Biphasic sleep. This involves sleeping twice a day, or as shown by the phrase "siesta sleep" it's basically a "normal" chunk of sleep plus towards the middle of your day give or take.
Yes, I know. I've tried this before and stopped. But that was years ago and I was operating under different circumstances.
Right now I am in Michigan, I live with my fiance. I am a stay-at-home freelancer with no set schedule for anything. This is actually not the perfect setup for biphasic sleep but it's actually pretty good.
The perfect setup is having a set schedule that already allows for a "break" in the middle of the day. Like having classes go until noon and not start again until 3 or something like that. That is the perfect setup.
So I'm setting up a "schedule."
Biphasic sleep, or siesta sleep which is a much less controversial term, has two parts. The first part is the main chunk of sleep. Most of the time this is between 5-7 hours, depending on how long your nap is and how much sleep you need.
For me, I'm going with about 6 hours. I'll go to sleep earlier if I'm tired earlier. Allowing that part to be relatively fluid because I need to figure out how much sleep I need anyways.
Next is the nap. The nap can either be something like 20-30 minutes (a power nap) or 60-90 minutes. I'm going the power nap route this time. Last time, I tried for about two hours. This was not a good idea. Some people are more inclined to longer naps, some are for shorter. If I'm napping, it needs to be short - even if it is under the term biphasic sleep.
The difference between biphasic sleep and a nap has to do more with the routine, anyways. When your body is used to taking a nap every day at a certain time, it goes through the two phases.
Amusingly enough, I think this will allow my wake-ups to be easier.
My naps should probably be before or after lunch. I'm going to start on after lunch and see how that goes. The good things about after lunch is that it's middle of my day and it should hopefully be right before I'd hang out with someone. So yay, right? We'll see.
Anyways, toodle-oo
-Alexandria Hathaway
Monday, June 15, 2015
Monday, June 8, 2015
Just Because I Need to Write These Down
I get way to many ideas and they're all going to escape me so here is just a big list of my current ideas on random things that involve obscure references and oddity.
- Secrets of The Job Process Book... Series... Blog... Website... Something.
- Awhile ago I wanted to do a thing about all the different job related stuff because nobody seems to understand how resumes work. Nobody understands how interviews work. And nobody seems to understand that you don't just miss a day and not call in.
- This idea was shelved because effort and stuff.
- And because I'd have to get a new retail job for research.
- Get a Retail Job.
- For research.
- And hilarity.
- Plus the cash wouldn't hurt.
- Make a book about a crazy adrenaline-obsessed person who must continue to do crazy awesome things in order to avoid depression.
- And don't rip off the Pretties or whatever that one book was.
- Which I just now realized was a thing.
- Of course that's not even the actual premise of their book.
- So I'll be good.
- I have a friend like this. More research is needed.
- Obviously some details will be fabricated. Because fiction.
- Have different days where I go to different places to do my work.
- Like the library one day.
- And coffee another day.
- And all that jazz.
- Would fit well with a retail job.
- Make a blog full of article samples.
- But then someone might take them for their own in an attempt to get a job and so that would be bad.
- Make a How To Elance kind of site.
- Because Fuck the "water cooler."
- Write a huge philosophically intense book... that all ends with a dick joke.
- Write a book that seems like it's just a bunch of dick jokes but is actually philosophically intense.
- Actually succeed at finding a sleep schedule that fits me.
- Actually take a typing test and then try to improve said typing score because I can't type as fast as I think and it gets annoying.
- Holy shit you could literally see how fast you think by increasing your typing score until you can type as fast as you think and then you could be like "I think about 110 words per minute."
- Of course this would only work if you thought:
- At a speed slower than the response time of a key press
- Only thought one thing at once
- Unless you could type like 110 words a minute on both hands on separate keyboards. But that's only two lines of thought.
- Work on that whole ambidextrous thing again. Cause that was legit.
- Learn how to Leatherwork.
- Get materials for leatherwork.
- Learn how to treat wood.
- Get materials to treat wood.
- Actually have an exercise routine of some sort.
- Because my arms are way too flabby.
