In Which Douglas Pretends to Write a Short Entry About Free Books & Fertilizer

(cc) Douglas CooteyIdeally, this is a short entry because I'm supposedly working as much as I can on my novel. We'll see how that goes. The spirit is willing, but the mind is weak.

You may not have caught it earlier, but I was asked to review a book for ADDitude Magazine. That review is now up on their site (See Trainwreck - My Life As an Idoit). It's short & sweet and hopefully not shared here too late for Claire, who won the book a few weeks ago. Give it a read and let me know what you think of it.

Speaking of winning things, I'm giving out free books here.
Are you sure you want to lurk? It's not as if I'm giving out old copies of TV Guide, though I do have some Marilyn Monroe ones sitting in a box somewhere I thought would become collectibles. No, these are books I'm moving off my shelves because they don't fit on them. All you have to do to get your hands on one of them is read my story sample and leave a comment no shorter than three words either here or at that entry. I'll pick one winner at random and announce the name next Tuesday. You have until one week from that day to claim your prize.

Just three words. It's easy. I'll show you.

"Duude, so bad."
"Fit for fertilizer."
"Seared my eyes!"

You can obviously write more if you wish. People who tweet about this contest get double chances at winning. Just post your Twitter name and a link to the tweet if you can. Use this link for sharing: http://bit.ly/mind

Posting so much over Halloween was a big mistake. Apparently all 6000 monthly readers hit that holiday hard. None of you popped by my home either. I was giving away chocolate, rubber bats, and a leather-bound copies of my unpublished picture books—annotated—but only one family came by. I'm not sure why, but they all fled in fear.

Suddenly noticing that this entry is not very short.

To light a fire under my fanny, I've posted a goal on the side of the blog. I'm giving myself until the end of the month to rewrite and finish the first draft. Unlike my powerhouse NaNoWriMo friends, I'm not pumping out 50,000 words daily, but I'll get the first draft done. Hold me to it. This week AD/HD and Chronic Motor Tic Disorder are nailing my wings to my back, but I'm determined to see this through regardless.

I'll leave you now with some links people have shared with me. You may find them of interest. At any rate, I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Paul Stride shared with me a song he wrote about his fight with Depression. It's got a Downtempo Pop groove. Very nice. I rather liked it. Give it a listen on his website - Open My Eyes

Dr. M. I. Bonkers sent me notice of two classic ads from the 70s for Ritalin and Cylert. Both drugs are there to help you with Minimal Brain Disfunction. Cue J. P. Gumby… "My Brain HURTS! Ooooh!!" I like Dr. Bonkers' work. You all know I'm no fan of psychmeds.

These vintage ads are classic examples of Big Pharma disease-mongering
at its finest.

Step right up! See the birth of a discrete disease entity before your
very eyes!

1970 Ritalin advertisement: The mean child who doesn't mean it.
http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/kidritmean.html

1975 Cylert advertisement: He can't help it. He has MBD.
http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/kidhelp.html


I receive all sorts of promos, but I haven't had time to verify they're not just selling you something. I hope to share more links with you next week.

Douglas sig

Comments

Indigo Blues said…
In my opinion, I'm on more than enough meds and I'm hoping to discontinue some.
The tv adds for meds just make me laugh. After they tell you what the medication will help you with, you get the side effects. It's just hysterical or is it scary, not sure.
November 13, 2009 3:03 PM
D.R. Cootey said…
I know! It's a wonder they can still sell them. To be honest, if I had known what the side-effects of Desoxyn were all those years ago I wouldn't have taken it. I had a friend with Tourette's and I wouldn't have gone near Desoxyn with a twenty foot pole. They just didn't reveal side-effects 17 years ago. So glad they do now.
November 13, 2009 3:49 PM
Indigo Blues said…
I really wish I could stop taking the medications that I'm on. My doctor has me on Prozac, Wellbutrin and now Abilify. I thought I'd be getting rid of one medication and instead ended up adding one. If I had known how impossible it would be for me to stop taking the medications, I would never have begun. I go through wicked withdrawel that I end up having to take something to stop the symptoms and then I'm hooked again.
Well, I'll stop complaining now. It's nice chatting with you.
November 13, 2009 5:33 PM
D.R. Cootey said…
The ticking forced me to stop Desoxyn, but I went cold turkey off Zoloft, too. I just reasoned in my mind that I wasn't better. The drugs were making me worse. I was moody before, so I'd just live with being moody again. Best decision I ever made.

I learned later I should have tapered off the meds, not gone cold turkey. It was a very rough month. I wouldn't recommend that method at all. Abilify is a strong med. Very strong. Ask your doctor about tapering off. Tell him that the side-effects are detrimental. Have a backup plan however, of counseling and therapy. Obviously, you shouldn't just stop taking meds without a plan. Something needs to replace their effect so that you are well-balanced and happy. Likewise, you shouldn't just take meds without a plan either. Only you can answer whether you have one or not.

Look into cognitive behavior therapy as an alternative. Ideally, you could be working with your doctor to taper off the meds while increasing your coping strategies. It's the best method IMO if that's the path you choose. Good luck with it.
November 13, 2009 5:50 PM
Indigo Blues said…
Cognitive Behavior Therapy was awesome. It helped me so much.
Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.
November 14, 2009 2:34 PM
Anonymous said…
Have you heard of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation? It's been shown to be very effective for people who don't respond to any of the psychotropic meds.
November 26, 2009 10:34 PM
D.R. Cootey said…
Indigo Blue ~ Glad to help.

Anon. ~ I haven't heard of that at all. How does it work?
November 27, 2009 2:14 AM
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