Welcome… I’m New Here! Hello Guys and Gals

[johnsie]

Why am I here seems to be an important point to raise. I've been traditionally published, but the publishers were hopeless at promotion. I now find, as I'm self published that I am hopeless at that too, and as I dont read books I have no idea who I write like, so I am off to a bad start.
I currently live in Portugal, but am a compulsive traveller having visited over 80 countries. Been deported from four countries, imprisoned in three, and was deported from Sudan across a mine field in a taxi. By contrast it's rather quiet in Portugal.
I used to read avidly, but these days I don't read books at all, I prefer writing them.
My favourite forms of writing are current affairs, and creating lovable characters in my novels, and then following what they get up to.
Life to date? You're joking. I've been a university lecturer, a lawyer, a builder and property developer, a mini-cab driver, a pop singer, and a bum. I've travelled to about 80 countries, seen some frightful things, been in three war zones... how much more of this stuff do you want?
OK, that's enough for today. Be nice to get to know some of you.

 

[RK Wallis]

Welcome aboard @johnsie What a fascinating life! I bet you've some stories to tell

 

[Barbara]

Hey @johnsie how nice to meet you. That's quite the bucket list you're ticking off. And well done, you beat my deportation rate. I only managed one. So far. Your four is rather impressive. When you say you were a bum, was that a beach bum? That's the best kind although getting sand in the pants is a bit annoying.

Anyway, welcome.

 

[Jonny]

Hi @johnsie

Nice to see you and hope you enjoy Litopia.

It’s extremely friendly round here so do feel free to get involved as soon as you’re ready.

Here's a good place to check out (How-to guide)to see a lot of what goes on in the colony.

If anything is unclear please contact me and I’ll be happy to assist if I can.

 

[Serra K]

Welcome!

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Hi dude, welcome to the colony.
Your life sounds anything but dull, so I’m looking forward to seeing your writing.
What part of Portugal are you in?
Xxx VH

 

[johnsie]

Welcome aboard @johnsie What a fascinating life! I bet you've some stories to tell

Yes, that's why I'm a writer, precisely to tell them. I'll get round to putting some up, but being a writer I dont get much time. I prefer to write nice things but I have a suspicion that one ghastly narrative would sell well. It's pure horror and involved no less than seven deaths. Would like any advice on how one copes with writing about bad things that happen.

 

[johnsie]

Hey @johnsie how nice to meet you. That's quite the bucket list you're ticking off. And well done, you beat my deportation rate. I only managed one. So far. Your four is rather impressive. When you say you were a bum, was that a beach bum? That's the best kind although getting sand in the pants is a bit annoying.

Anyway, welcome.

Hello Barbara, thanks for saying hello. No. I have never been a beach bum, just the old fashioned type, you know... here today and somewhere else tomorrow. I used to boast that I never knew where I would sleep tomorrow. And very often, after getting so many lifts and getting put up in so many homes from people I'd never met the day before, I very often didn't even know where I was.

 

[johnsie]

Hi @johnsie

Nice to see you and hope you enjoy Litopia.

It’s extremely friendly round here so do feel free to get involved as soon as you’re ready.

Here's a good place to check out (How-to guide)to see a lot of what goes on in the colony.

If anything is unclear please contact me and I’ll be happy to assist if I can.

Hi Jonny,
Thanks for the good wishes, and nice vibes. I do have questions that I would like to raise, but let me get my bearings first.

 

[johnsie]

Hi dude, welcome to the colony.
Your life sounds anything but dull, so I’m looking forward to seeing your writing.
What part of Portugal are you in?
Xxx VH

Hi VH
I'll post some stuff when I've learned where everything is.
I live right down south, just outside a little town called Lagos.
I see I can attach files. I'll find a pic, and bung it up later.

 

[Jonny]

Hi @johnsie

Reading your post above, the only time I have been to Portugal we stayed just down the road from you in the little port of Salema.

Lovely part of the world. Went to Lagos quite a lot.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Hi VH
I'll post some stuff when I've learned where everything is.
I live right down south, just outside a little town called Lagos.
I see I can attach files. I'll find a pic, and bung it up later.