- And they need to be stronger so I can use my saws effectively.
- Because I need to be able to outrun bees.
- Because I want to be a ninja.
- Write that one book on productivity.
- Actually get to the point where I have successfully learned how to be that productive.
- Write a book that showcases the cost of someone's time, regardless of what they're doing.
- Because you're not paying me to scan your groceries, you're paying me to not do anything else I could be doing at that moment.
- Work on a book about effective ways to handle anxiety.
- And do a bunch of blog posts on the subject so people don't have to spend money to not have anxiety attacks. That would stop them from making money/conversing/living.
- Learn how to use my sewing machine or get a newer one.
- Because I need to figure out how to do the halter top thing I was planning on doing.
- And because Story Bears are still a thing.
Congratulations. You just spent your time reading all this stuff. Now go make your own list. You know you have those ideas. Do them.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Part Two of my Food Intolerance Journey!
Fried Foods week was not as hard core as any other week has been thus far. It was very laid back. My conclusion? Moderation, moderation, moderation.
Honestly though, this week wasn't as needed as it would've been a year ago. This is because I stopped using as much oil. When I was younger I would use WAY more oil than was needed. Everything needed to be deep fried. Now? I do the cute little teaspoon thing.
So I just need to keep doing the small teaspoon for frying and make sure my week doesn't consist of only pan-seared foods. This is easy.
Simple stuff.
Next week we move on to sugar. By sugar, I mean no sugar. Nada. I have lots of veggies and noodles and other things so I don't have to be too concerned. The goal of this week is to see if no sugar makes me feel better.
If I feel the same, I'll resume my sugar eating habits. If I feel better, I'll just use moderation with my sugar and mostly stick to the unprocessed stuff. (I.e. less soda.)
Remember, this is all based on how I feel and is only happening to make me feel better. I feel I should mention that because some people cut out sugar for other reasons and those are not my reasons. My reasons involve my stomach, my fatigue, and just in general how I feel.
In other news, Wings is out on Amazon. Which is nice. I'm walking to cats almost every time they're open, which is cool. This also means I'm getting some exercise.
I've also been trying to get better at not taking on too much at a time. Believe it or not, I've been improving. This is great news, especially since I've just started an online course on elance. Hopefully my funds will go up and my stress will go down. That's the plan anyways.
Finally, for those of you paying attention and for those of you interested in helping out with the car situation, here is the fancy progress bar and how to help! From what I know of the car, we have definite transmission issues and potential intake problems. NEW! We now also have suspension problems!
And all the cars problems are expensive, so working towards getting a new car would be beneficial.
Apparently there's also the potential of the car exploding. This would be exciting if it didn't mean potential injury/death.
Honestly though, this week wasn't as needed as it would've been a year ago. This is because I stopped using as much oil. When I was younger I would use WAY more oil than was needed. Everything needed to be deep fried. Now? I do the cute little teaspoon thing.
So I just need to keep doing the small teaspoon for frying and make sure my week doesn't consist of only pan-seared foods. This is easy.
Simple stuff.
Next week we move on to sugar. By sugar, I mean no sugar. Nada. I have lots of veggies and noodles and other things so I don't have to be too concerned. The goal of this week is to see if no sugar makes me feel better.
If I feel the same, I'll resume my sugar eating habits. If I feel better, I'll just use moderation with my sugar and mostly stick to the unprocessed stuff. (I.e. less soda.)
Remember, this is all based on how I feel and is only happening to make me feel better. I feel I should mention that because some people cut out sugar for other reasons and those are not my reasons. My reasons involve my stomach, my fatigue, and just in general how I feel.
In other news, Wings is out on Amazon. Which is nice. I'm walking to cats almost every time they're open, which is cool. This also means I'm getting some exercise.
I've also been trying to get better at not taking on too much at a time. Believe it or not, I've been improving. This is great news, especially since I've just started an online course on elance. Hopefully my funds will go up and my stress will go down. That's the plan anyways.
Finally, for those of you paying attention and for those of you interested in helping out with the car situation, here is the fancy progress bar and how to help! From what I know of the car, we have definite transmission issues and potential intake problems. NEW! We now also have suspension problems!
