Author Archives: Kai

About Kai

D Kai Wilson-Viola is a writer, photographer and artist with a penchant for the interesting, the scary or the downright horrific.

Birthdays and stuff

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Normally, I do my ‘birthday’ update on or around my birthday – but I’m a couple of days late this  year.  And with good (ish) reason.
On the 8th of this year I graduated officially.  And so began a week of visits and catching up with friends and family.  Unfortunately, so also began a week of random exhaustion and a horrible rash that’s over most of the front of my neck and up one shoulder.

The rash
The rash itself isn’t actually too bad now, other than it itches like mad.  I’m itchy in various places to be fair, but it’s all mostly associated with one side of my body.  I spent Monday rearranging my conservatory, and sorting out the house –  Tuesday – I graduated – Wednesday and a docs visit saw me picking up meds, but little else.  I started needing about 200% more sleep.   Thursday, mom came back from Egypt, and visited.  Friday, Keith arrived, and Saturday….

Well, Saturday was supposed to be my book launch, my big birthday *bash* and my graduation celebration.  It ended up being coffee in the morning with my nanoees, napping most of the rest of the day, before landing in the out of hours service at 5:30.  Which lead to ‘you have meningeal symptoms (stiff neck, headache, bright lights bothering me, nausea, no temperature though), go to the ER’, which led to ‘the heck no’ conversation that comes up whenever I land in the Gloucester hospital.  I eventually talked my other half into letting me go home for my birthday party – which, in the end was food, chatter and watching some cartoons.  And then I slept.  I did much of the same on Sunday.
And yesterday.
As of 11am this morning I’m still randomly needing to nap for an hour or two after only being up for a few hours, I’m stiff, I’m tired, but I’m still working.

Not quite the way I wanted to celebrate my 33rd birthday, but it let me have a think about several things, and, as Glass Block was signed up with a press, I’ve got space now till February to pursue something fun.  So I am.

999 bottles of beer on the wall…999 bottles of beer

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I’m about to go hunting for the daily/monthly word count plugin I’ve got on another site, for lo and verily, I want to actually start keeping track of my writing again.  But that’s not what the title of this post is about.

I’m writing a new(ish) plugin that lets me track what I’ve done with writing – but I’ve also got something else I want to keep track of, something that’s going onto a new blog, but for now, I just wanted a record of it *somewhere*.  I have 137 books to read.  137 books I’ve either bought or been given – not including the new ones that are going to be coming in for review.  And I want to read the lion’s share of them before the end of December.

Sanity optional – aka, I’m not reading enough

One of the major things I’m discovering right now is I’m just not reading enough.  Or, at least, I’m not reading enough that’s not on my laptop, snatched between chores.  I’m also not reading enough, as in, for myself.  The best I’m doing right now, is listening to audio books while I sleep.  Which isn’t good, because the alarm goes off and my brain is ignoring the voice narrating at me, so it also filters out/incorporates the alarm into my dream.  And while there’s a lot of overlap (I’m reading my way through Valerie Douglas‘ stuff at present, partially because she’s a friend, but mostly because I like it), it’s getting to the point where I’m genuinely missing just taking time out to read during the day/evening.

This week is going to be a bit busy, but I’m thinking I might be lucky and get some reading in when I’m at the graduation celebrations.  I’m going to be there on my own after all, for several hours and though I know *some* people there, I’m not entirely certain I know enough people to have conversations with anyone.  On the other hand, but the time I get into my gown and find my seat I might not….

And I guess that’s partly it.  It’s been a really long road to here – one which isn’t fully documented *anywhere* any more, and I’m bone weary.  Writing isn’t something I can abandon, but at the same time there just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything to the point I need it to be, before I’m done.  I’m not sure what to do, in the long-term.  But I think some of the time I was going to spend on Nano this month, I’m going to have to put towards planning and settling the stuff that I want to keep, and getting rid of the projects that are good ideas, I just don’t have the time for.  Priorities are going to have to shift again too, but I’ll look at that later this week.

For now, I’ve got a huge week ahead – graduation, book launch (I hope!), birthday party, Nano!

Insidious lies in the Indie community

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We interrupt your regularly scheduled fluff for a bit of a rant.  And I wouldn’t be doing this during Nanowrimo season, but it *really* needs to be said.

I’ve been reading a lot of ‘I don’t need to worry about grammar and editing, all that matters is I’m writing’ or ‘you’re jealous because your book isn’t out yet’, or ‘would YOU accept a C from your kids if they came home with it on the report?  Then why accept a three star review?’.
All of this has kicked off since I started working as an editor – and a lot of it comes out when people discover that it’s going to cost money to edit their books.
There’s two insidious lies I’d like to address today.
First –  Editing and grammar ain’t important.  O’rhyleah? (sorry, been looking at lots  of Lolthulu lately).  Seriously?  Would I have gotten away with that in a very post ironic way on my degree, or, would my tutor have kicked me from here to next week about run on sentences, and the occasional tense mistake?  I think I’d have been kicked.  I know I would have been – in fact, I was.
So, while I don’t agree with the idea that we need to be locked to rules (and I’ll talk about that more a bit later) if you’re not at least flirting with the acceptance that mistakes aren’t acceptable, then you’re not a professional writer.

