I recently read something that said "Depression is a big, fat liar." It got me thinking on the subject. This advice is not meant to take the place of professional help, but rather to supplement it and for short term fixes:
Depression lies to you. It tells you that you are worthless. It tells you things are hopeless. It tells you no one can help you, so it advises you to withdraw from others and even yourself. All of these are untrue, and the advice is the worst possible approach you could take.
So, what can you do?
Some of the simplest strategies involve connecting and exercising. Better yet, combine the two. Go for a vigorous walk with a friend or loved one. It breaks down the walls of isolation that squeeze you into an even tighter depression while producing endorphins to improve your outlook on the moment.
Call up a friend and talk.
Compliment someone you don't know. Smiles are infectious. Seeing a smile come across their face will nourish that feeling of worthwhile that's been dying of malnutrition deep inside your core.
Stop focusing on the negatives. Try to find a positive in every situation for an entire day. If someone says something to you that you'd normally take as a negative, examine it to see if you might have just pre-disposed yourself for it to be a negative and perhaps they meant it as a positive. If they clearly did not, think of how much worse off their life must be that they feel like they need to try to drag everyone down to their level of misery. Do this for a whole day, and you'll find a decrease in your stress levels. Then do it again the next day.
Don't listen to "downer" or "angry" music unless it usually puts you into a happy mood. Find happier music to listen to when you are in your most down moods.
Change your routine for a short period of time. Don't let the same thing every day get you into a rut. Try something different. If you can't think of anything, try some basic stuff. Try learning to use your non-dominant hand to do a basic task you do every day like brush your teeth. Try pulling out a board game you haven't played in forever and playing it with a friend. Sign up for a class to learn something you've always wanted to learn. It doesn't really matter about getting a good grade as long as you achieve the objectives of a) changing your routine and b) learning something new.
Host a get-together for friends and ask them to invite someone they think you might like. During the gathering, don't let yourself be a wallflower.
If you have any other ideas of quick, short-term fixes, PLEASE post your ideas in the comments, and thanks for reading.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Death Takes A Vacation
What's been happening since the last blog? Well, not much in the writing realm, though there has been one significant happening on the writing front that I'll talk about in a minute. First, I've only managed to write one day since the last blog post update, mostly because of lack of inspiration and desire. I've just been kind of blah on creativity the past few weeks. I suppose there are lots of reason, not the least of which is me not making myself write even through the non-motivational period (like I tell Candice she needs to do with her art when she gets into similar creativity droughts - I am apparently a hypocrite - at least recently.
A little over a week ago, Candice's grandma suffered a heart attack and had to be carried away by ambulance. She's fine now, but it was scary for a couple of days. She made it home just in time for her birthday party (which was also Gabe's and Jeanette's party). She's been tired a lot more since coming home, but seems to be getting stronger with each passing day.
Gabe has become a greedy little jerk. Everything is all about "me, me, me" and "gimme, gimme." I know we're not knowingly promoting such an attitude, and it makes us want to go without giving presents to him for a while if he doesn't grow out of it soon.
Now for the "big" writing news - yesterday I sat down and wrote for the first time in weeks, and not only did I start a new story, I finished a new story. It's only 3 pages and about 1200 words, but it's a pretty decent story. It revolves around who death is, and his decision to finally take a vacation, which turns into him taking off a whole year and covers how the world changes in that time.
It was a concept that occurred to me while listening to The Book Thief (which we're almost finished listening to). It is narrated by death and he describes taking the souls away, so naturally, the though occurred to me "What if he didn't do it?"
Anyway, that's what has been happening with me and my writing lately, thanks for reading.
A little over a week ago, Candice's grandma suffered a heart attack and had to be carried away by ambulance. She's fine now, but it was scary for a couple of days. She made it home just in time for her birthday party (which was also Gabe's and Jeanette's party). She's been tired a lot more since coming home, but seems to be getting stronger with each passing day.
Gabe has become a greedy little jerk. Everything is all about "me, me, me" and "gimme, gimme." I know we're not knowingly promoting such an attitude, and it makes us want to go without giving presents to him for a while if he doesn't grow out of it soon.
Now for the "big" writing news - yesterday I sat down and wrote for the first time in weeks, and not only did I start a new story, I finished a new story. It's only 3 pages and about 1200 words, but it's a pretty decent story. It revolves around who death is, and his decision to finally take a vacation, which turns into him taking off a whole year and covers how the world changes in that time.