And all the cars problems are expensive, so working towards getting a new car would be beneficial.
Apparently there's also the potential of the car exploding. This would be exciting if it didn't mean potential injury/death.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
2nd Book Officially Out!
Many of you have been waiting for this announcement from me. I promised it a little earlier than this but I forgot about the verification stage involved in self-publishing.
Without further ado I present to you Wings. Fully published in both ebook and paperback form. My website has been updated to show this awesome new step.
The next step for Wings, as well as An Addictive Personality, is to become an audio book.
I will be recording the MP3 of myself reading the books out loud and will attempt to figure out how to create my own site shop where I can receive payment for this audio and send it out to buyers. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
I do not want to use a "publishing platform" for the MP3 version, I want it to be exclusively available through me and my website.
The journey to publish Wings has been long. Longer than I expected, actually. Writing it was very, very quick due to the 10k writing challenge day that I completed a while back. Then I did the traditional thing of leaving it and not touching it for a good month. Then I procrastinated editing it for a while.
It was very hard to come back to. I wasn't sure exactly how I should go about editing it and what I should do with it. So it sat for long periods of time. Then it got to the point where I just decided to go all out and I used two documents to figure everything out.
There were some easy parts and there were hard ones but I finally got it all edited up. From there I needed to finish my book cover. I had the front cover completely finished, but I didn't have a back cover. I worked on it, (Thanks mom!) uploaded it, and after one re-upload it was completed.
Now it's out there. It's out there to read. It's out there to enjoy. It's out there to provide a narrative.
Thank you. Everyone.
-Alexandria Younk
Without further ado I present to you Wings. Fully published in both ebook and paperback form. My website has been updated to show this awesome new step.
The next step for Wings, as well as An Addictive Personality, is to become an audio book.
I will be recording the MP3 of myself reading the books out loud and will attempt to figure out how to create my own site shop where I can receive payment for this audio and send it out to buyers. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
I do not want to use a "publishing platform" for the MP3 version, I want it to be exclusively available through me and my website.
The journey to publish Wings has been long. Longer than I expected, actually. Writing it was very, very quick due to the 10k writing challenge day that I completed a while back. Then I did the traditional thing of leaving it and not touching it for a good month. Then I procrastinated editing it for a while.
It was very hard to come back to. I wasn't sure exactly how I should go about editing it and what I should do with it. So it sat for long periods of time. Then it got to the point where I just decided to go all out and I used two documents to figure everything out.
There were some easy parts and there were hard ones but I finally got it all edited up. From there I needed to finish my book cover. I had the front cover completely finished, but I didn't have a back cover. I worked on it, (Thanks mom!) uploaded it, and after one re-upload it was completed.
Now it's out there. It's out there to read. It's out there to enjoy. It's out there to provide a narrative.
Thank you. Everyone.
-Alexandria Younk
Monday, April 27, 2015
The Shelter Cats and Why I Need Them
Mary. Stella. Simba. These names have been uttered by me an awful lot. They belong to three beautiful cats at the Humane Society nearby.
While they may not mean much to you, they mean the world to me.
First, I love cats. I love all furry animals and even non-furry animals. I have two betta fish at my apartment. There are four cats plus my turtle at my parents house. My favorite animal is the grey wolf. Humane societies? They're awesome for animal lovers.
But this love is not just about loving animals.
It's about needing their care, their affection, their quirks, even their moody days. And them needing me. It's about my anxiety and my need to nurture. It's about personal growth. It's about saving lives. It's about my depression and finding beauty in every single day. This is why I need these cats.
When I first moved to Michigan I was still having high anxiety. It was less than it was in Minnesota, sure, but it was still making life hard for me. I somehow managed to publish An Addictive Personality and pull a 10k Writing Marathon. Progress.
But anxiety caught up to me and I wasn't able to do much else. What was I going to do with my days? I started aching for something to nurture. I wanted something small and warm. I really wanted a pet. And not just any pet. I wanted a cat, a dog, or some kind of rodent larger than a hamster.
Of course, I can't own one. The apartment does not allow pets. This is a common problem.
