Publicity! Check it out!

So I’ve been trying to get as much attention for the Kickstarter campaign as possible, when a friend from Southern New Hampshire University offered to blog about my upcoming memoir to help gather some for me! She’s in the Master’s program for Creative Writing and I’m in the Bachelor’s but we are a part of the same Facebook group for SNHU writers. That’s actually how we met, and I bought some Avon stuff from her, too (so if you don’t already have an Avon sales rep, check her out!)

 

You can check out a synopsis of my memoir over at her blog as well as links to various ways of getting in touch with me if you’d like to connect. The blog post is called Writing through the Madness. Fitting title, is it not? I will have to give her creative credit for the title. So check it out and leave a comment so we know you were there! We’d love to get a discussion going!

 

If you’d like to check in and see how the Kickstarter is going, you can check it out HERE. Check out all those cool rewards for pledging! Come on, you know you want to pledge… Just kidding! Okay, I’m not. LOL

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Getting the word out about my Kickstarter every way I can!

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For: 

• Great friends who help me in my endeavors
• My ability to spread awareness about Bipolar
• My freelance writing, since it’s my income right now while I work on my memoir!

 

Two Awesome New Things!

So I have two awesome new things to show you, and I don’t know which one I’m more excited about so I guess I’ll just start with the one that happened first.

I set up a whole new website, that uses the domain I’ve had for a couple of years now. This site is bought and paid for, there’s no free website crap going on here. I got it all from GoDaddy and it was so easy to do, even for someone who’s not very good with the technical aspect of setting up websites unless it’s the website builders that everybody uses nowadays. The nice lady on the phone got me all set up with my domain renewal for 5 years (so I’d get a better price on it) and 2 years of my website builder to keep my 5-page website up and running on my domain. SOOOOOO! Do you want to see it? Huh? Do ya, do ya? Here ya go! The new website is HERE!

So, what do you think? Do you like it? Does it look professional? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts!

And the other thing I have to share with you is that my Kickstarter campaign is up and running! I am trying to raise funds to self-publish a memoir I am in the process of working on chronicling the 10 years I fought through my Bipolar Disorder to get my Bachelor’s degree. Please, share my Kickstarter page, or share this post, anything you can do to get the word out about this would help me raise the funds to make this dream come true for me. So what are you waiting for? Check it out!

Something I’m Proud Of: Having two awesome things to share with my friends and family today

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• My love of writing, both professional and creative
• My friends and family for supporting me
• The few and far between tech support agent that can actually help you do something!

Working, Working, Working!

So I’ve been working on my articles and blogs lately. I’ve been applying for more jobs on Elance.com and Guru.com and I’ve contacted clients that I’ve had in the past to see if they need any work done. Slowly, the amount of work I’m doing is increasing. I kind of like the slow increase – I’ve been able to ease my way in to the full-time writing schedule a little better. I love the work I’ve been doing so far and the new clients I’ve worked with have been great.

I submitted an article to a client today that is a trial run for a larger project. I am really hoping I get the job for more articles as it would be my first major project since coming back to freelance writing. I really enjoyed this trial article and I feel I would do a great job with the rest of them. So wish me luck!

And I found out today that an organization is going to help me out by paying for my monthly memberships to Elance and Guru for three months. This would really help me out and get me started on the right foot, saving me a total of $105 over these three months. I have a meeting with someone tomorrow at 3pm on August 21st to finalize this and get the written permission, so all I need to do is turn in my receipts to get the money back. This is going to be awesome!

Oh, and one more thing – I will have a link in a few days once the campaign has been approved, but I am starting one on Kickstarter to help fund a memoir I am writing about the 10 years it took me to get through my Bachelor’s degree because of my Bipolar Disorder. I am hoping to raise the $3k it will take me to self-publish the book in print and online along with some promotional things that the publishing house I’ve chosen can help me with.

I guess there was two more things because I have another thing to tell you! I am redesigning my website and will have a link for you in my next post!

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Working as hard as I can

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• My clients
• The people helping me with the memberships
• Getting my Bachelor’s degree in a few months

Getting Back to Work… And Vacation

So I’ve had three small writing jobs since I started freelance writing again. None of them paid extremely well, but I was happy with them and now I’m just waiting for pay. I have a goal of averaging an article a day. So far I am ahead of the game. Today has been unproductive on the freelance writing front but productive in others.

 

I finished my homework for the week for my Lit Theory class. And since this is the final week, I am done with homework for the next two weeks as well. I am on vacation from school for two weeks! Awesome! And I’m looking forward to my next classes.

 

In the meantime, I am going to work on some fiction writing so I can get in the right frame of mind for my fiction writing class coming up. There are a few venues I want to submit to over the next couple weeks so I need to get writing!