There – I said it – it’s not the idea that you can’t afford to hire an editor that doesn’t make you a professional writer – it’s the idea that you can excuse your behavior by HIDING BEHIND not being able to afford a professional editor.
Can’t afford an editor? – I’m writing a book, and I teach classes – check them out.

The other insidious lie is that we’re not all on the same side as writers and readers.  And while that’s true, in some cases (you can’t be ‘on the same side’ if you’re buying something from someone), when it comes to literature, readers and writers ARE on the same side.  We all want good literature, and the best stories.

So – there’s a second element to all of this:

If you are charging for your work, you have an obligation – a paid service provision –  to be professional.

Again, I said it.  If you’re going to publish your work – and people are paying you – for heavens sake, act like a professional.  That goes beyond the presentation of your work, but in the end, that’s all that matters to your reader.

Momentum

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We move through our lives at a constant pace.  We can accelerate or decelerate ourselves with a limited amount of success, but the speed we do things at, at our base rate at least, is probably something we’ll never change.  Some of us rush headlong into everything and batter through life as fast as we can, hungry for as many new experiences as we can pick up, and tired at the end of each day because we’ve packed in so much.

Others go as slow as possible, savoring every step, and realising, deep down, that they can’t do everything they might want to.

My problem is I want to savor everything, but I want it all.  I have too many hobbies, and too little time on my books for new stuff.  I book far too much into my life, mostly because I can.  My laptop became both my freedom and my curse, because now, there’s a whole world of reading and writing out there, and I get nothing done.
Facebook is a horrible blessing.  I can meet and hang out with so many wonderful people, and keep an eye on my friends, and there are some really cool games on there, but, lets face it, I’ve got a nasty habit of refreshing my page again and again, and then wondering, at 2pm, where my day went.

Worst of all, I’m a person that moves through life with a momentum that pulls others along behind me.  And lately, I kinda feel like I’m out in the middle of a great big ocean, with no chance of finding the new land I was aiming for.  But it feels like I’m stranding other people now and I don’t like that feeling.

Momentum is working out where you’re going and I think that’s the biggest thing for me right now.  I need to work out which map I’m working from – someone else’s or my own.  If I’m working from someone else’s, where can I adapt it so it’s all mine – or if I’m going to dive on in headlong and do it all myself, I need to work out where I want to go – there are *so many* choices right now.

What I do know is tomorrow begins my ninth Nanowrimo.  I’m really looking forward to it.  It gives me another month to work out and plan the roller coaster that is about to be my life.  One way or another, things will start resolving and working out the way I want to.

Plans are coming soon, though.  I’m happy to report there *is* a plan, but it’s difficult to see whether it’s the right choice right now.  So I’m going to have a bit of fun with my writing for a bit, and see where that takes me.  It’s too easy for me to lose sight of what I wanted to do when I started out online – which was writing.  I’ve gone all over the web since, looking for something that’s ‘all me’ but what I am, underneath it all, is a writer.

Momentum

Task lists, 750 words, and routines

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I’ve got a very specific routine to my writing day now – one that I thought people might be interested in.
I’ve mentioned in the past that music is really important to me – and up until last week, my morning started with my portable alarm clock (aka my phone) which I would listen to until I went down stairs, then music would go back on at exactly 8am, when the youngest went outside to wait for her taxi.

But the last week, at 8am, I’ve taken the chance to come upstairs with a cup of tea, and I’ve crucially left music off.
So, I write my task list and contemplate my day in silence.  It’s nice because the bedroom/office I’m in is in full sunlight most of the morning, and into the afternoon when I finish up working for the day (if I’m not coming back to work later) so I’m getting plenty of light where I sit, and there is a tree near the window, so even now, as the weather is turning chilly (and man, it’s chilly this morning compared to the last week), I’ve got birdsong.

From there, I social network.  Twitter and Facebook need constant feeding, and I think I put in 750 words there on their own. I’m still trying to find my stride with G+.

And after that, I start work proper.  Usually about 8:45, but today, as Steve Jobs died (don’t come to this blog for breaking news, I’m always waaaaay behind the curve),  I’m not starting until nearly 10am.  With a full docket and email to troubleshoot as it’s randomly stripping attachments, I’m still melancholy.  I guess it puts life into perspective when someone that achieved so much goes – not even because he was ‘young’ by today’s standards.  Steve Jobs would have been missed whether we were talking about him dying today or in 20,30, 40 years time.  That kind of impact will never be lost, even to history.  And that’s some legacy to leave.