So here is where the humane society comes in.
We started going there and met all the pretty kitties. They were awesome. I loved them. The more we went... the better I felt.
I felt good enough to restart freelancing.
It was an amazing thing. I began to actually work on things. I started working a little more on Wings and other projects. I did some mturk tasks. I didn't feel like every day was one step closer to a potential anxiety attack.
The more I came, the better I got to know the cats. Mary is described as a "diva." She does not like one too many pets and she wasn't too friendly towards people she didn't recognize. She started warming up. Now every time I can pet her I feel pretty great because I know that it's because I put effort into getting to know her.
Mary taught me a lesson about working to get to know someone. A lot of times people think they know each other long before they actually do. They think they know a lot because they talk a lot and hang out a lot but there are sides that take a long time to see. And so Mary taught me to be patient for those layers to show themselves.
Stella is described in terms much less nice. She has been at the shelter for a very, very long time. After gaining Mary's trust, attention to Stella became a thing. She already understood that I was a frequent visitor, which helped matters. Cats like stability, too.
Eventually, she allowed me to pet her and actually has sat in my lap a couple times. Her biggest thing appears to be trust. Trust and stability.
I don't know much about Stella's past and frankly I don't know if I want to know. Maybe she was just never around humans, but maybe it's something much worse. What I care about is that she has grown and adapted and is well taken care of.
Stella is teaching me about how long it really takes to trust someone and about taking baby steps. She has taught me restraint as I make sure not to pet her when she is likely to be upset. Moreso, she is teaching me how stability of my actions has an effect on others. I feel like this is a very important lesson.
Then we have Simba. Simba is constantly bullied by other kitties. I'm not sure why, though he is a little standoffish. It's widely accepted that a single kitty home might be best for him, especially one where he can be left alone a lot. Simba has taught me about personal space, reading a person's discomfort level, and about how to make yourself seem like a safe person.
I didn't begin to work with Simba until February when I decided to sponsor him. I had already learned some restraint and had grown up knowing how to respect animals, so I wasn't a threat to him. But I also wasn't his friend.
Simba needs a lot of personal space, so I learned how to read the signs about when he needed it. And I knew not to go after him. Because I respected this and took the time to learn about him, but didn't neglect to offer petting and treats, he began to see me as "safe."
Since then, he's still standoffish, but when he sees me he comes to get a head rub. And when other cats are bullying him and my lap is clear, he'll jump on up.
Edited to add: These are my personal opinions and experiences about the cats. Your results/opinions may vary.
That's actually another thing, all the cats have learned or are in the process of learning that my lap is a no-brat zone. Meaning no batting or growling or hissing at cats to cats on my lap or from cats on my lap. So far it's worked surprisingly well.
And that is why I need them.
Also, because they've helped me so much, I've started to sponsor them. I sponsored Simba in February, Rory in March, and I finally got the funds to sponsor Monica for April! This way I'll help them find new homes.
Oh, a quick update - Not doing no-sugar week this week. Not because "I can't handle not having sugar" but because that's the kind of thing you REALLY need to plan ahead for. I learned this only AFTER checking labels of foods.
Fried food week goes on as planned starting on the 3rd. Because I have more than enough oil and things to fry.
Love the felines in your life,
-Alexandria
Oh, and for those of you interested in helping out with the car situation, here is the fancy progress bar and how to help! From what I know of the car, we have definite transmission issues and potential intake problems. And all the cars problems are expensive, so working towards getting a new car would be beneficial.
Apparently there's also the potential of the car exploding. This would be exciting if it didn't mean potential injury/death.
While they may not mean much to you, they mean the world to me.
 |
| Mary |
But this love is not just about loving animals.
It's about needing their care, their affection, their quirks, even their moody days. And them needing me. It's about my anxiety and my need to nurture. It's about personal growth. It's about saving lives. It's about my depression and finding beauty in every single day. This is why I need these cats.
When I first moved to Michigan I was still having high anxiety. It was less than it was in Minnesota, sure, but it was still making life hard for me. I somehow managed to publish An Addictive Personality and pull a 10k Writing Marathon. Progress.
 |
| Stella |
Of course, I can't own one. The apartment does not allow pets. This is a common problem.
