Category: novel

Burnout While Wanting to Promote- I Will Get Back to the Comic Strip Later

After a few weeks of dealing with burnout and organizing the studio, I am hoping to get back into creation mode. Its’s sometimes a struggle to force myself to make something. It’s tough to keep going sometimes. I swear I want to get back to the comic strips, as I know the fans that follow this page probably prefer that type of post. However, I have so many projects started, I feel I need to get one or two done first.

I did finish writing my first novel, but few sales are discouraging. I’m not the best at promotion and advertising costs more than I have and I don’t really know the best ways to make ads to begin with. I am more a creator and will stay that way. I hope that some of the folks here also read books, and will want to hear more about mine.

I want to get more work done on book 2 of my novel series. I want to get this comic book done and get some paintings finished but I also don’t want it to be for nothing. I will have to figure some way to sell stuff. I could try patreon and post more often, but I feel sometimes that social media is a waste of time with little return. I do like to scroll through and soak in the creations of others though.

Maybe someone will happen to be interested in sci-fi books and want to hear about someone with bipolar disorder deal with something amazing, because that is what my novel is about. I put a lot of time and effort into it and I hope it was not just a waste of time. I like to write. I like to draw and paint but socializing and promotion are not my strong suits. Hopefully I will be able to figure something out. Burnout is a real thing and tough to deal with. I want to get so much done, but just feel overwhelmed by the huge daunting projects before me. Trust me, I still want to get back to the comic strips. I just need time to work out the other things I’m creating.

Writing With a Disorder- From Not Reading, to Writing a Full Novel

For a while, a long while really, I was not able to read. I didn’t have the focus, the patience, or the time. I couldn’t really do much in terms of writing, though I did post regularly to my old blog. My diagnosis got in my way. My illness took away my concentration. I felt the desire to read, but whenever I sat down to do it, I just gave up.

There were times I had an immense pull to create and I would write things I felt contained a ton of passion though they were just too manic to really amount to anything, and there were several starts to books in the past where I just gave up. I just didn’t have the concentration to really commit to a project so large and overwhelming.

A few hospitalizations later, and I feel mostly normal most of the time. I am reading all the time now, as much as I can. I read about a book a week, unless they are really big, thick sci-fi books. I LOVE to read now. I love to write as well. I feel I lucked out with meds that do what they are supposed to. It has been a tough road. In the past I would only be able to focus on spiritual books that I re-read a bunch of times.

I stuck with it though.

I read all of the Harry Potter books, The Stand, It, and a couple other books by Stephen King. I read two Game of Thrones books and will continue the series. I read some beat writers, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson. I read more sci-fi stuff, Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, etc. I read all of Edgar Allen Poe and all of H.P. Lovecraft, and I continue to look for more to read all the time. I love it. And the more concentration I had and the more I soaked in, the more I wanted to write my own books.

As it goes, I was able to commit to one project long enough to finish to the best of my ability. And though I didn’t have all the support in the world, it was something I always kind of wanted to be able to do. In my novel, which I think will be a series of three, I cover Bipolar Disorder, fantasy, and sci-fi elements as well as some themes about violence, duty, and societal beliefs. I mostly had fun with the project, though there were times it was tough to put things into words on a page.

I must’ve went through six different drafts and editing and reworking. I read through it countless times, fixing things every chance I got. To actually get to hold in my hands a book that I lovingly crafted for a couple years, I was happy that I was finally able to get something done as big as that.

Please check out the book on Amazon.

A Lazy Day Post- Important to Take Time to Rest

Some days, I just don’t feel up to it. Whatever it is. I need time to veg out and relax or watch some tv or youtube or just read or listen to music. It is just part of the process now. You can’t keep emptying the creative well without taking some time to fill it up with some inspiration. I need time to relax some days, whether due to depression, fatigue, or just plain not feeling it. Burnout is a real thing and takes its toll when you least want it to.

Today is one of them days. I just don’t feel it. I want to get stuff done and it feels like I am having more slow days than fast days, but I need to take the time to soak up some inspiration. Even though there are multiple projects that need to be developed, mental health doesn’t follow a schedule or routine.

I’ve been overwhelmed with too many projects and not knowing how to get them all done when I want to get them done. Another thing that is difficult is not getting the results I think the work deserves. No matter how good I could be at creating, without some experience selling or advertising or being social, the work won’t get out there.

I’ve been low on contact for a while, creating the things that I wanted to, making the stuff I love to make. But I just don’t have the social skills to put the work out there the way it needs and deserves. I put so much time and effort into this stuff, I sometimes wonder why I keep going.

Social media is tough to figure out. I wish there were an easy way to figure out how to get the outcome that so many seem able to produce. That golden ticket hanging above my head of overnight success or of going viral or of whatever, that draws so many people to the internet is elusive at best. So many people are working at the same end goal of wealth, fame, and success it waters out every honest attempt to make something worthwhile.