It was a concept that occurred to me while listening to The Book Thief (which we're almost finished listening to). It is narrated by death and he describes taking the souls away, so naturally, the though occurred to me "What if he didn't do it?"
Anyway, that's what has been happening with me and my writing lately, thanks for reading.
Friday, March 21, 2014
New Approaches
First, if you haven't read my post on how to best support your favorite independent author, do so now. Then go support them as best you can. I'll wait.
OK, thanks. They'll appreciate it (BTW, the advice will also work for new/lesser known authors with mainstream publishers, too.
So what's happening in the writing world of T. Allan Bishop lately? Well, the muse story stepped back and hasn't cried out for more to be written lately, so I have it set slightly aside. The zombie story has reshaped itself, and I've written several sections for it over the past week. It looks now like it'll be formed mostly of "newspaper articles," "police report" excerpts, "medical and lab report" excerpts, personal letters, etc. I don't know if that will be just one section that talks about the outbreak and part II might change POV to be first or third person yet or not. the story hasn't revealed details from that far ahead yet. I do know that some of the personal notes will be from at least one zombie. I know that this isn't the first time an approach like this has been used (Stephen King's Carrie comes to mind), but it's a new approach for me.
The Josef Mengele vampire story has been popping into my head a little lately, too. So, it might just turn out that I start juggling stories based on which one is yelling at me the loudest that day.
I got tired of having to constantly reboot my phone, have apps stop responding, the previously awesome battery life suddenly being non-existent, and the phone not even give me the option to answer it. I was planning on buying it later this summer when I hoped a sale would be happening (though it was going to be painful waiting that long when it was basically a paper weight). When I did a search for rumored sales of the phone I had decided I wanted, I found that it was $130 cheaper from Amazon than from Verizon, so I went ahead and got it and will be putting the money I was going to be setting aside for it to the credit card bill to pay for it. We'll keep the Amazon route in mind when we go to upgrade Candice's phone eventually, too. If it saves us $$, why not?
I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The primary reason was because I have large clumsy fingers and figured (correctly) that it would be easier for me to type, etc on it. The secondary reasons was that it has handwriting recognition and I figured that could help me as a writer, and that it has good battery life. It turns out the handwriting recognition is AMAZING (but slow). It recognized my handwriting even when I wrote in my crappiest form and EVEN when I wrote in cursive. I have to write a little slower to get the handwriting recognition to work and convert to typed text, but I'll be able to use it when waiting in waiting rooms, or lying in bed and getting inspired, etc. So, as a writer, this is the first time that writing using technology has excited me instead of simply handwriting on paper with a pencil, this is another new approach for me to writing. Granted, when I really get in the groove, I will still probably use a pad and pencil for now, but eventually this might be the way I go. (This phone will also allow me to change the battery if/when this one starts to die, too).
That's all I have for this post. Thanks for reading.
OK, thanks. They'll appreciate it (BTW, the advice will also work for new/lesser known authors with mainstream publishers, too.
So what's happening in the writing world of T. Allan Bishop lately? Well, the muse story stepped back and hasn't cried out for more to be written lately, so I have it set slightly aside. The zombie story has reshaped itself, and I've written several sections for it over the past week. It looks now like it'll be formed mostly of "newspaper articles," "police report" excerpts, "medical and lab report" excerpts, personal letters, etc. I don't know if that will be just one section that talks about the outbreak and part II might change POV to be first or third person yet or not. the story hasn't revealed details from that far ahead yet. I do know that some of the personal notes will be from at least one zombie. I know that this isn't the first time an approach like this has been used (Stephen King's Carrie comes to mind), but it's a new approach for me.
The Josef Mengele vampire story has been popping into my head a little lately, too. So, it might just turn out that I start juggling stories based on which one is yelling at me the loudest that day.
I got tired of having to constantly reboot my phone, have apps stop responding, the previously awesome battery life suddenly being non-existent, and the phone not even give me the option to answer it. I was planning on buying it later this summer when I hoped a sale would be happening (though it was going to be painful waiting that long when it was basically a paper weight). When I did a search for rumored sales of the phone I had decided I wanted, I found that it was $130 cheaper from Amazon than from Verizon, so I went ahead and got it and will be putting the money I was going to be setting aside for it to the credit card bill to pay for it. We'll keep the Amazon route in mind when we go to upgrade Candice's phone eventually, too. If it saves us $$, why not?