So here is where the humane society comes in.
We started going there and met all the pretty kitties. They were awesome. I loved them. The more we went... the better I felt.
I felt good enough to restart freelancing.
It was an amazing thing. I began to actually work on things. I started working a little more on Wings and other projects. I did some mturk tasks. I didn't feel like every day was one step closer to a potential anxiety attack.
 |
| Simba |
Mary taught me a lesson about working to get to know someone. A lot of times people think they know each other long before they actually do. They think they know a lot because they talk a lot and hang out a lot but there are sides that take a long time to see. And so Mary taught me to be patient for those layers to show themselves.
Stella is described in terms much less nice. She has been at the shelter for a very, very long time. After gaining Mary's trust, attention to Stella became a thing. She already understood that I was a frequent visitor, which helped matters. Cats like stability, too.
Eventually, she allowed me to pet her and actually has sat in my lap a couple times. Her biggest thing appears to be trust. Trust and stability.
I don't know much about Stella's past and frankly I don't know if I want to know. Maybe she was just never around humans, but maybe it's something much worse. What I care about is that she has grown and adapted and is well taken care of.
 |
| Rory |
Then we have Simba. Simba is constantly bullied by other kitties. I'm not sure why, though he is a little standoffish. It's widely accepted that a single kitty home might be best for him, especially one where he can be left alone a lot. Simba has taught me about personal space, reading a person's discomfort level, and about how to make yourself seem like a safe person.
I didn't begin to work with Simba until February when I decided to sponsor him. I had already learned some restraint and had grown up knowing how to respect animals, so I wasn't a threat to him. But I also wasn't his friend.
Simba needs a lot of personal space, so I learned how to read the signs about when he needed it. And I knew not to go after him. Because I respected this and took the time to learn about him, but didn't neglect to offer petting and treats, he began to see me as "safe."
Since then, he's still standoffish, but when he sees me he comes to get a head rub. And when other cats are bullying him and my lap is clear, he'll jump on up.
Edited to add: These are my personal opinions and experiences about the cats. Your results/opinions may vary.
That's actually another thing, all the cats have learned or are in the process of learning that my lap is a no-brat zone. Meaning no batting or growling or hissing at cats to cats on my lap or from cats on my lap. So far it's worked surprisingly well.
 |
| Monica |
And that is why I need them.
Also, because they've helped me so much, I've started to sponsor them. I sponsored Simba in February, Rory in March, and I finally got the funds to sponsor Monica for April! This way I'll help them find new homes.
Oh, a quick update - Not doing no-sugar week this week. Not because "I can't handle not having sugar" but because that's the kind of thing you REALLY need to plan ahead for. I learned this only AFTER checking labels of foods.
Fried food week goes on as planned starting on the 3rd. Because I have more than enough oil and things to fry.
Love the felines in your life,
-Alexandria
Oh, and for those of you interested in helping out with the car situation, here is the fancy progress bar and how to help! From what I know of the car, we have definite transmission issues and potential intake problems. And all the cars problems are expensive, so working towards getting a new car would be beneficial.
Apparently there's also the potential of the car exploding. This would be exciting if it didn't mean potential injury/death.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Editing, Writing, and Anxiety - Tips
If you haven't yet, please read my blog post entitled "Mental Disorder Series - Anxiety." This is a great resource if you don't know what the difference between common anxiety and an anxiety disorder is. It also provides a bit of background with my anxiety experience for those of you interested.
This post, however, is not about the generals of anxiety. No. Instead it is about how Authors can manage to revise and edit their own books, even through suffering from anxiety attacks, avoidance, and other anxiety disorder related problems.
This subject was brought up to me by this twitter comment by user @hannahswiderski:
So when an author writes a book, they sit down and basically put their soul on paper. (Or into a word/scrivener/etc document.) The process begins with an idea, moves into the writing part, includes some pre-emptive editing, maybe some outlining... Honestly it depends on the author.