What I do know is that while I’ve been a PC person most of my life (due to expense rather than preference), my first ever laptop was a Mac.  from my adopted brother – I bought it from him and wrote on it for nearly a year, until we moved south and it died.  In that time, I even replaced the screen.  I wouldn’t DARE try that on my PC icon wink Task lists, 750 words, and routines

Hack cleaning, and Psycho Killers

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Something that I don’t think is very evident from my writing is that I’m very music oriented.  If I can get away with it, no matter where I am, in the house, or out and about there’s either music, an audiobook, or crime programs on in the background somewhere.  Music starts my morning, and audiobooks, or more rarely now, TV shows finish out my day.  I’m constantly somewhere where there is noise.  To the point that if I ever end up catastrophically brain damaged or otherwise unable to instruct it myself, or am in a coma, I’ve got it written into my living will (kinda sad that I’ve got one at 32, but the books go one way before a certain point in my life, and the rest belong to my other half, to do with as he pleases, and the kids need to be taken care of too) that there is always to be music wherever I am, even if it’s only just loud enough to be heard by me.  Even if it means bringing my phone and speakers into the hospital.

But, unless you knew an old incarnation of this blog, you wouldn’t know that – I used to open out posts with the music that was influencing me – either a lyric, or a song title.  I’m going to start that again, because this blog, and to a lesser degree Kai-q is going to be about me.  All of me.
Which means this blog is going to get a bit frenetic for a while icon wink Hack cleaning, and Psycho Killers  I’m difficult to define at the best of times, without actually looking at what I get up to, or even, what’s on my desk, my Kindle, my Goodreads list, my camera, my phone… I am a complicated, complex, multiple type geek, and probably very rarely, I’m a multiple type geek that has several strong focusses.

Basically – what you think you know about me – it’s probably mostly true, but there’s probably more to me than most people realise.  And more than I’ll ever probably be able to express.
One of the things I do know right now is I’ve got a plan – finally.  I’ve also got a very clean workspace, and the freedom to actually work for myself now.  Totally and utterly, I’m free now, and that’s a good thing.

As for the title – the blog was hacked this weekend – and had we not already been keeping a vague eye on the site anyway, I think that this could have been a lot worse than it was.  I’m still working on cleaning the residual issues that I’ve been left with, but most of them were temporary.  The reason – the main reason, I took the blog offline is because I couldn’t apply the fix while people were trying to access parts of the site.  So, we put the temporary redirect up, fixed the blog, voila icon wink Hack cleaning, and Psycho Killers .  Well, kinda, cause I’ve not finished the blog design yet, so for now it’s a bit bland…

The psycho killers thing – well, that means one of my characters has decided to stop being such a huffy little pain in the ass and is talking to me again – his two favorite bands happen to be Talking Heads and Nickelback, though he’s taken a shine to Mazzy Star lately too.  Mostly I’m just glad Elliot is back from wherever he vanished off to.  I’ve still got yet more planning to do, to the point of paralysis, but I’m finally in a place where I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel – and apparently on my keyboard.  It does mean less time downstairs vegging with my other half at night for a while, but I think, if I can make it work, it’ll be more than worth it.

Of bright lights and disappointments…

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We are, to all intents and purposes, one month after ‘the Watershed‘

And there’s a couple of things that have changed since then – some for the better, some in a different way and with no impact.  One for the worse.

As the last post explained, I finally graduated.  What the last post barely touches on is why it’s taken so long to get to that point.  And, y’know, I wish I could point at everything I’ve been up to recently and say ‘see, good reason’, but the truth is,  the reason, though, probably, a valid one, isn’t a ‘good’ one by any stretch of the imagination.  Focusing on the positive though – I graduated.  I’m delighted that I graduated.  I’m trying to decide if I want to go to the ceremony where our degrees are officially conferred – right now it’s looking at least an option.

Other improvements include taking on better paying work, in some cases.  I *love* copywriting – but what I don’t love is the fact that I’m basically at the mercy of clients.  Most are darlings – but some leave a lot to be desired.  And when I’m having to be draconian about billing practices, I know something has gone wrong.  And that’s the problem – there’s no give in my billing.  And for those that know why, don’t even say it in public – it’s not necessary.  I’ve taken steps to remedy that, in the form of http://indieunbound.com icon smile Of bright lights and disappointments...  I’m now officially and formally an editor as well as a copywriter, using my experience as a writer and graduate to support indie writers in creating a product that works for them – and the market.  It’s good, and in the last few days, I’ve already managed to book clients till our holiday in October, which is just stellar.

Other than that, I’m working on finishing up my websites and setting up regular spots for blogging, fixing my timetable to balance stuff (though, I’m slowly coming to the realisation I can either have a quiet life OR work really hard – there’s no doubling up and earning both) and slowly resolving everything that needs to be resolved.

The negative?  other than a couple of outlines, I’m still not writing.  And that sucks.  But I think  I have a solution to that too – one, that if I can keep up with the editing client bookings, will give me the best of all worlds and allow me to be the last piece of the puzzle that is me.  I have to find my way back to fiction writing, or there’s no point in freelancing the way I do.  I could, instead use my degree on something else, and let go of the idea of being an author – and to be honest, that all or nothing decision makes me more worried than any other choice I could ever make.

