Since my book was published, I’ve not done much to get the word out. As a result, I haven’t sold many copies. People who have read it tell me what a difference it has made in their lives, but I have not followed up on this and reached out to others.
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“I have a hard time walking the fine line between bragging about myself and celebrating what God is doing in my life.”
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Lately, I have come to accept the importance of the mission God has called me to carry out. There are so many people impacted by mental illness who are in desperate need of saving faith. As the body of Christ, it’s our delightful duty to show compassion for hurting souls.
The emotional anguish caused by brain diseases like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, is as real and agonizing as any bodily pain caused by a physical illness. I know this. First hand. I also know the grace of God that provides a measure of healing in this life and the hope of healing in the next.
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“It’s time to take my bushel off God’s light in me, even if I reveal the flaws I so want to hide.”
So this weekend, I posted this message on Facebook:
For almost twenty years, I served as a pastor with bipolar disorder. I have journeyed with this illness from manic (even psychotic) peaks to dark valleys of despair. At both extremes, I have flirted with death—coming very close to ending my life and doing great damage to those around me. .
Countless times, when I have been driven to the edge of a cliff, God has rescued me and set me on level ground. Why would God do this? Because God delights in me even in disorder. Delight is first an expression of God’s love for us. Since God delights in us, we have a “delightful duty” to share in God’s joy.
The media often portray the terrible extremes where untreated mental illness leads to horrific homicide or shameful suicide. What is missing is a compassionate portrayal of all the rest of us who struggle to survive and be faithful. Delight in Disorder reveals the beautiful grace of God that flows into grateful living if you have a mental illness and greater understanding if you want to love another who does.
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60 people have shared the message. I’ve sold more books in 24 hours than Amazon has sold for me in 48 months.
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“But the most powerful response was from one who didn’t buy a book or share the post. It was a desperate plea.”
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Me: D., thank you for reaching out and being open about you suicidal thoughts. It’s important that you get help. Please message me.
D: I am a daily survivor I do it for my kids I’ve tried suicide and failed. My sister has committed suicide it runs in my family my mother attempted when I was a kid
Me: D., do you have a plan to kill yourself? When you say you have suicidal thoughts, Denny, what do you mean? I’m praying for you, brother.
D: No. I’ve planned but never went thru with is. I got two biological and one step son. I work daily sometimes I feel like I’m better off dead but my kids bring me back from reality
Me: Well, I’m very glad you’ve found a reason to live. Your kids love and need you, for sure.
D: I’m reminded every day I’m needed if not for anyone else then my two biological kids.
Me: Amen to that!
D: Thanks man I need someone to talk to sometime. Thanks for even taking the time out to talk with me
Me: Message me anytime, D.. I can’t promise I will always be available. But when I am, I’ll respond.
D: Ty really means a lot. I deal with it everyday. So I’m sure if I need someone to talk to I’ll reach out. No-one in my life understands. So it’s hard when no one understand and it makes me feel a lot different
Me: I get that, brother.
Maybe you have a D. in your life. Maybe you are D. If so, get professional psychiatric and therapeutic help. And, consider Delight in Disorder to find spiritual support you will need to face difficult days ahead.
Get an autographed copy of Delight in Disorder for just $12.
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Delight in Disorder: Ministry, Madness, Mission
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I highly recommend Delight In Disorder. Tony has a way of humanizing mental illness and explaining things in a profound, yet simple way that resonates with his readers. Whether you have a diagnosed mental health disorder, some other kind of disability, know someone who does, or simply struggle with faith and believing that God delights in you, this book is for you. ~ Veronica J.
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Please make sure you stop and visit Author, Tony Roberts as he has so much help and information on his blog“Sharing Delight In Disorder”about life, living with Mental health, being an author and more as well as checking out his Podcast Called:Revealing Voices on iTunes!
