A moment in the mania

Hi there and welcome to another moment of the mania! I'm Ann Shannon, the manic writer. I blog about PTSD, encouragement and write book reviews and romantic fiction. My passion is the military, soldiers, and veterans, especially those with PTSD. I love that you stopped by, grab a drink and make yourself at home. Leave a comment or find me on social media, I'd love to meet you and get to know you.

It’s been another busy week, although not as busy as last week. I am trying to dedicate 40 hours a week to blogging and writing and, it seems, the world is trying to prevent that. I haven’t traveled this week, which was nice. I am very much a homebody and like to be there. I have been busy with family obligations though and it’s kept me from my computer.

If you follow me then you know that I have kept up with my blogging schedule, I am committed to that, I want to make a difference. I added the Youtube Tuesday to the schedule this week, but I’m not sure how I feel about it. It seems a bit too lighthearted to me and I am still considering whether or not I want to include it in my regular schedule.

I have also been writing, and revising, but not as much as I’d like to be. For my JunoWriMo goal, I have written just over 15K words which is not enough for it being almost halfway through June. If I am going to achieve my 50K goal in the next 18 days then I need to step up my game.

I have been working on the anthology, but it’s going slower than I expected. I am also working on revising Catch a Falling Star and have come to the conclusion that it needs a heavy revision to make it worthy of publication. I will start on that today or tomorrow. It’s a great story, but I see plot and point of view errors in it that I want to fix. When I fix the first chapter I will be updating it on FictionPress, removing the rest of the story and also posting the first chapter here.

Here is an excerpt from the first short story in the anthology- it is unedited and unrevised.

“Hello, I’m Chelsea Price. I guess we’re table-mates tonight.” She smiled as the men at her table rose to welcome her. 

Louise looked at her from under the weight of her heavy eyelids, painted with blue eyeshadow as if it would hide their weight. Her smile didn’t leave her mouth as she spoke, perhaps her eyes couldn’t smile with all the added weight. “Hello Mrs. Price. I’m Louise Olmstead, you can call me Louise.”  

“Nice to meet you Louise, thank you.” 

Louise’s husband who was still standing waiting for Chelsea to seat herself smiled broadly. He was tall and thin where Louise was not. “Mrs. Price, I’ve heard so much about you but never had the pleasure of meeting you. The rumors are true, you are a lovely young lady.” 

Chelsea’s face warmed at his compliment, Jack Olmstead career in finance had been very lucrative and his specialty must have been customer service. “Thank you Mr Olmstead. I’ve heard a lot about you as well. Thank you for the compliment.” 

Louise looked at her husband as if he had cavorted with the enemy for a moment. “Chelsea, may I call you that?” She didn’t wait for the affirmative nod. “I heard you recently had your youngest graduate college. It must be a relief to have them all taken care of now.” 

Chelsea flexed her back imperceptibly but kept her face still. It would seem Mrs Olmstead wanted the fine specimen of a man sitting beside the seat she was about to take to think that she was old enough to be his mother. She brushed it off, she wasn’t here to flirt, she was here to fund raise and with that in mind she turned to him and held out her hand. “I’m Chelsea Price.”

One final task I’ve been working on is my new domain. I’ve purchased my own piece of the web and I’m working on building my new blog there. You can check out the beginning of it by clicking here, the main domain is a shared site, my daughters also intend to have author platforms at some point in the future and we wanted to work together. My actual blog site will be a subdomain of that one.

I have also signed up for the July CampNanoWriMo. I was on the fence about doing it, but my friend asked me if I was joining and I jumped in with her feet first. Why not?

I guess that’s all the news this week. Nothing really exciting to tell. I was a JunoWriMo featured author this week and you can check it out here. Have a great week!

It is my goal to end the stigma that comes with PTSD. I blog about PTSD once a week, searching the mountains of information out there and bringing you the best of what I find. I review a book on PTSD every other week and I publish a weekly encouraging reflection and tweet encouraging quotes for PTSD survivors daily, follow me to be encouraged. Together we can make a difference.