I guess the last thing I need to talk about is ‘what’s next’?  I already miss university desperately – I’ve never felt more at ease in an establishment in my life, and I want to go back to that at some point.  So, realistically, some of the money I make editing and writing is going back into ‘me’, and in turn, making me a better writer and editor, via my MA plans.  Ideally, I’d like to do linguistics of some kind, rather than a wholly creative project, but ultimately, I guess I’ll need to see what is available to me, and how long it’ll take me to save for it.  For now, all of my energy is going into clearing up the last of the server costs I was left with, sorting out new hosting for that secondary account, and building a buffer of savings for my family.  Editing and copywriting together are a good combination, especially if I can keep streamlining my time and using it to the best effect.

Now though?  Work beacons.  Laters icon wink Of bright lights and disappointments...

Degree confirmation

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As many of you know, I’ve spent the last four years doing a degree in Creative writing, with a side of psychology.  It’s been a long road, especially after I fell and banged my head.
But, to the credit of the University of Gloucestershire, and my tutors, we got through it – they were amazingly supportive and helpful and made sure I was in the best position possible to make my degree work for me.  I can’t praise them enough.

But – I’m delighted to confirm that I got a 2:1.

So, now I’m a graduate.  Wooohooo!

reorganisation

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I’m beginning to start importing some of the stuff that I’ve had on other sites, so the archives will kinda start filling out.  Kai-0-9-tales.com is now merged onto here, so if you were looking for posts from there, the links should work again icon smile reorganisation

Other than that, there’s a bit of reorganisation going on – I’ve got books to write, and lesson plans to fix and a whole pile of other stuff to take care of.  So, I should be back with my big, ten year as a professional writer project very soon!

Not so random acts of teh awesomes

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(Sidenote, yes, I love lolcats – my favorite is TS Elliot’s ‘the Wasteland, rendered into Lol)

So, PrincessPink has returned to school, successfully, and I just as successfully woke up this morning and sorted everyone, myself included, out.  Which was good.  She’s not happy about some of the new routines in the morning, but I’m sure if we keep going, eventually, she’ll get there.
Today, I’ve got lots of ‘signing off’ to do – an edit to blitz.  Content to write for my day job, and about six hours worth of crime tv to catch up on (that may have to wait until tomorrow when *he* returns to school).  Plus, a badge to sew on a school blazer.  Plus.  Blogs.  My blogs.  Other blogs.  Just, blogs icon wink Not so random acts of teh awesomes

For now though, the first act of awesome?  Grabbing a cup of tea, and then getting the bus to deal with school uniform icon smile Not so random acts of teh awesomes

Broken teeth, healing mind

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Since I was little, I’ve had problem teeth.  At eight or so, my dentist deciced that my mouth was too small for all of the teeth I had, and started pulling them.  I still ended up with a canine on one side that was almost fang like, until a dentist finally filed it back at 24 or so.  What it left me with though, was a horrible tooth behind it – one that was incredibly difficult to clean, and basically, ‘set the tone’ for all of the other teeth in my mouth.  Before that one cracked and broke in half, I never had one problem with my teeth – now, they’re all falling apart.

On Friday, I threw a bit of a hissy fit.  Like my teeth, everything I had planned was falling apart, being squished and squashed and cracked and killed off due to overcrowding.  And there’s one rotten ‘tooth’ in all of that stuff – in all of the things that I do, there’s one that causes too many problems – creates too much of a drain on my time, and most of all, is setting the tone for everything else that I do.
Though, it’s probably not what you’re thinking.
As a moderator on several groups, on yahell and Facebook – I seem to spend an *inordinate* amount of time on Facebook.  But that’s not even the problem.  It’s the ‘side slide’ from moderating, into games that’s my problem.

And I know why too.  A while ago, I stopped playing games at night.  I quit my World of Warcraft guild and left, and though I’ve dabbled around with games recommended to me since, I just haven’t settled – and, my laptop, which was once the centre of both my work and play, and a great way to ensure that if I was stressed, or needed a break, that the tools were at hand, has now become predominantly work.  And I feel kinda like the peons in Warcraft now.  Basically, the rotten tooth is my motivation and it’s warping everything around it, and aching with guilt and burnout and whatever else you want to call it.  I will, however, stop the metaphor there, because I know many people (myself included) dislike dentists icon wink Broken teeth, healing mind

Everything, bar the snatched time I spend playing games guiltily on Facebook, feels like it’s work.  Except, I noticed about a week ago, that I wasn’t snatching time to play, I was playing and snatching time to write.  I’d sit on Facebook, and respond to posts, and play Bejeweled, or Cooking Mama, or Farmville.  And I’d wonder where my day went, when I could be writing.  But even thinking that would lead to apathy.  Would lead to ‘game…wooo!’.
There’s no easy way to address this, other than to accept that this is my brain’s way of saying ‘more fun pleazthanxbai’.   And while my fiction writing is *supposed* to be fun, it’s not.  I’m enjoying editing and copywriting, but if I’m using that to fill the time at night, instead of doing it when I get up, then, there’s a problem.