I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The primary reason was because I have large clumsy fingers and figured (correctly) that it would be easier for me to type, etc on it. The secondary reasons was that it has handwriting recognition and I figured that could help me as a writer, and that it has good battery life. It turns out the handwriting recognition is AMAZING (but slow). It recognized my handwriting even when I wrote in my crappiest form and EVEN when I wrote in cursive. I have to write a little slower to get the handwriting recognition to work and convert to typed text, but I'll be able to use it when waiting in waiting rooms, or lying in bed and getting inspired, etc. So, as a writer, this is the first time that writing using technology has excited me instead of simply handwriting on paper with a pencil, this is another new approach for me to writing. Granted, when I really get in the groove, I will still probably use a pad and pencil for now, but eventually this might be the way I go. (This phone will also allow me to change the battery if/when this one starts to die, too).
That's all I have for this post. Thanks for reading.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
How To Best Support Your Favorite Independent Author (or Artist)
Independent authors are changing the way the publishing world works. You'll often find their books published for much less than mainstream publishing books electronically for e-readers like the Kindle, Nook, iPad, tablets, etc. Some even release a book for free in hopes that people will like it and will purchase their other books.
When you discover one of these authors, there are some things you can do to make them more successful. This has already happened to some, who have been picked up by larger publishers for better distribution. Here's a small list that isn't all-inclusive:
1. The obvious: Buy their books.
2. The next obvious: Tell your friends and family.
3. The not-so-obvious: Write a review of their book. This is perhaps the most important thing you can do, because it will reach so many more people and surveys have shown that at twice as many of "first time" book purchases for a new author are based more on reviews than by recommendations from friends or family.
4. Corollary to #3: Review the book on other sites where you can. This includes other venues where it can be bought as well as sites like Goodreads and Shelfari.
5: Important corollary to numbers 3 and 4: Do not write a review that will make the book sound better than it really is. Write an HONEST review of it. If it is 4 stars, don't give it 5 just because you've liked their other works or know them and want them to be more successful. Write it honestly and include enough details to help someone else decide if they, too, might like to read it (but not so much you reveal the story).
6. If they have a web page, share it on social media for them.
7. If they have a social media presence, follow them. But it isn't enough to just follow them. You also need to share, click like, +1, etc. their posts. Facebook for instance, inhibits small businesses and independent authors and artists from being seen by their core audience and followers with their algorithm to show "what is important" by only selecting random posts from a site you've clicked "like" on. The more posts from that page gets shared and/or liked, the more of their posts that will show to people that have already clicked "like" on their page (and the more likely they can then click "like" or "share").
8. Corollary to #7: go to their page just in case you didn't get to see some of their posts.
9. Encourage them. Post something to their page letting them know you anxiously await their next book, but don't be too pushy. Artists and Authors like encouragement, but not so much pressure to complete something.
10. Repeat.
That's all for this week's blog. Thanks for reading.
Connect with Me
When you discover one of these authors, there are some things you can do to make them more successful. This has already happened to some, who have been picked up by larger publishers for better distribution. Here's a small list that isn't all-inclusive:
1. The obvious: Buy their books.
2. The next obvious: Tell your friends and family.
3. The not-so-obvious: Write a review of their book. This is perhaps the most important thing you can do, because it will reach so many more people and surveys have shown that at twice as many of "first time" book purchases for a new author are based more on reviews than by recommendations from friends or family.
4. Corollary to #3: Review the book on other sites where you can. This includes other venues where it can be bought as well as sites like Goodreads and Shelfari.
5: Important corollary to numbers 3 and 4: Do not write a review that will make the book sound better than it really is. Write an HONEST review of it. If it is 4 stars, don't give it 5 just because you've liked their other works or know them and want them to be more successful. Write it honestly and include enough details to help someone else decide if they, too, might like to read it (but not so much you reveal the story).
6. If they have a web page, share it on social media for them.
7. If they have a social media presence, follow them. But it isn't enough to just follow them. You also need to share, click like, +1, etc. their posts. Facebook for instance, inhibits small businesses and independent authors and artists from being seen by their core audience and followers with their algorithm to show "what is important" by only selecting random posts from a site you've clicked "like" on. The more posts from that page gets shared and/or liked, the more of their posts that will show to people that have already clicked "like" on their page (and the more likely they can then click "like" or "share").