When I'm not blogging about PTSD or trying to encourage those of you living with it. I'm an author. I write romance. I just finished my first book and I am revising and editing it. With any luck, it will be published later this year, in the meantime you can get a sample of my work on the web. Original work can be found here, and fanfiction can be found here. Let me know what you think, and tell me how you found me!

I usually blog about PTSD and if you come here for that don't be discouraged by the different topic, this is what I do when I'm not talking about the subject that fills every corner of my life. I will be continuing to blog even while I write. It helps, a lot, to have something that I love to do and for me that's writing love stories! Even my husband gets in on the action, discussing books ideas, plots, and characters with me for hours. My work is available for free right now, just check out my links to the right. And make sure you make time for fun too!

Hi there and welcome to another moment of the mania! I'm Ann Shannon, the manic writer. I blog about PTSD, encouragement, and write book reviews and romantic fiction. My passion is the military, soldiers, and veterans, especially those with PTSD. I love that you stopped by, grab a drink and make yourself at home. Leave a comment or find me on social media, I'd love to meet you and get to know you.

 If you are a regular reader then you know that I use Fridays to update you a bit on the mania in my life.  It’s been a busy week, full of research, travel, catching up and JunoWrimo and I have a lot of catching up to do with my real work.

Champlain College

Last week I brought my daughter, who also aspires to write, to the CCYW, Champlain College Young Writers conference. It was amazing. Not only was it set on the banks of Lake Champlain in beautiful Burlington, VT but the people there were great as well.

My daughter learned a lot and not just about writing. She made new friends and had a three-day college experience. Which is to say she avoided me all weekend. Just as it should be.

I also learned a lot. There was a workshop for the chaperone's and I very much enjoyed not only the instructor but the other students as well. We were challenged to write a bit of a memoir and then share it. It was the first time I’d shared something so deeply personal to people sitting in the same room and it was moving. I loved hearing their stories, the way they described them and the emotion they conveyed with mere words on a page. Memoir and biography are not fields I ever intend to delve into, but I learned a lot from working with them, about myself and about writing.

I also learned that it is a long ride from my house to Burlington. Very long. It is, however, a beautiful ride and I am looking forward to returning with my younger daughter next year. She doesn’t intend to be a writer per se, but a Mangaka and I think the experience would open her eyes to more within the writing world.

Courtesy of JunoWriMo

In the meantime, JunoWriMo has begun and I have hardly worked on my books at all. I had planned to write the anthology and I have three of the five planned stories for it outlined and one begun. Unfortunately, when I started to write it I just wasn’t feeling it. I got roughly 3K words of the expected 8-10K needed and felt like it was flat. I’ve decided to change strategy, for now anyway and work on my final revision of Falling Star. Maybe I’ll pick the anthology up later in the month when I can focus more fully on a completely new project.

I’ve written or revised 4700 words so far this month which is disheartening because I’d like to move faster, but it just hasn’t been possible yet.

In other news, I purchased my very own domain! I’m so excited that I can hardly sit still. I am working on building my WordPress blog there and a few other things and then I will migrate everything over and leave a link for redirection. It will probably be July before I can launch it but next week I may have a preview link of the new site and my place-holder post.

I usually blog about PTSD and if you come here for that don't be discouraged by the different topic, this is what I do when I'm not talking about the subject that fills every corner of my life. I will be continuing to blog even while I write. It helps, a lot, to have something that I love to do and for me that's writing love stories! Even my husband gets in on the action, discussing books ideas, plots, and characters with me for hours. My work is available for free right now, just check out my links to the right. And make sure you make time for fun too!

It is my goal to end the stigma that comes with PTSD. I blog about PTSD once a week, searching the mountains of information out there and bringing you the best of what I find. I review a book on PTSD every other week and I publish a weekly encouraging reflection and tweet encouraging quotes for PTSD survivors daily, follow me to be encouraged. Together we can make a difference.