So, the schedule changes again.  I work during the day – and cut myself off from Facebook and other sites.  I teach myself to blog in Word, and upload when I’m done (though, ideally, I’d like a program that lets me upload posts when I come back online, so I might look into that) and most of all, I don’t spend time on Facebook (please note, my iPad and iPhone don’t cut themselves off from Facebook – quite deliberately – it’s one of the few points of messaging a couple of friends have for me.  What I do tend to notice though is I can’t play games as easily on my phone/iPad.  Not the games I like anyway – and I do generally forget to check in on there as often as I try to on my laptop.

I’m not sure how long this is going to take – and for once, I’m not going ‘aha, plan!’.  I don’t have one.
I know I have copywriting, and editing, and three blogs to look after.  Beyond that – I haven’t decided yet, and don’t have a clue when that will change – or HOW.  I do know that I’m going to be selling *a lot* of my virtual real estate, and that’s probably going to be difficult, but ultimately, very good for me.  How I go about that is a bit of a mystery too, but I’ll work it out.

My single strand

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My single strand

Image via Wikipedia

Chris Brogan spoke about this yesterday, quite serendipitously, but I’ve been thinking about it – a lot – myself lately.  What’s the core of my being.  When I remove everything from around me that isn’t dependent on relationships, isn’t dependant on circumstance and isn’t dependant on expectation, what’s left for me?  And only me?

Removing ‘stuff’ first 

The single strand at the centre of my being isn’t my kids.  They are my world, but they don’t define me.  Just like I don’t define them.  Similarly, my relationships aren’t the single strand at the centre of me, though they are very important, and if we were looking at weaving something from the bits in the middle of me, they’d be one of the foundation threads.  I can’t do what I do without the support of the people around me.  But, if we’re looking at single strands, as defined by Chris, then it’s something internal, not external.

At first…
At first I thought it was blogging – after all – that’s who I am.  I blog.  Except, it’s not.  Not any more.  I spend more time copywriting than blogging writing by a factor of about ten to one.   It’s still a core of my  being, but it’s not *the* core.  It’s not the element at the center of me, as much as I wish it was.
And then, I looked into whether it was copywriting –  it’s my job and I’m very passionate about it – but again, that’s not me.  I kinda feel like a cat with a ball of string – I grapple with it, but I couldn’t see myself doing it as the only writing thing ever.  And while both fulfil a lot of the time I spend online, they’re not the only thing I do.

More recent developments

I’ve started editing – which makes me an editor officially now.  I’m about to finish my second contract (probably today or tomorrow) officially, and I’ve edited for places like Scribe and Quill and other sites for years now.   But again, it feels kinda like my job, not my career – not to mention, to make sure that I help people with their books, my prices are tiny right now. I still love it, but it’s not something that I’m entirely interested in doing for the rest of my life.
I’m passionate about many things – mental health being key among them – WordPress being another one.   It’s important to be passionate, but passion, those passions, aren’t my core.  They colour what I do though, and that’s cool.

Hobbies

So, is my single strand my hobbies?  Photography?  Knitting?  Cross Stitch?  Gaming?  But, if I go into those, when I find that I’m bored of them, or I’ve perfected them, or I can’t ‘do’ them for any reason, then that might mean that I give in and have no single strand.

And that, your honor, is when we uncovered the vital evidence

Writing is at the core of almost everything I do.  Even coding when you look at it is writing of some description – but my passion – at the core of my being is writing.  Be it fiction or non fiction, I’m passionate about *books* and linguistics, and writing and … and… and…

My single strand isn’t so much a strand – it’s a sentence.
I am a writer.

Weekly author spotlight

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(I’m part of a facebook group called ‘Indie Authors Unite‘ and we do a weekly facebook blog hop/swap – I’m a bit late this week, this was actually supposed to be last week, but when the laptop died, that kinda scuppered that!)

This week, I’d like to introduce Helmy Parlente Kusuma

Give me a two line description of your book
-Mementoes of Mai is the story of a man who reached an intersection and has to decide where to turn in order to have the love of his life.

Give me a two line description of you
-Helmy Kusuma is an ex-IT worker who has spent two decades typing on the keyboard when suddenly the egg of  inspiration fell on his lap.

What’s your favorite scene in your book?
-When the main character was in the middle of a bay shouting “Yeah!”

What did you find hardest?
-Rock, I guess…no, wait a minute, I believe diamond is the hardest.

How about the process – what did you think you were good at, and what did you struggle with?
-I am good at descripting something but still working on creating good dialogues.

If you could ask a fan one thing, what would it be?
-Would you buy my next book?

Who is your favorite author?
-Paulo Coelho

If you could meet any one person, who would it be, and where would you go for lunch?
-I would like to meet Jesus and have lunch at a mountain’s tip. I have always wanted to ask him “Do you like salmon or tuna better?”

Anything else you’d like to tell my readers?
-Buy my book or I would send the minions of darkness to rip your wallet, steal 99c and slap your face with my book.  Kidding. Seriously, please buy my book.

Smashwords  , Kindle US  , Kindle UK  , Kindle DE 

 

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One of the things I’m working on, other than writing and releasing books, is making my life a bit easier.  I work 30 hours a week as a copywriter, and on the surface, given I also care for two kids and the house full-time, that might seem like I’ve got a good work/life balance.