8. Corollary to #7: go to their page just in case you didn't get to see some of their posts.
9. Encourage them. Post something to their page letting them know you anxiously await their next book, but don't be too pushy. Artists and Authors like encouragement, but not so much pressure to complete something.
10. Repeat.
That's all for this week's blog. Thanks for reading.
Connect with Me
Follow me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/TAllanBishop
Follow me on Twitter:
@TAllanBishop
Follow my blog: http://anblicksanamorphosis.blogspot.com/
I’m also on Tumblr: http://tallanbishop.tumblr.com/
Favorite me at Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TAllanBishop
Find me on Google +: http://plus.google.com/+TimBishopTAllanBishop
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Fonts Can Be A Hassle
Since Forbidden Knowledge has Macedonian, Chinese, and Arabic Text in it, I searched for a way to get them to all show up without having to mess with a whole lot of fonts that might not be in some handheld readers. I found that Arial Unicode MS was available on most. But after reading some more, I'm finding that many of them don't support displaying the extra characters needed to show those languages. Which of course means that I will have to change the story some if I plan to publish it in At The Turn Of Midnight (the tentative title of book number two). I'm torn between rewriting the parts to just mention the various languages used on the book cover, or making a picture that I include that shows them similarly to how I show them in the text of the story. Feedback would be appreciated. Would the pictures (there would be two, slightly different) distract from the story or enhance it? One would look similar to the one I've included on a few other blog posts and also include here below:
The muse story has grown some more, and parts of the beginning have been re-written to fit the way the story seems to be headed.
Also, in my self-editing phase, I've written about 300 more words to Cat's Eye View, which is about how a cat sees the world it lives in. I've also made some changes to The Journey, which is a sort of surreal story of a man's journey through the cosmos. Tomorrow I hope to either write some more towards one of my ongoing short stories I'm working on, or to do some more editing on the stories from Dark Stories For A Restless Night.
That's all for this blog. Thanks for reading, and come back soon. I plan to write a blog on how you can best help support your favorite independent author (hint: it's a lot more than just buying their books)
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Pricing For Dark Stories For A Restless Night
I was reading The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success from Smashwords today since the words weren't flowing when I had a chance to write, and it looks like my pricing might be wrong. In it, it discusses sales at various price ranges. $.01-$.99 had a sales ratio of 5.9x, $1-$1.99 was 3.2x, $2-$2.99 was 6.22x, $6-$6.99 was 2.2x, and $10+ was 1x. For some reason, in two different years of doing the analysis, having a sale price between a dollar and $1.99 was kind of a black hole for sales. With that in mind, I plan to now price it at $0.99. That should get it out to quite a bit more readers.
On another writing note, I did write more for the muse story the other night, though I think the second section that I wrote belongs at the beginning. It's also shaping up to be a frightening story for artist types. We'll see if my muse strikes some more later this week.
That's all I have for this entry, thanks for reading!
On another writing note, I did write more for the muse story the other night, though I think the second section that I wrote belongs at the beginning. It's also shaping up to be a frightening story for artist types. We'll see if my muse strikes some more later this week.
That's all I have for this entry, thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Muses?
Yesterday I got an image in my head of a painting. It involved a muse and a painter, though the muse is not the classic simple inspiration type from literature references.. It persisted, and I wrote a small scene describing it last night. It doesn't fit into any of my current story ideas, but it might end up being a story idea of its own.
I haven't had any story speak to me since finishing Forbidden Knowledge, so hopefully this is a sign that the stories will start to flow again soon.
I finally got the license plate sticker put on yesterday, also. I had to scrape off ten years' worth of previous stickers first, but it's done now.
I also cut the baseboard for Candice's witch cottage dollhouse. I think we're getting to a point where I'm supposed to help put it together and/or start wiring it soon, but I'm not sure. Candice also got inspired to do some clay work last night making miniature wedding cakes with "sugar skulls" on them. Since sugar skulls are normally 1:12 scale, she's making them in 1:144 scale, which is apparently pretty frustrating.
I think today might be a lazy day with maybe a little bit of inspiration thrown in if I'm lucky. That's all for this blog, thanks for reading.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Quill Writing