Attitude

Courtesy of Northern Exposures

Hi there and welcome to another moment of the mania! I'm Ann Shannon, the Manic Writer. I blog about PTSD, encouragement and write book reviews and romantic fiction. I love that you stopped by, grab a drink and make yourself at home. Leave a comment or find me on social media, I'd love to meet you and get to know you.

Courtesy of Flickr

A positive attitude is the filter that shapes how we interpret and respond to people and circumstances. Attitudes are habits, and since we become our habits it's important to choose them wisely.

Credit

A positive attitude can change everything. When I was in my 20's I was a single mom and I worked very hard to make ends meet which meant that I often drove a car on the verge of a breakdown. This trained me to have a positive attitude. Once upon starting up from a very long red light my car chose to make a sound that would have rivaled the coming of the apocalypse rather than move forward. The grinding, grating and other offensive noises coming from underneath my feet told me I was staying put for the moment. Where I could have cried I chose positivity instead, I climbed out of my car and cheerfully exclaimed “At least it's not raining!” That's when the volunteer fire alarm rang out for all to hear and I realized I had broken down directly in front of their driveway.

Ah well, positivity will get us part of the way. I made it through that day because I chose to be positive regardless of how dark the circumstances looked.

I know that a car breakdown is nothing in comparison to the challenges we face when we are dealing with mental illness and I do not want to belittle or disparage the pain that we feel when we have PTSD.

I do think there are valuable lessons in my story though. I had several ticks against me that day. I was broke, during that time in my life I rarely had two dimes to rub together. I was alone, I had no one to share the burden of a broken down car with me. I was miles from home, where I broke down I still had a 30 minute drive on back roads before I got home and with a broken car I had to figure out how to do that with a 6 yr old in tow. Finally, I was one step away from a crisis, with no car I had no way to get to work which would have started an avalanche that would have ended with me jobless.

These are all moments that we experience everywhere. If you suffer from PTSD, or love someone who does, then they are all points that, with attitude, you can adjust.

Are you broke? Struggling with PTSD can lead to employment problems but there are resources out there. If you don't have the strength to find them find an advocate who can help you. Be brave and ask for help. I know it's hard but in the end it's worth it.

Are you alone? You may feel very alone but look up and look around. I may not have had a partner at the time, but I had family and when I reached out they were very supportive and helped me while my car was repaired.

Are you miles from home? I've been there. That day I was a mere 20 miles from my home but I've been farther and I know how it feels. And you might just feel lonely in a room of people who love you. Be brave, reach out. I got a ride home and you can too.

Are you one step away from a crisis? Granted me being jobless and potentially homeless is different from the crisis you may be approaching if you have PTSD and again, I recognize that there is no comparison here, just life situations that crop up everywhere. If you feel a crisis coming on, or are in one please, please, please get help. Talk to a family member, a trusted friend, a doctor or call the crisis line. Don't let the trolls win this one.

All this to say that when we look on the positive side we often find a lot more going for us than we originally thought there was. Step back and ask yourself what's good about this situation. Is the sun shining, enjoy it! Do you have a full belly, revel in the feel! Are you surrounded by loved ones who care? Give them a hug and thank them.

courtesy of Flickr

Stay positive my friends.

Please remember that I am a writer and researcher, my key role is to filter through the mountains of information available and bring the best of it to you. I do not and can not offer medical advice if you suspect that you or a loved one is dealing with PTSD please seek professional help immediately. If you are considering suicide, or you believe a loved one is considering it, please call for help now. As I've said before, we can't let the trolls win this battle and 1 suicide is 1 too many.

It is my goal to end the stigma that comes with PTSD. I blog about PTSD once a week, searching the mountains of information out there and bringing you the best of what I find. I review a book on PTSD every other week and I publish a weekly encouraging reflection and tweet encouraging quotes for PTSD survivors daily, follow me to be encouraged. Together we can make a difference.

