grasses, no one has yet discovered where the majority of newly hatched turtles spend their childhood. It is not even known how long this period lasts, although estimates range from three to seven years. --- excerpt from www.turtles.org

A fledgling business is often like a tiny turtle, I think. Left out there, floating in the wide open sea, nibbling at any passing seaweed, it hopes to survive the elements long enough to build its strength, and one day return to its natal beach. Of course, many turtles never make it, because they simply die, or worse, they get eaten by sharks. Oh, there are lots of sharks in the wide open sea -- sharks that look friendly and helpful enough in the beginning and then, just at the right moment, when the tiny little baby turtle thinks its safe and sound and protected, the shark turns around, a Nosferatu who bares its row of sharp teeth, and -- oops, no more turtle.

But if they can outwit the sharks, turtles last a long time, don't they? For hundreds of years, no? We're hoping to be resilient that way. Even if it means the three of us, in this business, in this family of friends, have to take different lonely paths for a while. Only for a while. It makes me sad to think about it, all the same.

I think Saiffuddin's right. Its time for me to muster the courage to sit down and write : critics, rejection, and grammar be damned. It's time to stop running away from that.