Megan Higginson/blog

5 Ways Zombies Can Inspire You

22/3/2017

What do zombies and I have in common? Sounds like a start of a bad joke doesn’t it? Or maybe a good joke, depending on your point of view. I've recently been inspired by Adam Wallace's book, 'Zombie Inspiration.' Once I could get past the gross stuff (you know, the rotting skin, mushy brains, and the gross jokes), I understood what Adam learned going through a zombie apocalypse. Why did I read Zombie Inspiration?

I've had a major fatigue flare in recent months (along with two pain flares from the end of November 2016 to end of February 2017) to the point that I was so exhausted I was having blackouts. (Fibromyalgia is throwing me something new). My doctor advised me to cut my hours at work from 12.5 hours a week to 8 and to take it easy. Well it's worked. No more blackouts. I still feel like a zombie, well, more like how I would normally perceive them; groaning, moaning, not capable of much.

How I've been inspired

I read a review about Zombie Inspiration and it prompted me to pick up Zombie Inspiration and the book turned everything I knew about zombies on their head. Here is what I learnt about zombies.

Zombies don’t quit.
They have a goal.
They focus on their goal and head for it no matter what the obstacles, or if they are missing limbs.
They are persistent and patient. They will crawl if they have too to get their goal. Which, of course, is brains.
They work hard to reach their goal.

Who'd have thought that you could learn so much from zombie's? According to Adam, ‘Zombies have a really bad reputation, but I knew that under the rotting skin, the mushy brain, and the desire to bite my face off, zombies are AWESOME! It's true! Zombies aren't just grunty-groany face-biters - I mean, they are that, but they're so much more as well! See, zombies do these amazing things we can learn from to make ourselves amazing too, like setting goals, focusing, working really, really hard and more.’

'See, zombies do these amazing things we can learn from to make ourselves amazing too, like setting goals, focusing,working really, really hard and more.’ Adam Wallace

At the moment, I feel like a zombie much of the time. My brain is often in a fog, dulled by pain, medication, and lack of sleep. However, I have a goal. I want to write. I want to share my stories. So, groaning, shuffling forward, my eyes ever fixed on my goal, I move forward. Nothing, not even utter exhaustion, or pain, will keep me from my goal. I sleep. I wake and keep going, one groaning step after the other. Instead of groaning 'brains,' mine is, 'Write story,' 'Write blog post,' 'Write!'

How can you be inspired?

And that is what it comes down to. In order for you to keep going when life goes to crap, you need to know why you exist. What is your purpose? What is your why? What are you passionate about? What are you curious about? Set your eyes on your goal and go for it, no matter what. As Adam says, 'take charge of your life, and go after what you really want.'

Have a great day everyone.

What can you learn from zombies?

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How to write when you are sick or your brain is in a fog.

25/6/2016

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You are plunging into a pit of despair. You are sick, your brain is in a fog. Thoughts seem to flick like wraiths, just out of reach. You can’t think but you have writing deadlines: a blog post; a story for a competition; a manuscript that you have ideas for and you want to write but you just want to crawl back to bed, curl up and sleep until you are well.

Oh am I hearing you! The last few weeks have been one thing after another. Which, as my daughter and close friends pointed out to me, is not unusual. If there is a strange virus to get; weird allergic reactions to odd things (i.e. anaphylactic to Strepsils); infections that don’t respond to antibiotics; then I will get it/have it.

Chuck into the mix living with Fibromyalgia, commonly known as a muscle disorder, but it can affect every part of your body and nearly every system (which is probably why the above things happen to me), then I really know how you are feeling. Winter is never a good season for me. My legs feel like lead and it is exhausting having to drag them around. And my muscles and tendons tear just because they can. And I work part time as well.

And over the last two weeks I’ve had double ear infections. One ear has cleared up the other has not. Then I blacked out Friday night and I am going through tests to find out why.

So how do I manage to get a blog post up nearly every week? How do I continue to write stories and enter them into competitions and submit to publishers? How am I able to be active on social media? How do I manage one critique a week for my online critique group? And how do I all these things, have a have friends visit, go to my monthly writer’s group, enjoy my life, as well as live with Fibro? (Notice I said ‘live with’ and not ‘suffer from’)

Here is my secret. Are you ready?