Please meet my friend Lorraine Reguly who like me wears many literary hats. Actually, funny story, and don’t know if Lorraine will remember this as it HOW we first met. When I first set up my recovery blog here on WordPress, I had NO IDEA what I was doing as I wrote my very first blog post. Lorraine came and gave it read. She then was kind enough to leave me a comment about how I wasn’t using correct spacing and paragraphing. Now, at first, I felt embarrassed, which then lead to me thinking, what the hell I am doing!!? Lol. Which lead me to, how dare her! Doesn’t she know I am not a writer? And my goodness! How dare she leave me such a rude comment? LOL!!
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Well, if my first blogging and writing experience didn’t happen like this? I would not be writing today! Yes, I got over myself after and knew she was only trying to help guide me. We connected together all over social media and I have been learning from her ever since! So, thank you, Lorraine, for making me better at all that I do today. You know I love you to pieces! So, I was on Facebook and my dear friend and Author, Max Ivy., Jr. happened to reshare an article Lorraine had up on her site that is so informative I needed and asked her permission to share it with all of you. I thank her for doing so!
There are 6 things you can do to optimize your writing time so you can achieve your writing goals:
1: Determine your “best” time.
2: Determine your realistic writing time.
3: Determine the days you will write.
4: Make writing a priority.
5: Write during your spare pockets of time.
6: Optimize your writing time by getting help and outsourcing tasks/chores.
Now, let’s look at each of these in-depth.
NOTE: Two different planners are available to you in this post (for FREE)!
1: Determine your “best” time
The first thingyou need to do to optimize your writing time so you can reach your writing goals is to determine your best writing time. You can determine the best time to write if you know your body’s rhythms.
Do you write best in the morning, afternoon, or night?
When do you have the most energy? Write during that time!
A lot of people get tired in the late afternoon, but after they get their second wind, they are more energetic. When do you get your second wind? Write right after that!
Do you have more time on weekends? Write on weekends!
Do you exercise and eat healthily? Once you consider your diet and exercise habits, you can improve your energy levels. Some people feel more energetic when they drink caffeine (found in coffee, tea, and most sodas), while others find they are more energetic when they consume more water, eat more fruits and vegetables, and avoid sugar. Most people also function better when they exercise every day.
If you have a hard time finding your peak writing time, do some self-experiments. Write in the morning. Write in the afternoon. Then write at night. See what times you enjoy best, and see when you are most productive. Write during those times!
2: Determine your realistic writing time
The second thingyou need to do to optimize your writing time so you can reach your writing goals is to determine your realistic writing time. By this, I mean how long you can actually write for.
I don’t know about you, but I get tired of writing after a while. I certainly can’t sit and write for hours on end! I can write for only an hour or so before I get bored or tired of the task.
(Even when I’m editing, I only edit for two hours at a time, at most!)
By determining your real writing time, you will be able to schedule the times you write. By doing this, you will become more realistic with your goals, too. And when you are writing, you will simply write, because you know that, after an hour passes, you can move on to doing something else!
I like this concept because I also apply it to exercising. I hate the moments leading up to it and find it hard to motivate myself to exercise. But once I am actually doing that task, I know it’s not going to last forever. I know that it will soon come to an end! I can then force myself to finish my 30 minutes easily. Also, I always feel great afterward, so that is another added benefit!
3: Determine the days you will write
The third is, we all have busy schedules and often make the excuse that we can’t find the time to write. So how can you find time to do your best writing, even when you’re busy?
Make a schedule!
You need to do this to optimize your writing time so you can reach your writing goals. You can use this FREE PLANNER to help you. This planner is specifically tailored toward bloggers.
The other planner (the downloadable one) is for every writer to use.
Alternatively, you can use this planner. It’s also free and requires you to sign up to my email list but it’s a much better planner!!!
Look at your weekly routine. It is probably not feasible for you to plan to write every day. But if you know that you can write on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 7 and 9 p.m., then you should plan to write on those days.
Maybe Sunday is a good day for you to write. If you work a full-time job from Monday to Friday and run errands on Saturday, then that leaves Sunday as the best day for you to write.