 

In another note, I just finished making brownies… Who’s up for brownies?!

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Not procrastinating on my freelancing jobs

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• Hot Water (since we won’t have any until Saturday when the furnace repairman comes)
• The 3 writing gigs I’ve had so far
• My vacation from school

 

On The Mend

So things are going much better now. It took awhile for me to get used to not having a job and I only worked there for a month. I had really gotten used to working there and I liked the routine. I am getting used to my new routine though.

 

This is the last week of my Literary Theory course. I am hoping to end the course with at least a B- but it may be a C. Not really sure yet. I will get two weeks off before my next course starts. That one will be a fiction writing workshop. I’m really looking forward to taking that class. I haven’t been inspired to write fiction in a long time and I think this will help me along.

 

And instead of looking for a new job, I’ve decided to start up my freelance writing again. It’s slow going at the moment. I’ve only completed one job and I’m working on another small one. I’m hoping to get a couple more going to keep me busy and keep the money rolling in. Hopefully I will start to get some more jobs coming in soon. In the meantime, I’ve set up a new freelance writing profile website. Check it out HERE and let me know what you think through the contact form! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

 

Oh, and we are helping out someone that Quay’s step-dad has known since she was a kid. She’s been homeless for over a year and hasn’t been able to find a job. I’ve been helping her fill out job applications while she stays in our guest room. She’s been helping around the house instead of paying rent and it’s been helping us out a lot since I’ve been working to find writing jobs and Quay has been busy with his internship (plus he’s been sick with a head cold the past week or so). So this is mutually beneficial, I think. Plus, there are many people grateful for us helping her, not just her. Even her friends and family are thanking us for helping her. It feels good to be helping someone.

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Helping someone who needed it

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• My ability to write to make money
• My Lit Theory class being almost over
• Scooby Doo cartoons (I love ’em!)

Getting Fired & Other Happenings

So on Sunday I started to not feel so hot, and by Monday when I got to work I was running to the bathroom 3 times in 30 minutes to throw up. I ended up leaving work a good bit early and I called my doctor’s office on the way home to see if they could get me in. By the time they called me back I had already driven to the ER since I had to stop on the side of the freeway to throw up violently again. I was dripping sweat for days and it all seemed to have culminated in whatever illness this was turning out to be.

 

The ER gave me IV fluids and something for the vomiting which helped, but they couldn’t tell me what was wrong. I spent that day and all day Tuesday and Wednesday taking the pills they gave me to keep me from vomiting just to keep down liquids and still throwing up a lot of what I ate. On Wednesday, right after I had finished throwing up, I got back to bed and realized I had a voicemail. It was from my temp agency so I figured that wasn’t good. It wasn’t.

 

They were calling to tell me that the employer was terminating my assignment (otherwise known as firing me) since I’d had so many absences. They didn’t even care that all of my absences had doctor’s notes to go with them. So yeah, I am now without a job.

 

Today I woke up with totally different symptoms than I had the first three days. I am now congested, sneezing, and coughing (and not vomiting). It’s the weirdest sickness I’ve ever had really. And I’m sick of being sick! These sneezes hurt and my nose is starting to hurt from the tissues, and my throat hurts from coughing. Oh, and I’m still achy all over. At least the sweating and vomiting is gone though, that was annoying.

 

So now I have no job and a lot of homework to do. I have a paper to make up from last week and a blog and a discussion post for this week. It’s all due by Sunday and I still feel like crap. I guess I just have to work through the pain and get it done. Maybe I’ll go to the library so I’m not tempted to roll over and take a nap instead.

 

Oh, and I can’t forget that I need to start my new job search. I think I will try to get a writing gig or two while I’m waiting for interviews. That will make me feel better about not contributing anymore.

 

Anyway, it’s 4am. It’s time for me to take my medicine again and try to get some sleep. Can’t get better if I don’t rest, right?

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Talking with my case worker when I needed her.

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• My husband for taking care of me while I’m sick
• My case worker for checking in on me in this difficult time for me
• My doggies for snuggling with me when I don’t feel good

 

My New Job & Other Developments

So I’m feeling a little better from the events that took place last week. (See last week’s post here.) The punctures are healing and my back doesn’t hurt so much. It’s still sore, and I am still babying it, but I can move around for the most part. So I’m looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.

 

I am working as a long-term temp, with possible permanency at some point, at JP Morgan Chase as a data entry specialist for USCIS. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you any more about my job than that, as it’s confidential. But I’m enjoying it and it is nice having some income to help pay the bills since Quay’s internship this summer is unpaid. He still gets his GI Bill money each month but since his internship class is considered distance education, his GI Bill money is less. Which sucks majorly.