Anxiety can strike at any time during the writing process, but it most commonly seems to strike while editing. The reason for this has to do with the fact that, hey, we just spilled our guts out and now we have to go back, re-read it, and change it.
Big problem number one: Re-Reading what we just wrote. Why is this a problem? Simple. "What if it's terrible? Why am I such a bad writer? How did I forget this comma? Why should I have to edit this?" And then of course there's the fear of just plain reading what you wrote. Yes, it's normal to be scared of what you've just written. Even moreso if you have an anxiety or avoidance issue.
Big problem number two: CHANGING what you just wrote. Hun, this is my pure emotion in word format for you and you think it needs to be edited? Changed? Re-arranged? This is my baby!
And then of course there are other issues too such as compulsive editing and not being sure if your editing is good enough.
(Some of you will note that you can hire out an editor to edit your work for you but I must remind you that in the end the choice of what to do with your book is ultimately yours. Every change is your choice whether to accept or deny.)
Here are some tips for all of you:
This post, however, is not about the generals of anxiety. No. Instead it is about how Authors can manage to revise and edit their own books, even through suffering from anxiety attacks, avoidance, and other anxiety disorder related problems.
This subject was brought up to me by this twitter comment by user @hannahswiderski:
@AlexandriaMWolf Do you know how to deal with it? I find I can't write AT ALL bcz of anxiety. End up editing the same 50 words over and over
— Hannah Swiderski (@hannahswiderski) April 26, 2015
This was after I posted my tweet about dealing with my anxiety while editing my upcoming book, Wings. Because guys, editing is hard. Writing is hard. Doing them with anxiety? Even harder.So when an author writes a book, they sit down and basically put their soul on paper. (Or into a word/scrivener/etc document.) The process begins with an idea, moves into the writing part, includes some pre-emptive editing, maybe some outlining... Honestly it depends on the author.
Anxiety can strike at any time during the writing process, but it most commonly seems to strike while editing. The reason for this has to do with the fact that, hey, we just spilled our guts out and now we have to go back, re-read it, and change it.
Big problem number one: Re-Reading what we just wrote. Why is this a problem? Simple. "What if it's terrible? Why am I such a bad writer? How did I forget this comma? Why should I have to edit this?" And then of course there's the fear of just plain reading what you wrote. Yes, it's normal to be scared of what you've just written. Even moreso if you have an anxiety or avoidance issue.
Big problem number two: CHANGING what you just wrote. Hun, this is my pure emotion in word format for you and you think it needs to be edited? Changed? Re-arranged? This is my baby!
And then of course there are other issues too such as compulsive editing and not being sure if your editing is good enough.
(Some of you will note that you can hire out an editor to edit your work for you but I must remind you that in the end the choice of what to do with your book is ultimately yours. Every change is your choice whether to accept or deny.)
Here are some tips for all of you:
- Take a deep breath - Hyperventilating isn't going to make your job any easier. No you can't avoid it. You wrote this, you want to edit it. Take many deep breaths and ground yourself and get to it.
- Get a warm drink - Whether it's tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or something else, the warmth will help calm you down and let you relax. That's really what you need to do first. Relax.
- Ground yourself - Meditate, prey, go for a walk, whatever your method of grounding yourself is: Do it. If you aren't grounded you won't be able to concentrate on your work.
- Re-read your story - This may feel scary at first, but read the whole thing. Many of you have let the story sit for at least a month (as suggested for anyone editing their own book!) You need to get acquainted with this piece before you can change it. One cannot edit what one does not know.
- Edit a section once and move on - Yes, you can come back to it later, but just change it once and come back to it after you've gone through the rest of the story. This helps with compulsive editing. If you edit one part too many times, it might stop fitting with the rest of your story and then you've begun creating a completely different book entirely.
- Don't edit your story in the original document. - Whether you paste the whole thing in a different document, print it out and edit it, re-write parts on paper, just don't edit the original document. You may need it for reference. You'll need it for a backup. And all that stuff is just distracting.
- Don't try to edit the whole thing in one day. - Editing is a process. You'll have to go over it multiple times, look for different things, and honestly you're stressing yourself out by trying to change 10,000+ words in 24 hours.