You don’t need to write every day. Even writing just one day a week (and being faithful to that schedule) will bring you closer and closer to reaching your writing goal!
Think about it.
In one year, there are 52 weeks. That means there are 52 Sundays for you two write. If you spend one hour each Sunday writing and write (on average) 1000-2000 words each Sunday, you will have written a full-length novel within a year!
Any writing goal is easy to achieve if you look at the big picture and then break your goal down into small steps that are easily achievable!
4: Make writing a priority
The fourth thingyou need to do to optimize your writing time so you can reach your writing goals is to make writing a priority.
You will need to make sacrifices in order to reach your goals. That is just a fact of life if you want to be successful!
By making writing a priority, you will have to sacrifice some of the time you spend elsewhere. This might mean giving up an hour of TV time each night. It might mean waking up an hour earlier. Or it might mean hiring someone to come in once a week to clean the house, thus allowing that time to focus on your writing goals. Whatever you do, make sure you find a good work-life balance!
5: Write during your spare pockets of time
The fifth thingyou need to do to optimize your writing time so you can reach your writing goals is to write during your spare pockets of time.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Make the most of the time you have available to you!
Maybe you have 20 minutes to spare in the morning while the kids are getting dressed. Maybe you can write during the time it takes to cook a casserole in the oven. Maybe you can use that 30 minutes in the evening while your child is bathing to get some writing done.
“The key is to take advantage of every opportunity you have to write!” ~Lorraine
Another example is to write while waiting for an appointment (like when you’re at the doctor’s office). Just simply pull out your phone and write in a Google Doc. I have this app on my phone (it’s one of the many apps I have to make my life easier), and I have set so that writing offline is enabled. That way, I don’t even need Internet access to write!
I have taken this one step further by enabling the speech-to-text function on my phone. I don’t need to fiddle with tiny keyboard buttons on my phone to write. I can simply say what it is that I want to write, and the speech-to-text function will record what I’m saying!
It also doesn’t matter if other people are around because this feature is set to record the sound of my voice, not everyone else’s. It is a very neat way to write, and I love it. I’ve been using this feature for over a year now, and I even use it to record emails and Facebook comments (when I am checking my Facebook notifications from my phone).
The sixth and final thing you need to do to optimize your writing time so you can reach your writing goals is to get help.
Bloggers automate their scheduling. Businesses hire employees to work for them. You can apply similar principles to your own life by outsourcing some of your weekly tasks.
For example, can you hire someone to clean your house, do your laundry, or cook for you once a week? Can you get your groceries delivered so you can save time on grocery shopping?
What can you do to free up more time for you to write?
Can you automate your bill-paying practices with online banking?
If you think about every task you have to do (especially ones you don’t enjoy doing), perhaps you can brainstorm some ways for you to reduce your workload so you have more writing time.
You don’t always have to look at solutions that cost money, either. Maybe you have a family member or a friend (or both) who is willing to help you out once a week, for free. If you take the time to explain to them how important it is for you to find some uninterrupted writing time, they will be more likely to help you.
Maybe the solution is as simple as asking for a little help. As my good friend Max Ivey says, “If you don’t ask, they can’t say YES!” He is a Life Coach after all and just may be of help!
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(Note: This saying is so popular that Max even had T-shirts made that say this! You can order yours by following the links from his page that advertises them.)
Your Turn!
Do you know your peak energy time? How long is your realistic writing time?
How can you optimize your time more effectively? Share your experiences in the comments!
Also, tell us what other things have helped you become a more productive writer!
Let’s learn from each other! ~ Lorraine ~
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About Lorraine Reguly:
Lorraine Reguly is a freelance writer, editor, and blogger who provides stellar services at superb rates. Lorraine is a reliable, highly skilled, Canadian-based freelance writer, editor, and blogger who has written for many top blogs online. (Check out her portfolio.)