When I'm not blogging about PTSD or trying to encourage those of you living with it I'm an author. I write romance. I just finished my first book and I am revising and editing it. With any luck, it will be published later this year, in the meantime you can get a sample of my work on the web. Original work can be found here, and fanfiction can be found here. Let me know what you think, and tell me how you found me!

Book Review: PTSD: Overcome the Pain, Start Living Again

Today I will be reviewing PTSD:Overcome the Pain, Start Living Again by John Mackey (2015). Mackey wrote this in response to his own battle with PTSD and I applaud him for being willing to discuss and share his experiences in order to help others. It isn't easy to share that you have PTSD publicly. It is, as Mackey points out, a misunderstood illness that is difficult for people to talk about However, cancer also used to be misinterpreted and misunderstood and it was education that changed that. We need to follow in Mackey's example and expose the lies and misconceptions about PTSD so that we may support and love those who deal with its realities everyday of their lives.

I found Mackey's book to be an easy read. It is a pleasant basic primer on the illness that will not overwhelm someone who is just starting on their journey of discovery. Mackey starts off by sharing the experiences that caused him to develop his PTSD, he explains the illness, and finishes up by discussing some treatments and coping techniques. Overall Mackey does an excellent job of introducing any newcomer to the realities of PTSD and some of the techniques that can be employed to cope with it.

In his introduction Mackey tells the story of how he came to have PTSD. He does an excellent job of relating the two incidents. He shares some very personal information without going overboard and making his reader uncomfortable. I appreciated understanding his circumstances as it helped me understand where he was coming from and lent validity to his work. He does offer a disclaimer stating that it is not necessary to read his story to understand the book and that the reader shouldn't read it if they feel it will upset them too much. An excellent offer in light of the fact that there are probably many readers with PTSD who may be triggered by his experiences.

Mackey uses the first two chapters to explain PTSD by defining it and some of the reasons PTSD occurs. His explanation is simple and easy to follow using bullet lists for simplicity and ease of explanation. He addresses the symptoms by breaking them down into categories and further explaining them and urges anyone who is suffering severe symptoms to call for help immediately.

He addresses the causes and risk factors. Again his simple and straightforward bullet lists make his explanation easy to follow and understand to the inexperienced first timer seeking information and help whether they suffer from PTSD themselves or have a loved one that they suspect does. He also delves into some of the traumatic events that can lead to PTSD with the important disclaimer that it is not an exhaustive list.

Mackey devotes the final three chapters of his book to explaining treatment methods, coping techniques and strategies for living with PTSD. He makes an excellent contribution in discussing the need for consistent treatment and regular application of coping strategies. He touches on both therapeutic and medication based treatments touching on how both help the person dealing with PTSD to recover and return to living.

The coping techniques and strategies he offers are equally valuable, discussing the realities not only for the person who has PTSD but for those who have loved one living with it because the reality that no one has PTSD in a vacuum. Family and friends are always part of the equation. There is only one statement he makes in his book that I would disagree with. He says “living with PTSD can be a daily struggle,” going on to say later that as family we can help “sufferers cope and live happy productive lives.” His wording would lead the reader to believe that there is no healing, an idea I disagree with heartily. Will we be the same? Of course not! But I do believe that there is always room for healing.

Overall Mackey's book surprised me with his honest and upfront story of his own PTSD, it's simple and easy to read format of bulleted lists, and his excellent explanation of the strategies that can be used to treat and hopefully heal PTSD for those who suffer from it. I'd highly recommend PTSD: Overcome thePain, Start Living Again for anyone who is new to the realm of PTSD. It makes an excellent primer that will prepare you for the more in-depth works out there preparing you for the clinical and technical jargon so many books are full of.

John Mackey's book is a Kindle exclusive. Any links I offer to here are Amazon affiliate links that will earn me a small commission for the work I put into this review, it will not change the price you pay. This review is also available on Amazon.