- Take breaks. - Constantly re-editing? Take a break. Stuck on one part? Take a break. Out of coffee? Take a break. Breaks will allow you to re-focus later.
- Have someone else look it over. - They don't have to do a full edit, not even a proofread. They just need to read it and give you a semi-detailed opinion on your book. That way, you have something to go off of as you edit. Do this before and then after you edit. If someone looks at your edited version and says "hey, I like this" then you can feel okay going on to publish it.
- Remember, you're not the only one with anxiety. Scott Stossel, the author of "My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind" is an editor at Atlantic. He suffers from anxiety and nobody even knew until he published this book. In fact, it's really sad that more authors and editors don't come out and talk about their anxiety. It would really help the rest of us. Of which there are many.
- Don't Procrastinate. - The hardest part of finishing is getting started. Get started now. Read your book, figure out what tools you're going to use to edit it, and start.
- Go paragraph by paragraph. - First, this gives us the 'one step at a time' mentality, which is comforting. Secondly, it helps separate this section from the rest of the book which allows us to focus.
- Read it out loud. - Sometimes our brains aren't working right when we edit, so we need to calibrate them. Read the part that you're working on out loud. It exposes a lot of errors you may not have been able to previously catch.
- Remember this book is YOUR baby. Because it is your baby and you care about it, you need to remember that it deserves a lot of your respect and attention. You wrote this and you should feel proud. It's your love, your work, and it's marvelous. Be sure to cherish it for what it is.
- I said, this book is your BABY. That's right, it's a baby. It is your child. It's your job to help this baby grow into a wonderful piece of work. Use this editing session to teach your baby new things. One day it will be able to go out into the world on it's own. You'll be such a proud parent.
I hope these steps have helped you out. Another thing that helped me out recently was being told that the rough draft of your book is you telling the story to yourself. That means that after you write it, your job is to add more details so other people can understand as much about your book as you.
Editing is and always has been a difficult job. If you have anxiety, your job is to remain calm, take breaks, and go at it bit by bit.
With all that being said, I need to get back to editing wings.
Happy Writing!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Part One of My Food Intolerance Journey
Hey guys,
So I wrote a little bit before on how I'm doing this food project thing where I have these foods I think are causing me stomach problems and that I'm cutting them out and then reintroducing them to see what's up.
The first week was onion week. Onion week was very hard for me because I react to the juices of the onion in the air. I have since found out that partially freezing it (so you can still cut it) minimizes the spray. However, I still reacted VERY badly. I react to raw onion juice worse than most people. In fact, the verdict of that week is that I pretty much avoid raw onion altogether. I can buy frozen pre-chopped onion but I can only use it sparingly.
The second week was potato week. I suspected potatoes to be the cause of my fatigue. What I found out is that potatoes give me fatigue, yes, but they also give me bloating and other related problems. It doesn't appear to matter what form they're in. The verdict on them? Well, the fatigue wasn't as bad as I thought so really I'm just going with avoiding potato heavy dishes and using them primarily as sides.
The third week? Meat week. Meat week is inconclusive. I will continue my omnivore ways.
Now we're on the fourth week. This is dairy week. It is only Tuesday and I give up. Yes, yes I am lactose intolerant. Yes, yes it does give me stomach problems. Also, it's the primary cause of my fatigue and even gives me a really bleh mood. The problem is I love cheese. I love icecream. They are amazing. I also love pizza. So what am I going to do? I figure I'll just cut down a lot and allow myself a little dairy here and there... Just not when I have a serious deadline to attend to.
The reason this post is titled part one is because starting Sunday I am on to the next part of this... I found during my journey that I might have other food triggers I hadn't previously thought of. We're talking Sugar and Fried Foods.
So this means I'm going to have a part two and a part three. Maybe a part four if I'm not sure of things by the end of it.
For sugar week, the plan is to cut out all the sugars, be they natural or not. Except, obviously for naturally sugary foods like fruit. So I guess no added sugars.
I'm also going to keep to my regimen of no/limited dairy, onions, and potatoes for both weeks. I can add meat back in, however, because as of yet its results are inconclusive.