But I don’t.  I’m still struggling with basic scheduling, and fitting everything in.  I’m still underestimating how long errands take, and I’m still struggling to disengage effectively from places like Facebook.  I guess it really drove the topic home when my boss posted on the AppleCopywriting blog about removing distractions.
So, weekly todo’s are the way forward.  With time set aside for all of the work that I’m expecting, it should help icon smile Kais weekly todo

For now, I’m using ‘Workflowy’ to manage the vague stuff, that isn’t dated.  And I’m not sure what I’m going to use for actual deadlines, possibly toodledo.  There has to be an easier way, but for now, it’s a bit difficult to see my way out of the forest for all the tasks that are stacking up around me like brittle wood. icon wink Kais weekly todo

Well, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind

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I know I said I wanted to simplify my life, but this wasn’t quite what I had in mind…..

First up though – good news.

My dissertation was handed in on Thursday.  I’m so excited that I managed it, and am delighted that I got through it in one piece, more or less.  In the end I never handed in the story I wrote at the beginning of the year, that I’ve prepped to hand it in and instead ran with the first half of a new Elliot and Morri novella.  It’s done, dusted, handed in.  And all I need do is wait for the confirmation that it’s been received and I’m all good.

And the bad news.

I think all I need to is link this site and leave it at that.

Sometimes I’m truly ashamed to be an indie writer, and I’m hoping that shame wears off before I’ve got to actually help some of my indie writing friends, or it’s going to colour my enthusiasm and they don’t deserve that.

Kai’s ‘day in the life’

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I’ve thought about this a lot in the last three or four weeks – and every time I go to write it, I realise it’s difficult to pin down my ‘average’ day.  But Chris Brogan outlined his day, so I thought I’d give it a try icon wink Kais day in the life

There are a couple of commonalities, but it’s been difficult to tie everything into each other lately.  But I thought I’d give it a try.

My ‘job’.

I am a full-time writer.  So I copywrite, and if I’m not copywriting, I do other content for my blogs, or write fiction.  I’ve been off fiction for a while, but I’m working on most of it with a vengeance again.

The morning:

7am – if he doesn’t wake me up at 6:30, I wake up mostly naturally sometime between 7 and 7:30.  My first thing I do, and I hate, is check my email for messages overnight from my clients/the team I sub-contract with.  It means my morning might be started on a good note or not, depending on edits and stuff that have come in overnight.
I tend *not* to check in on Facebook unless I really need to.  I get the kids ready for school – and if I’m not feeling sick, I grab brekfast.  I’m trying to teach myself to do that more often, because I think my body confuses nausea with hunger first thing and it has a knock on effect.

8:30am – Kids are normally out the door by now – so I do email, and blogging and anything else I feel like.  Right now, in the morning I’m doing fiction writing and writing until lunch.  Today, and for the last six days, I’ve been working on my dissertation.  Next week, the kids go on holiday and I’ll be working on my novel for its final work through before handing in.
I do Facebook quite a lot during the morning, between writing, in snatches.
If I’m blocked, I blog.

Lunch

Lucky to stop for lunch – working from home means that I can do it whenever, but I normally forget.

Afternoon

In the afternoon, I’m a great copywriter.  I don’t know why the difference exists between morning and afternoon, but it is.  I write until around 4pm, when the kids get home.

Evening

In the evening, I’m on Facebook, I’m interacting with friends, I’m doing my best impression of a meerkat and listening to the world, with my head stuck above my ‘burrow’.   I collapse into bed around 11pm, after a hot bath, one last check on Facebook, and either games on my iPad, or one last bout of writing.  If I can’t sleep, I knit.

And Tuesday nights, I game with friends – we’re currently roleplaying through a 40K Rouge Trader game, where I’m the Captain.

Intermingled with all of this, I keep an eye on several self-publishing support groups on Facebook, and put the finishing touches on a lot of the things that I’m setting up for launch post dissertation (this Thursday to hand it in!)

Today’s tasks

  • 2 Blog posts for my client’s equality blogs
  • 4 blog posts to get my blogs ahead – including bi-polarbears 
  • 4k of my dissertation (2k writing and 2k editing)
  • Press release for DarknessPD.
  • Set-up for new community site for self publishers.
  • Chapter edits on two books for clients
And anything else that comes up icon wink Kais day in the life
My ‘takeaway’
One of the big things I’ve learned from Chris over the last years is there’s always a ‘take away’ – an underlying message that comes from what I know now versus what I knew the last time I did this.  The last time I did this I was signed off with a mental health disorder – and had just quit Uni for the year, and going back into the classes later in the year to try again.
I’ve come *a long way* since my last ‘day in the life’ post.  Seriously.  Things have changed so much – I own two limited companies in the UK and our last year’s turnover was great.
The takeaway?  I’ve come a long way – and I’ve got a lot to be proud of but there is no such thing as a regular day in the life of a fiction/copywriter. icon smile Kais day in the life  Not for me anyway.
How about you?

things you probably don’t know about me – 25 at a time

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300px Strix varia 005 things you probably dont know about me 25 at a time

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One of the things I’ve realised is that many people don’t actually *know* me, some of that’s deliberate, but that if I don’t start really connecting with people, all of the advice I give people about working with their community is going to be pretty hollow.

