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Category: Non-fiction

Book news, press Y to continue

Book news, press Y to continue

Published by Kai on October 4, 2023

Or ask me why I guess. I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to tread water. If I’m honest, since around April, and the AtoZ challenge, with a very few exceptions, writing has been like pulling teeth.Part of it has been my health problems, which have been ongoing for more than a year. What I didn’t know was if your B12 and foliate drop to a certain level, you slowly stop being able to do complex cognitive stuff (keep on top of your blood tests, kids!), which meant what I took for apathy was probably my B12 going through the…

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P is for Psychosis #realmentalhealth #mondayblogs #nomorestigma

P is for Psychosis #realmentalhealth #mondayblogs #nomorestigma

Published by Kai on April 20, 2023
This entry is part 20 of 22 in the series AtoZ 2023 - The AtoZ of Me

This is one of my harder blog posts to write, because though I talk – a lot – about the impact my mental health has on my day to day life, and has done for a while, I’m pretty sure that this is the bit no one really understands, causes the most…misunderstanding and I hope, because I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, they can’t relate to. If you didn’t know that psychosis was a feature of my mental health diagnosis, or didn’t understand if you’d heard it mentioned before now, please…don’t start changing your opinion of me. That’s the biggest reason those of us with serious mental health issues aren’t as open as society needs. Because we lose people.

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Life, the universe and my new writing nook #mondayblogs #mynewspace

Life, the universe and my new writing nook #mondayblogs #mynewspace

Published by Kai on February 20, 2023

I’ve spent the last few months trying to work out what I’m going to do with myself.  I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but the plan at the beginning of the year was to release 52 books this year. And when I said it, I was sincere, and I still am.  But, had I known then what I know now…. I might have set the bar a little bit lower. I wanted though to touch base. It’s been a busy first couple of months, and I’ve got several pieces of news.Firstly, the books are on track.  I’ve got several…

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D is for Dancing in the Rain #atoz2022

D is for Dancing in the Rain #atoz2022

Published by Kai on April 5, 2022
This entry is part 6 of 10 in the series Blogging From AtoZ 2022

I’ve spent the last year trying to think about how to explain the basic changes I’ve gone through in the last two years. And one of the major things that I’ve been thinking about is gratitude, and ‘dancing in the rain’. What is dancing in the rain? For me, it’s a core concept to living with what I do. It’s accepting that I’m not always going to be happy, that the skies aren’t always going to be ‘clear’ but even if they aren’t, I can go outside and ‘dance in the rain’. It’s a gratitute attitude, I guess. Dancing in…

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B is for Books #atozchallenge2022

B is for Books #atozchallenge2022

Published by Kai on April 2, 2022
This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series Blogging From AtoZ 2022

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to say in this post about books, because those people that know me also know it’s pretty much all I talk about outside of Ludosport and gaming and my family.I was going to share a cornucopia of ‘coming soon’, but then I got Covid (next post) and that kinda got scrapped. I’ve been struggling really, and it’s not a pleasant feeling. B for Books also links to N for Nanowrimo At the core of my writing, whether it’s clear or not, is a project called Nanowrimo. I write a lot during the three…

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Changes, struggling with writing and more…#mondayblogs

Changes, struggling with writing and more…#mondayblogs

Published by Kai on September 27, 2021

I’m on a few weeks of classes, to learn how to work with one of the major systems we’re using right now. I’ll be talking about that more, and I have to say, I’m really excited.The next few weeks are also ‘Freshers’ for me. I start back at Uni next week, and have several exams that I need to prep for. But, I’ve got a few things to talk about… Changes One of the major things I’m noticing is that I’m still as willing to do everything I used to get up to, but I get about three into my…

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F is for f*&k and other profanities #atozchallengecollage photo of woman

F is for f*&k and other profanities #atozchallenge

Published by Kai on April 7, 2021

Actually, it’s not….really. Made you look 😉I wanted to get your attention – what I actually want to talk about is language, but profanities, and our use of them, apparently dictates how linguistically intelligent we are. Not quite yet… I don’t quite buy into the studies that suggest that if we swear, we’re more intelligent. What I do agree with is if you can express yourself in varied and interesting ways, you are probably more intelligent, so it’s possibly a false indicator, as it was suggested in a 2016 study there was no correlation between profanity and the use of…

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A day in the disordered #atozchallenge

A day in the disordered #atozchallenge

Published by Kai on April 5, 2021

(again, as this is backdated, I’m writing this with the benefit of hindsight). I did actually have this rather neat post about ‘a day in the life’, but, the last few days led to a bit of an epiphany. You know there’s an Instagram bubble? I think when we write ‘days in the life’ that we sometimes make ‘blog bubbles’. So, instead of talking about what my ideal day should look like, and what it does when I’ve planned it out, I’m going to write about what my day actually is. And for the first time, I’m even going to…

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He had a name…

Published by Kai on January 7, 2014

It was 2001.  November 2001, just after they’d decided that I’d damaged my pancreas with a few missed gallstones.  I’d spent a month in and out of hospital, unable to eat, unable to deal with most of the pain that had consumed me.  I dropped from a svelte mother of two who had been merrily breastfeeding and healthily curvy (12 stones or so) to 8 stones and skeletal. I went from breastfeeding to not and still producing milk, even though I wasn’t feeding.  The doctors and nurses looking after me watched me sleep most of the day away, full of…

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Task lists, 750 words, and routines

Published by Kai on October 6, 2011

I’ve got a very specific routine to my writing day now – one that I thought people might be interested in. I’ve mentioned in the past that music is really important to me – and up until last week, my morning started with my portable alarm clock (aka my phone) which I would listen to until I went down stairs, then music would go back on at exactly 8am, when the youngest went outside to wait for her taxi. But the last week, at 8am, I’ve taken the chance to come upstairs with a cup of tea, and I’ve crucially…

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