She has also written several articles and letters, which have been published in local papers in Thunder Bay, Ontario, including The Argus, Lakehead University’s newspaper. These particular articles focus on her life experiences, which have been vast. Lorraine has many hobbies, loves to read, and has a passion for the English language. She prides herself to a high standard and is a perfectionist! Connect with on social media. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
( Cat knows this first hand! Lol! ) Thank You, Lorraine, for writing and letting me share this informative POST! ~Catherine Lyon
I wanted to share with you today a good friend and his amazing writing. His blog is one of my favorite sights. Even though I mostly guest share every now and then some of his posts on my recovery blog, this particular post is about how he writes and felt it was more appropriate to share here on my book blog because as writers write for many reasons. We also write for many different purposes like for a book, a publication, an article, or just to write a new blog post.
But whatever the reason or what motivates you as a writer, we can share the process behind it. Tony Roberts does this in a unique way. His site is amazing, interesting, and informative. I surely know once you visit, you will know you are in a special place.
He is like me, he to battles with mental health challenges, but it does not stop his creative writing process. Let’s read just how Tony gets prepared! … Catherine *Cat* 🙂
With [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (James 3.9)
Each time I sit down before a keyboard and stare at a blank screen, I say a quiet prayer that my words glorify God and encourage God’s people. There is so much hate speech in the world today. I count it my ministry to say something not only truthful but uplifting.
Speak the truth in love, as Paul writes in Ephesians.When we do, we make a tremendous impact on those who hear us, many of whom have been beaten down for years with messages that they are no good, that what they do is not worthy, that they will never measure up, that they are not loved.
I had a high school tennis coach who knew the power of encouraging speech. He knew next to nothing about tennis, but he knew how to inspire us. He taught us that we each had an integral role to play on the team. He made us want to improve to become as valuable as we were in his eyes. He brought in talented community players as his assistants to teach us the game.
He had nothing to pay them except his uplifting words that they were making a major difference in the lives of young men. And that was more than enough In just two years, we went from being the laughing stocks to perennial conference champs, the team to beat filled with confident young men who had someone who saw their value not just in sport. but in life.
Each of us has immeasurable value as ones created in the image of God. This image has been stained by sin, no doubt. But we don’t restore this goodness with damning speech. Too often, as James shows, we allow careless speech to slip through our lips. We beat people up with what we say and the way we say it.
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Often this is with the best intentions. We say things we think will be helpful. We talk about people under a thin veil of concern, when in fact, we are just gossiping in such a way that we tear them down.
As one who has a severe mental illness, I have experienced first hand how debilitating speech can be. When I got out of the hospital after my first episode, I found there were many more talking about me than talking to me. By God’s grace, I did receive a great deal of encouragement from some who counterbalanced the ill effects of the gossip. But it still hurt. And left permanent scars.
Instead of careless speech that tears down, we are called to a sort of carefree speech that comes from a faithful heart. When genuine faith lives in the heart, it will be connected to the tongue and impact what is said. Love, peace, and joy will be seeds of hope sown to produce hope in the lives of the hurting.
““For the rest of his life, Oliver Twist remembers a single word of blessing spoken to him by another child because this word stood out so strikingly from the consistent discouragement around him.” ― Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist.
YES, READERS! THE BEHIND THE DOOR Novel Is Still Going On And This Week Adriana Gavazzoni For September 18 – 24 On Readeropolis And September 25 – 31 AtBook Lover Promo
When Lara dies at the hands of a Manhattan lawyer during a sex game, his defense attorney, Carl, hires Simone, a psychiatrist, professor, and author of books on sexual behavior to help him buttress his argument that Lara’s death was accidental. To help his defense, Carl’s client has written a detailed account of his steamy, year-long relationship with Lara. Carl gives the text to Simone for analysis.