So, here’s how this one’s going to work.
For this first set of 25, I’m going to tag five people and then for the next set, I’m going to use people that have commented on the post.  Once a week on a Sunday, I’ll post em and we can see if we can’t all get to know one another – y’never know whom you might meet icon wink things you probably dont know about me 25 at a time

The 25 things

  1.  My real name isn’t Kai.  My real name doesn’t even contain, legally, Kai, and though I’ve been threatening for years to change that, I’ve never gotten round to it.  My name is very girly, and I never felt it suited me, so I changed it, post breakup from the father of my kids.  I have a whole circle of friends that get very confused when people use my ‘real’ name (though, I’m not interested in sharing it in public icon wink things you probably dont know about me 25 at a time )
  2.  I am 32, and I’m a Scorpio.   I’m a very typical Scorpio too.   whether that’s an aspect of the fact that I’ve got a strong personality, or whether it’s because of something else, I’m not sure.
  3. I don’t actually buy into a lot of the ‘hippy’ stuff that we call ‘New Age’.  I used to, and then realized most of it was probably my positive mindset.  I still wear stones and colors that I like, but because I like them, not because they ‘vibrate and heal my aura’.
  4. I own two limited companies in the UK.
  5. I love birds of prey.  Especially owls and falcons.
  6. I hate writing right now.  Just hate it.  I’m tired and burned out and sick of my dissertation, and want it over with, and that’s sad.
  7. I’ve been in Uni for a year extra than most of the peers I started with.  That last year was a bit hit and miss really.
  8. I am a closet linguistics geek.  My main interest is a field called ‘Forensic Linguistics‘ and I had a paper accepted for publication on it recently, but declined because I realized I could make the findings better.  They liked that idea.
  9. I own 220 domains – 98% of which are mine.  I hold some for other people, but not many.
  10. My natural coloring is red hair, hazel eyes and very pale skin – but in the last few years I’ve started going a very pale honey brown after living in a part of the country.  I dye my hair more vivid red because people seem to ask less questions about how ‘natural’ it is.
  11. My favorite books aren’t probably publishable as a list because they make me look *really* bad.  In that number are several books that are, or have been banned in the past.  Transgressive literature isn’t so much something I like as something that I learn from.
  12. Socially speaking, I’m a bit of an idiot – I don’t get a lot of the social stuff that goes on around me, and am very direct when people piss me off or put me in a poor situation.  I also get very annoyed when people use others for their own gain, and often see it long before others do – while I’ve been told in some cases it’s just how it is.  But socially, I’m horrible at new situations, and even worse at understanding why something doesn’t work.
  13. I love to code.  But I’m not very good at it, and do a lot of what I do from trial and error.  I know the very basics of PHP but most of what I’ve learned isn’t from reading books on coding, it’s from reading code.  Again, back to the linguistics aspect of my mind, but I get on very well with code once I understand it.
  14. I have several pen names – one of which, including my back catalog is up for sale to another writer.  He’s more passionate about it than me and just as good a writer, so….
  15. I sleep on my stomach because I’m scared that I’ll be choked to death.
  16. I love sci fi.  I used to call it my guilty pleasure but now I just call it my pleasure.  But I don’t get on with shows like ‘Andromeda’.
  17. I can be very closed minded when I want to be – then realize what I’m doing and fix it.  Sometimes years after the fact.  Most of the time, once you’re in my bad books, that’s it.  You never get back into my good books.
    Conversely, if you’re my friend, you can get away with just about anything once.
  18. I really don’t get on with people that believe they are the font of all knowledge.  I hate it when people think that’s what I am too.
  19. I knit.  I don’t do it often, but I do knit.  I also cross stitch like a pro.
  20. I am currently playing a rogue trader in my beloved’s 40K tabletop game.  Maeda is a bitch and she’s keeping it pretty well covered so far.
  21.  I dislike cooking with a passion.  If I could live without food, I think I would.  But I love to make meals for friends.  Just don’t like cooking for myself much.
  22. I was on Seroquel from May or so of last year until 2 weeks ago.  There’s a very good reason that I’ve stopped, but we’ve not gotten there yet, so I can’t talk about it icon wink things you probably dont know about me 25 at a time .  I am an outspoken mental health advocate on my ‘award winning‘ site.
  23. I dislike, intensely, being the centre of attention, though, time and again, I put myself ‘out there’.
  24. I feel like I’m a fraud….oh, most of the time.
  25. I am bipolar, have a touch or at least aspects of aspergers, and have an unspecified personality disorder to do with self esteem.
And my five ‘tags’
I tag -
  1. Keith Foreman (who is one of my best friends in the whole world)
  2. Mary-Ann Peden-Covellio – Mary-Ann is an incredible writer and another very good (best) friend.
  3. Valerie Douglas – amazing writer whom I’ve been honored to get to know lately.
  4. Rae Gould – fantasy writer extraordinaire and my co-mod on tonnes of projects.
  5. Stephen King – another amazing writer – I seem to be surrounded with them – who keeps a very good blog on writing.