I just do it!

Ahhh! I hear you screaming at me! Noooo! It can’t be that simple. Well...it isn’t. I do have strategies in place to help me through.

Strategies that work:

I pray for strength (emotional) each day.
I mentally kick my butt out of bed and remind myself why I do what I do.
Then, the second the fog clears, I write.
I have a list of priorities – what is important to me – to write that week.
I do not beat myself up if I don’t achieve everything.
I get excited for what I do get done. (Even if it is 500 words on my current Work In Progress, or editing, or a new blog post)
I treat myself to something relaxing when I finish a task. (Ahhh. Bring on another episode of Star Trek - it doesn't matter what series, or a good book, or watching anime with my daughter)
Then on to the next task.
I have a very supportive daughter and friends. And the BIG ONE… drum roll please....
I write in moments – the moment the fog clears, I write. Whether it is five minutes or two hours, I take it. (I’ve heard of authors working on the writing of a novel in the twenty minute commute to and from work. Not ideal but do-able). And even if the fog hasn't entirely cleared and I can grab a word or a sentence, I write it down. It may be just an idea, but it is something.

Underpinning all this is the answers to some questions that I asked myself at the beginning of my writing journey – when I decided two years ago to start writing seriously. So I put them to you.

Serious questions to ask yourself:

What is my motivation to write?
Why do I want to write for children (or whoever you are writing for)?
What impact (on this world, on children's lives, teens, adults) do I want to have?
How will I achieve this?

It was only after I had taken the time to ask myself these soul-searching questions, come up with the answers, and write them down, as well as being able to articulate it concisely in a few short sentences, that I began to be able to write whenever.

Yes there are times that I feel so sick that I don’t want to move. I rest when I need to. I take time out when I need to. How I manage my illness alongside my writing is the main hurdle that I have had to overcome. I don’t use excuses. I do what I do because I love it and my motivation comes from deep within me. Nothing is going to hold me back from doing what I am doing.

Have a quick look around my website. It won’t take you long to find out what keeps me motivated on my brain fog and unwell days.

But…yes, there is a but…what works for me may not work for you. You just have to try different strategies starting somewhere. Anywhere is better than no-where.

So I hope that this post has helped in some way so that the next time you feel unwell or your brain is in a fog, you'll know what to do. Happy writing!

What works for you?

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12 Days of Christmas for Writers- Celebrating successes of 2015

1/1/2016

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Children's author Julie Hedlund, challenged participants of her 12 Days of Christmas for Writers series to post SUCCESSES (rather than resolutions) on our blogs this year. She believes the way New Year's resolutions are traditionally made come from a place of negativity - what DIDN'T get done or achieved in the previous year. Instead, she suggests we set goals for the New Year that BUILD on our achievements from the previous one.
(http://www.juliehedlund.com/12days)

If you read my previous blog, I already was unknowingly participating in this Anti-Resolution Revolution!

Here is my list of successes for 2015:

I completed the Writing Picture Book course through the Australian Writers Centre.
My writing style improved dramatically after the Picture Book course.
I became an Associate Member of the Australian Society of Authors.
I wrote more manuscript drafts than I ever have before.
I sent in two completed manuscripts to publishers.
I became more disciplined in my writing.
I joined Twitter.
I started blogging.
People actually read my blog.
I got to know the local independent bookshop owners.
I applied for an art grant. Even though I didn’t get it, the fact that I applied was a big deal for me and I learnt a lot in the process.
One of my stories has been used in local schools. The story gives strategies overcoming fear. And the students loved the story, connected with the protagonist, and they loved creating their own fear monster.
All of this and more after having the worst year physically with Fibromyalgia and injuries that prevented me from walking much. Yeah!

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Smart goals and Fibromyalgia

1/1/2016

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2016 is on the horizon. As we approach the countdown for welcoming in this new year, many start looking back at the year that was, and peering forward into the future. Some can see achievements for 2015. Many can see that their New Year’s resolutions of 2015 were dead and buried by the end of January.