While evaluating the presumed killer’s writing, Simone continues to receive psychiatric patients with sexual disorders and unusual fantasies and to research strange sexual behavior for her next book. Meanwhile, Simone’s clinical partner, friend and research colleague, Edward, is working with the police to capture a serial killer who is torturing and killing women. From hot and unusual sex and interesting psychiatric patients to the swing houses of New York and Paris, this fast-paced page-turner is a blend of mystery, suspense, humor, romance, and erotica.
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***AUTHOR INTERVIEW***
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
I believe the hardest part of writing all my books is containing my anxiety to get everything that’s in my head down on paper. I have to restrain myself to not run over the story to empty my mind.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I love the research process that allows me to learn a lot about many different subjects, and I love the creative part, when my mind gets full of ideas, regardless of where I might be at the time or what else I might be doing.
What inspires you?
People and the human soul inspire me. I love to try to understand their motives and their beliefs.
Who are some of your favorite authors that you feel were influential in your work?
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights – it is so tragic, all about revenge and hate; she taught me about writing about deep feelings.
Colleen McCullough’s Thorn Birds – a sad love story with all the right ingredients to make you cry a river. An author who showed me how important it is to stir emotions in your readers.
The Devil’s Advocate, by Andrew Neiderman – a book to make you think where vanity can take you. It’s a potent and surprising book. I love surprises, and I always try to add one to my novels.
John Grisham’s The Firm – power, money, or freedom? A hard choice for a young lawyer. Choices are going to lead your life. I always make my characters face hard choices.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – this book is pure poetry! It inspired me to show beauty in my work; even when the situation is tragic, I try to include pretty settings. Beauty must exist, in spite of bad circumstances.
What do your plans for future projects include?
I intend to finish the third book in Hidden Motives Trilogy, and I’m going to publish Behind the Door in Portuguese this year.
Do you ever get writer’s block? Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?
No, I never have. I try to write a little bit at least every day. Some days, I’m more inspired than others, but I try to write anyway, even if I don’t like what I’m putting down in words, I know I can discard them or edit them later if I like, so that’s okay. The important thing is to keep your mind producing, and you will find the formula.
Have you ever had one character you wanted to go one way with but after the book was done the character was totally different?
Yes, many times. My characters decide their own destiny inside my mind; it is a whole party in there!
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Now all my friends know I enjoy a good book and I consider myself an avid reader. So when I was alerted to a fabulous blogger named Maria KethuProfumo and learned about this fun event and awards she is holding on her blog, I just had to accept! And I hope many of my blog friends will too. I know there are many book bloggers and blog reviewers out here in WordPressville. So come join the fun. Here are the “Rules to Participate” and I feel I am qualified to be entered and participate……
WHY do I want to Participate ? I feel I am a “helper” to other authors by taking the time to read the hard word they put into their craft as a writer. Authors are very talented people who come in many forms. Some are good with writing thrilling Mysteries or Suspense reads, many are fabulous as writers of Murder, Sci-Fi, Romance and so many genres. As a qualified avid reader, I always make sure I go back and “Leave A Book Review” for the author to share thoughts and comments on why I enjoyed reading their books. That IS the best gift you can give an author. I had been book promoting many fine authors for more than 3 years right here on my blog, so I have read a lot of books! That is why I want to be a part of this awesome Award Event.
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“The Rules”
Dear Bloggers,
“Blogging doesn’t mean only writing, it is reading as well. And good reading certainly changes our life for the better. Milorad Pavic used to say: “there are more talented Readers than Authors.” So, tell us what kind of Reader you are and be awarded as an “Honored Reader.”
Terms of Participation:
Let us know that you wish to participate in our award: leave us a comment to this post or confirm a personal invitation you’ve got. ( Done! )
Write a post explaining why you’re a talented Reader and what good experience you’ve got through blog reading. Name the post ‘On Eternamenta Awards’. Send us a link. ( Done! )
Inform any 5 bloggers (certainly good Readers too) about our award for them to participate too. (You might simply mention them in your post.) ( And Done! )
Cat Lyon's Reading Den For Authors & Readers 