And that’s it.  The five I’ve tagged *could* do 25 points of their own, or you could just go check out five really good blogs.

things you probably dont know about me 25 at a time

Some Twitter hashtags I set up :)

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I thought I’d share some twitter hashtags I’m ‘behind’.

#tIAG – the Twitter indie Author Group - The Indie Author Group is a group on Facebook, that I’m part of.

#iahop  – for the Indie Author Blog hop!

And finally, Superwriter’s Sunday – #swsun – a bit like Follow Friday, but to show the best authors that you know.

How you should use these hashtags

Twitter hashtags are brilliant for promoting your stuff – but only if you use them right.  Use them to tag posts you think someone should see, to ‘file’ something with other, similar stuff, or, possibly most importantly of all, showing solidarity to a ’cause’ or group of people.  The last use for twitter hashtags is best expressed in #mywana - my ‘we are not alone’, set up by Kirsten Lamb.

Have fun with it!

I needs me a better job

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Actually, I don’t – I needs me a bit more organisation, to make my job better.

At the moment, I get up at 7:30am, deal with the kidlets, and if I know I’m going out, I shower, get dressed (into clothes I’ve laid out the night before if I’m super organised) and sometimes walk his lordship to school.  I do my stuff in town or over in Cheltenham, and head back (though, right now I’m not keen on leaving the house.  Don’t know why but I’m forcing myself to go further out of my comfort zone so that should be fixed in plenty of time to go to London or travel on my own (with the kids but also on my own on the way back) n the 28th.

I do some chores around the house, because I can’t settle to writing when I get up.  Conversely, unless I do something low tech before going up to bed, I struggle with falling asleep too, so it’s something I’m working on.
And then I spend anywhere between 4 and 12 hours writing, depending on workload.  I edit and blog too .  I’m looking right now, at a mountain of my own edit – it’s one I can’t send out for a professional edit because it’s my dissertation and that’s just not allowed.  It’ll be done in 15 days though.  2 weeks tomorrow I hand it in.  I’m crapping myself.

The problem I’m seeing with my ‘job’ though is that I’ve got other stuff that I have to shoehorn in.  I don’t like the idea of having to precisely map out how much time I spend with friends – and I don’t like that I’m already gearing up because I’m having less time over the summer to do ‘stuff’ and there’s no room for it.  And it’s mostly down to disorganisation.

There, I said it.  I’m disorganised.  I flit from job to job without a care in the world, and I could do so much better – and get more done.  I already fit work that takes ‘average people’ (going by rescuetime/various writer’s sites) a lot more time, and enjoy it.  I can, if I put my mind to it, write around 3k in an hour.  I have to be really desperate to write, but I can. (at 803 words in 11 minutes this morning!)

My other problem is the overwhelming amount of tech at my fingertips.  It’s not ‘normal’ to be able to read and knit at the same time, but with the kindle, I can. (I used to be able to multitask like a pro – I’m slowly getting back there, other than my attention span, since I fell in 2007 – anyone that says head injuries without loss of consciousness aren’t horrible are liars.  I did myself serious damage – I’m also not entirely sure I didn’t lose consciousness, kinda, because I can’t remember the fall.  I also don’t remember being picked up, but my beloved swears blind that I fell onto my back.  Which means I might have done myself more damage than I thought).

So.  I’ve got four days of limited access at the end of this month.  And then another four the weekend after.  I won’t be online for work between the 4th and 9th of August, because I’ll be packing for my holiday, enjoying my holiday and getting back from my holiday.  it’s right smack bang in the middle of the time away from the kids too, so it’s good.

I’m also a full-time house momma.  And that’s where the biggest problem now comes in.  I’m not doing regular chores, and that bothers me.  I’ve tried Flylady (and didn’t enjoy it) and I think, in part it’s because I’m very independent and don’t like being told how to live my life.  I’ve never responded well to limitations and not being allowed to do the things I want to do.  When I modify my life, I’ve actually thought about it – even if it’s a split second though, I do actually go though considering stuff, and reconcile it with how I process internally.  Unexpected stuff throws me, which is why I can’t stand being involved in groups where people are childish or difficult to work with.  I’m already pretty inflexible, and I’d say, sometimes, childlike in how I deal with the world.  It’s not an aspect of my bipolar, it’s just who I am.  I’m also mostly incredibly literal for someone that messes with language the way I do. it’s probably the forensic linguist in me.

Anyway, the point with this is my life is too hectic.  There’s no room for new stuff without dropping other stuff, and I don’t like that.  So.  Though I’ve merged down here, and should get to blog more often, it’s still going to be erratic for a while.  Not deliberately, but more because my technology isn’t at the point that I need it to be.  Roll on Os5, but I betcha before then I work it out.  It’s only taken me…what, nearly ten years?
in all seriousness, the ‘new me’ starts straight after the first holiday.  I’m planning some crazy, but valuable stuff.  I’d love it if people could come along for the wild ride icon wink I needs me a better job