 

Anyway!

 

We are also in the process of getting a new fence put up. Our old one was four different kind of panels, most of them falling down or in the process of falling down, and none of it could hold the dogs in even if it tried. So we’ve had all the posts and panels for over a month now and it’s just been sitting in the yard with a pallet of cement. Today my husband’s step-dad came over and helped him get the front of the fence on the side yard up (minus the gate) and then start going down the edge of the yard, taking down the fence between the neighbor’s yard and ours as they put up the new panels in their place. I will put up pictures when the new fence is all the way up!

 

But since I was so involved in telling you about my ER experience last time, I didn’t really get to tell you about how I’m coping with my Bipolar. Actually, I’m coping quite well. My doc hasn’t had to make any changes to my meds in close to a year now. My mania has been under control – in fact, I haven’t experienced any mania in months. And my depression has been nearly non-existent since I changed my birth control method. (Who knew birth control pills could cause depression? Clearly not me!) So I’m doing good. I am thinking about joining a peer-support group soon so that I can help others who are in a bad place. What do you think?

 

So today, while the men worked, I pretty much just supervised or worked on homework, except when I was cooking for them (ribs and potatoes). Now Quay and I are watching the Red Sox game and I am relaxing the evening away until it’s time to go to bed. Go Red Sox!

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Getting my homework done today!

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• My father-in-law’s help in getting our new fence put up
• The day off to relax, BBQ, do my homework, and sit in the A/C
• My doggies, who love me unconditionally

Wow, I haven’t blogged in forever!

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since September! So much has happened since then but right now I’m going through some physical health issues that kind of trump any Bipolar ones I might have gone through in the last 9 months.

In 2011 I had a pressure headache from hell and had a few seizures. Finally, after a few trips to the ER, they did a spinal tap and realized I had an opening pressure of 35, which is WAY more than the 17 it’s supposed to be less than. After 5 days in the hospital, and a couple more spinal taps, they blamed this pressure on the lithium I was on for my Bipolar and told me to stop taking it.

Fast forward to July 15, 2013 and I have that same pressure headache again. I go to the ER and the same doctor who did the first spinal tap in 2011 sees me. They do a CT scan and blood work to check for the usual things but then it’s time to look at things that I’ve had in the past (like high spinal pressure). They suggest a spinal tap.

The spinal tap takes for. ev. er. They try multiple times to get the puncture and the doctor even has to go get another doctor from a different department to try it. At some point, they hit a nerve and I practically jump off the table when a shooting pain goes down my left leg. Finally, they get it and it’s at 20, which is still higher than 17. So they drain off some extra fluid to release some pressure and give me a bandaid. To get rid of the rest of the headache they give me some Torodol and something for nauseousness. Then I was on my way home.

The next day my back hurt so much I could barely get out of bed, and the next day was no better so I called my primary care doctor and made an appointment for today. She looked at my back and counted EIGHT puncture holes there. There was also some adhesive in them from the bandaid so she cleaned it out. She gave me some pain pills to get me through the next few days and a doctor’s note for the entire week so I don’t have to go back to work until Monday. Hopefully I feel better by then, but I’m pretty sure I will.

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Seeing the doctor when I needed to instead of running away from it.

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• Having a Job
• My Husband’s Support Through this Physical Illness
• My Employment Support Specialist’s Help Through This

The Last Day of Summer

The Last Day of Summer

The streetlights flickered on at dusk

And on to home I slowly trudged.

I’d played all day out in the sun

And in the brook I’d dived and plunged.

I ran around, no cares at all,

Enjoying now last summer day

Before the next when school’d begin

And careless fun would go away.

 

Alas, a venture new’d begin.

I’d find my friends in classrooms now

Instead of in the streets with bikes,

But seeds of learning we would sow

With teacher’s help and guiding hand.

My time’d be spent with binders, books,

In study groups with all my friends,

And spending weekends at the brook.

 

 

This poem has been entered into:

A Quick Update

So I’m lying in bed. I didn’t get to sleep last night until almost 5am and then I got up about noon to see my caseworker. I was tired and I laid down while hubby was at school. I didn’t intend to actually sleep, just watch TV for a bit and relax, but I ended up falling asleep shortly after he left and I didn’t wake up until he came home.

 

Oh, and I’m going to spend 4^th of July in Arkansas with my best friend, Brooke! I can’t wait to go to actually meet her in person since I’ve only ever known her online and over the phone.

 

But things have been going okay though. Not good and not bad. Just thought I’d update my blog since I hadn’t done that in a while.

 

Something I’m Proud Of: Meeting with my caseworker.

 

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

• My husband
• The fact that I can attend school right now to get my Bachelor’s degree
• The support of my caseworker