From now until Sunday, I'm just going to eat whatever I want. Maybe make some freezer space available.
Yes, by the way, that does mean I've actually completed a project that I've set out for myself. Pretty neat. And mostly on deadline, too. I might even make a recipe book out of it, or a series. I could do something like "Cuisine for the Potato-Impaired" featuring dishes commonly using potatoes. Or I could just make a "Recipes for Food-Impaired" using as few ingredients as possible. Or both. I see no reason why not. Except time.
Anyways, in other news, still working on Wings. I have both Sumbola and Amazon waiting for this and it's progressing slowly but surely. Will be open for another set of eyes soon. Might make someone make a platformer based on it. Or something. We'll see. I should probably quit rambling about my potential ideas.
Oh, and for those of you interested in helping out with the car situation, here is the paypal button and a fancy progress bar! From what I know of the car, we have definite transmission issues and potential intake problems. And all the cars problems are expensive, so working towards getting a new car would be beneficial.
Apparently there's also the potential of the car exploding. This would be exciting if it didn't mean potential injury/death.
So I wrote a little bit before on how I'm doing this food project thing where I have these foods I think are causing me stomach problems and that I'm cutting them out and then reintroducing them to see what's up.
The first week was onion week. Onion week was very hard for me because I react to the juices of the onion in the air. I have since found out that partially freezing it (so you can still cut it) minimizes the spray. However, I still reacted VERY badly. I react to raw onion juice worse than most people. In fact, the verdict of that week is that I pretty much avoid raw onion altogether. I can buy frozen pre-chopped onion but I can only use it sparingly.
The second week was potato week. I suspected potatoes to be the cause of my fatigue. What I found out is that potatoes give me fatigue, yes, but they also give me bloating and other related problems. It doesn't appear to matter what form they're in. The verdict on them? Well, the fatigue wasn't as bad as I thought so really I'm just going with avoiding potato heavy dishes and using them primarily as sides.
The third week? Meat week. Meat week is inconclusive. I will continue my omnivore ways.
Now we're on the fourth week. This is dairy week. It is only Tuesday and I give up. Yes, yes I am lactose intolerant. Yes, yes it does give me stomach problems. Also, it's the primary cause of my fatigue and even gives me a really bleh mood. The problem is I love cheese. I love icecream. They are amazing. I also love pizza. So what am I going to do? I figure I'll just cut down a lot and allow myself a little dairy here and there... Just not when I have a serious deadline to attend to.
The reason this post is titled part one is because starting Sunday I am on to the next part of this... I found during my journey that I might have other food triggers I hadn't previously thought of. We're talking Sugar and Fried Foods.
So this means I'm going to have a part two and a part three. Maybe a part four if I'm not sure of things by the end of it.
For sugar week, the plan is to cut out all the sugars, be they natural or not. Except, obviously for naturally sugary foods like fruit. So I guess no added sugars.
I'm also going to keep to my regimen of no/limited dairy, onions, and potatoes for both weeks. I can add meat back in, however, because as of yet its results are inconclusive.
From now until Sunday, I'm just going to eat whatever I want. Maybe make some freezer space available.
Yes, by the way, that does mean I've actually completed a project that I've set out for myself. Pretty neat. And mostly on deadline, too. I might even make a recipe book out of it, or a series. I could do something like "Cuisine for the Potato-Impaired" featuring dishes commonly using potatoes. Or I could just make a "Recipes for Food-Impaired" using as few ingredients as possible. Or both. I see no reason why not. Except time.
Anyways, in other news, still working on Wings. I have both Sumbola and Amazon waiting for this and it's progressing slowly but surely. Will be open for another set of eyes soon. Might make someone make a platformer based on it. Or something. We'll see. I should probably quit rambling about my potential ideas.
Oh, and for those of you interested in helping out with the car situation, here is the paypal button and a fancy progress bar! From what I know of the car, we have definite transmission issues and potential intake problems. And all the cars problems are expensive, so working towards getting a new car would be beneficial.
Apparently there's also the potential of the car exploding. This would be exciting if it didn't mean potential injury/death.
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