I want to get this comic book done and move on to the next project, but I feel called to paint or to write or to play some guitar or maybe just write this blog post.

Please check out my most recent finished project, my novel, The Prime Meroidial Collective Book One: Bradley’s Dream available only on Amazon

A Bit About My First Completed Novel

Writing a book has always seemed some far off dream, something I could never accomplish. I had several starts and stops through the years, but was never able to focus long enough to get to an ending. I put things aside and all but gave up on the idea, thinking it was not for me.

But the urge to write overwhelmed me at times. I’d get the start to a novel in my mind, an idea would fester and not stop until it burst into a working word file. So I wrote. I had the idea and the attention span to get it done. For whatever reason, my moods allowed for it and I was able to stick to it. To the end.

I spent well over a year working on this novel and had many stops and starts. I went through plenty editing drafts, and eventually came to a point of conclusion— I was done. I took it to the zenith of my ability and though I had no editors and very little input, I felt I should finally post it and call it done, and move on to the next project. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing, but this book is as done as I can get it.

Writing has become a real passion for me. I started several more novels as I progressed through my preoccupation. Sometimes I think I have too many interests and at times I get into a bind, not knowing what to work on next. I put off the comic strips due to burnout, and worked on things behind the scenes for a while. Posting seemed to take up too much of my time. Time that could be spent creating. And finishing things.

I hope to get back to posting the comic strips sometime this year for sure, but I have so many other projects to work on. Sometimes I think I am too creative for my own good.

I should get book 3 of my comic book series done soon (within a couple months if lucky). I will continue to post about it. I am thinking of calling the series done at the end of the current in-process book. Trilogies seem a good solid length.

But I finished a project. A big project that took me years to be able to do. It is a major accomplishment for me and something I can cross off the bucket list. And now that I know I can do it, I am eager to get more done.

The creative process takes time and can lead to tangents that seem unconnected, which is why I can’t seem to come up with a real predictable timeline or schedule. I never know what the next thing to work on will be. I may wake up one day and have no interest in the thing I’ve been working on, which will lead to needing to work on something else that also takes a long time to complete. It’s a never-ending cycle and one that I wish I had more control over.

All that said, I hope you will like my books, even if you are only here to see the comic strips. As a person with bipolar disorder, I have to be gentle with myself sometimes, and take time to heal or refocus. This novel was a big part of that, as the main character also has bipolar disorder. It was tough at times to tap into some of the themes in the book, but I persisted and wrote and wrote and wrote. I hope it has value for more than just me.

Please check out my book on Amazon and see if it interests you, or if maybe someone you know would benefit from my book.

A Bit About My First Completed Novel

Writing a book has always seemed some far off dream, something I could never accomplish. I had several starts and stops through the years, but was never able to focus long enough to get to an ending. I put things aside and all but gave up on the idea, thinking it was not for me.

But the urge to write overwhelmed me at times. I’d get the start to a novel in my mind, an idea would fester and not stop until it burst into a working word file. So I wrote. I had the idea and the attention span to get it done. For whatever reason, my moods allowed for it and I was able to stick to it. To the end.

I spent well over a year working on this novel and had many stops and starts. I went through plenty editing drafts, and eventually came to a point of conclusion— I was done. I took it to the zenith of my ability and though I had no editors and very little input, I felt I should finally post it and call it done, and move on to the next project. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing, but this book is as done as I can get it.

Writing has become a real passion for me. I started several more novels as I progressed through my preoccupation. Sometimes I think I have too many interests and at times I get into a bind, not knowing what to work on next. I put off the comic strips due to burnout, and worked on things behind the scenes for a while. Posting seemed to take up too much of my time. Time that could be spent creating. And finishing things.

I hope to get back to posting the comic strips sometime this year for sure, but I have so many other projects to work on. Sometimes I think I am too creative for my own good.

I should get book 3 of my comic book series done soon (within a couple months if lucky). I will continue to post about it. I am thinking of calling the series done at the end of the current in-process book. Trilogies seem a good solid length.

But I finished a project. A big project that took me years to be able to do. It is a major accomplishment for me and something I can cross off the bucket list. And now that I know I can do it, I am eager to get more done.

The creative process takes time and can lead to tangents that seem unconnected, which is why I can’t seem to come up with a real predictable timeline or schedule. I never know what the next thing to work on will be. I may wake up one day and have no interest in the thing I’ve been working on, which will lead to needing to work on something else that also takes a long time to complete. It’s a never-ending cycle and one that I wish I had more control over.

All that said, I hope you will like my books, even if you are only here to see the comic strips. As a person with bipolar disorder, I have to be gentle with myself sometimes, and take time to heal or refocus. This novel was a big part of that, as the main character also has bipolar disorder. It was tough at times to tap into some of the themes in the book, but I persisted and wrote and wrote and wrote. I hope it has value for more than just me.

Please check out my book on Amazon and see if it interests you, or if maybe someone you know would benefit from my book.