How did I go? Well last year I made a New Year’s resolution… not to have a resolution. Rather I decided to plan and make achievable goals. I focused on what was important to me and made specific, measurable and attainable goals… no matter how seemingly difficult; I did want to challenge myself.

I wanted to get into the best health possible. This is difficult for me as I have a chronic illness, Fibromyalgia. I might not be able to get rid of the fibro, but I certainly could get rid of the things in my diet that might trigger symptoms. I also wanted to increase my physical activity.

1) So coffee and sugar went out of my diet by the end of February. I had to ween myself off them. I occasionally had a cappuccino every so often until I totally cut it out. I cut out nearly all fat, and ate whole foods and foods that I had made from scratch. This was relatively easy as I have a lot of food intolerances and allergies. I just had to tweak what I was already doing.

2) Increase exercise: well that didn’t work as I already had torn tendons in my hip and leg muscle from late 2014. So I did what I could. Then I ended up with another torn leg muscle mid-year. They just tend to tear for no apparent reason, and when I am doing things like walking. My leg is fine now and I can walk around the block, take my dog for a walk again and work in my garden.

3) Take a writing course before the end of the year.

4) Continue to improve my writing by reading about writing, do creative exercises, write and receive feedback on my writing by at least two editors.

5) Send in at least two manuscripts to at least three publishers. The first by June and the second by November.

I was so pleased as I could slowly tick off each goal as they were achieved. Some goals have needed tweaking as the year progressed: 1) diet and 2) exercise. I also managed to achieve my other goals.

3. I took a Writing Picture Book Course through the Australian Writers Centre in November.

4. I had two editors look at one of my manuscripts and received feedback.

5. I sent in two different stories to different publishers by November.

The extraordinary and amazingly wonderful experience of achieving your goals is that sometimes, in the midst of just doing them, new opportunities open up. So keep your eyes open for new opportunities that may come your way that may fit with your current goals.
Recently the following two questions were asked of me.

What is YOUR goal for 2016? (This can be big or small – it’s your goal.)

My writing goal for 2016 is to write down as many of the children's stories that are floating around in my head as I can. That is if I can catch them and pin them down with my pen onto the paper.
What is the best quote or piece of advice for writers that you’ve heard? (Whatever gets you out of bed, to your desk, motivates you to write or reminds you of your love of words.)

So what are your goals for 2016, writing or otherwise? Feel free to share in the comments.

Happy New Year everyone!

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Living with Fibromyalgia and writing

4/7/2015

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As a writer, you would like your brain to be working when you sit down to type at the computer, or when you pick up a pen. For me though, there are many days when I feel like I am looking through a fog, trying to catch a glimpse of that elusive word or idea that seems just out of reach. I will sit in front of the computer, with a blank document in front of me, or the point I'm up to in a story... and nothing, except a mindless groping through endless thick mist. If it were in real life, this mist, you would hear nothing except the faint echoes of sound, muffled, never to be found.

Mostly I am brimming over with ideas, good and bad, that I will edit later. However, there are these days that I have just mentioned, that nothing happens. Blankness. Darkness. The (seemingly) never ending fog. These are the days that I end up barely able to string a sentence together. Naming words especially escape me. Try to imagine that you are having a conversation and not saying a noun.

"Can you put the ... hmmm. What's that called? The thing I want to boil water in for a... umm....?" Thankfully, my daughter is very good at filling in the blanks.

In any case, I will forge ahead, one plodding step at a time. At least I am not down to an old woman shuffle this winter. For the first time in ten years, I am able to walk normally. This I celebrate. Now, I'm off to make a... what was I doing? Ah! Ah! Just tricking. Have a nice day and God bless.

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5 Ways Zombies Can Inspire You

How I've been inspired

​How can you be inspired?

If you like this post, feel free to comment and share...

How to write when you are sick or your brain is in a fog.

12 Days of Christmas for Writers- Celebrating successes of 2015

Smart goals and Fibromyalgia

Living with ﻿﻿Fibromyalgia﻿﻿ and writing

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How can you be inspired?

Living with Fibromyalgia and writing