I’ve been so busy offline that people have started to worry about where I was—even my editor at ADDitude Magazine. It’s been a rough summer. A li’l bit of sickness, a li’l bit of my tic disorder, and a lot of working on my book has kept me from writing here. The following is a correspondence I had with a reader over the summer, but I thought it might interest you because I addressed my current book project and other matters where I could use your help. More details after the email.
Hi, Douglas, Haven't seen a post on your website for a while now and truly hope it's because you're busy with good things. Your writing has had a significant impact on my life (I've long struggled with dysthymia, recurring major depression and social anxiety and have a husband with ADD, OCD and generalized anxiety) and I'm very grateful for your bravery and generosity in sharing your experiences and helpful suggestions. May God continue to bless you and yours in all that you do. If your online community can be of any help, please reach out as you've taught us to do. Along with me, I'm sure there are a lot of followers who would like to be helpful, returning even a small portion of the benefit we've enjoyed from you. Please let people know if and how they can help. If you've just been busy lately with other projects, that's great and keep up the good work. Continuing success, Douglas, and thank you for all you do for us. Aliyah in Montreal, Canada
Thank you so much for your kind email. Sometimes I worry that it’s just me over here pontificating on a lonely pulpit. I greatly appreciate you sharing with me how important my blog has been for you. It’s important to know that my writings are actually helping people. Feedback like that helps me carry on.
I just got over a seven week bout with a virus a week ago today (August 20th – ed.). It took the winds out of my sail and wrecked me against the reefs. When I get sick, it affects my tic disorder, so I’ve been mostly couch-ridden since June. Any time I felt well enough to work, I plugged away at my book. It is so close now to being finished. I was working on the Foreword (again) today. I also have a few promotional pages to add to the back of the book, then the table of contents. I hope to announce a publishing date next week.¹
Now that I’m feeling healthier, my past week has been so very busy trying to put out fires and get caught up on everything that fell behind. I was thinking of crashing in front of the boob tube after a long day of errands, but you’ve inspired me to polish off that blog I started two weeks ago—to get back in the swing of things again. As for helping out, if you ever do any shopping on Amazon.com, start by clicking on the link at the bottom of my blog posts. Not many people do that, but I sure could use the boost to my clothes budget for my daughters. Every penny helps. Your prayers are also welcome. Thank you for asking.
Gratefully, Douglas
The article I referred to was “Sometimes Success Has Nothing to Do with Money”, and I can’t believe that was written almost a month ago. The good news in all of this is that I’ve finished formatting my book and have begun another one. My blogging goals will be to balance posting here with steady work on the book. It’s taxing for my ADHD, but I’m determined to do it. In the meantime, I begin the process of researching self-publishing on various platforms. Also, there is definitely something I could use reader help with.
I Need Blurbs!!
I’d like to include a few choice testimonials from readers in my book on overcoming suicide. If you are a regular reader and would like to let people know why you enjoy my writing or find it helpful, please send me a short paragraph with your thoughts. I’ll put the most fawning concise & salient ones at the front. Heck, who am I kidding? I’ll probably put them all in there. Look for my email address on my “Contact Info” page. If you'd like, you can even post them as a comment here.² Please get your comments in to me by this Friday, the 18th.
~Dˢ
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Losing seven weeks over the summer made me miss all my intended and wished for publication dates. I hope to have a more concrete date by the end of the month. ↩
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Obviously, by posting a comment here, you give me permission to include it in my book. Also, you give me exclusive rights to use your comment as a testimonial in this universe and any heretofore undiscovered universe. I'm not expecting any major discoveries, mind you, but I saw similar wording on a contract once when I worked as an extra for Halloween 5, and I've always wanted to use it. ↩