Ah, not too far away from the place I used to stay - at Moncarapacho. Have fond memories of the carnival at Louie, the flamingoes breeding at the salt pans by Faro airport, and a particularly good DIY store near Sao Bras. Xxx

 

[RK Wallis]

Yes, that's why I'm a writer, precisely to tell them. I'll get round to putting some up, but being a writer I dont get much time. I prefer to write nice things but I have a suspicion that one ghastly narrative would sell well. It's pure horror and involved no less than seven deaths. Would like any advice on how one copes with writing about bad things that happen.

Funny you ask how to write about bad things. I've done just that. My advice. Do it within the first few years of the bad event, then it's like therapy (or the therapy might happen the first time you write the event, no matter when, but that's not my experience, so I can't speak to that).

I had a catastrophic stroke at 41 (it's all over the internet so I don't mind talking about it). I wrote my memoir to raise awareness that stroke happens at any age and to help any families going through a similar experience. During my 15 month hospital stay (3 months in ICU), I nearly died a few times and once at home while writing my memoir. Now, my memoir is long finished, there's no way I can read it, it provokes upsetting memories.

With your writing experience, you could do the rest in your sleep

 

[Serra K]

Would like any advice on how one copes with writing about bad things that happen.

Writing trauma is hard, no doubt about that. Something that has helped me get through it is allotting an amount of time after each writing session to after care. The after care time should be at least as long as the time you spent writing (sometimes longer).

Find that thing you enjoy, something light-hearted and completely disconnected from the subject matter you're dealing with. For me, that could be watching a few episodes of The Office or Parks and Recreation, or going for a bike ride. It really doesn't matter what it is, as long as it returns you to a sense of safety and resilience. And if it can make you laugh, even better.

Hope this helps

 

[RK Wallis]

Parks and Recreation

I've only just discovered this! On Season 6 now. Easy watching

 

[Serra K]

@RK Capps it's so good! Perfect for when you need a good laugh. Ron Swanson is my absolute favourite

 

[johnsie]

Funny you ask how to write about bad things. I've done just that. My advice. Do it within the first few years of the bad event, then it's like therapy (or the therapy might happen the first time you write the event, no matter when, but that's not my experience, so I can't speak to that).

I had a catastrophic stroke at 41 (it's all over the internet so I don't mind talking about it). I wrote my memoir to raise awareness that stroke happens at any age and to help any families going through a similar experience. During my 15 month hospital stay (3 months in ICU), I nearly died a few times and once at home while writing my memoir. Now, my memoir is long finished, there's no way I can read it, it provokes upsetting memories.

With your writing experience, you could do the rest in your sleep

Hi,
It's got nothing to do with therapy. It's just that I dont want to go there, and there is something very strong preventing me from doing it. I will put up the first chapter one day, but chapter three is where I get stuck.
There are all sorts of things I'd like to share with people, but only with people who've been there as well.
Things like finding yourself at the bottom of a swimming pool apparently dead because not breathing.
Like spending three days in no-man's-land between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and not being able to enter either country, and starting to starve.
The most odd I'd love to talk through with someone who's experienced it, is being kidnapped and locked in a cupboard for six days.
You can't talk about these things with normal people. They just cant go there.

 

[johnsie]

Writing trauma is hard, no doubt about that. Something that has helped me get through it is allotting an amount of time after each writing session to after care. The after care time should be at least as long as the time you spent writing (sometimes longer).

Find that thing you enjoy, something light-hearted and completely disconnected from the subject matter you're dealing with. For me, that could be watching a few episodes of The Office or Parks and Recreation, or going for a bike ride. It really doesn't matter what it is, as long as it returns you to a sense of safety and resilience. And if it can make you laugh, even better.

Hope this helps

That's not the problem. I slept like a log after I did something appalling, and it has never bothered me since. I'd do it again. I won't spoil the first chapter of the book by saying what it was. The thing is I keep finding that every sentence I write about that sort of stuff just won't come. I have to keep re-writing. My normal way of writing is to start and just keep going till my eyesight goes. I can write a book in a week. Easily.
Let me give one example. I was taken to a concentration camp in Gaza. I watched as a truck full of Israeli soldiers rolled in, jumped off the truck and started shooting children. I have tried to write about that, but by about sentence four or five I'm shaking so violently I cant go on.

 

[Serra K]

being kidnapped and locked in a cupboard for six days

This is why I write in the fantasy genre. Everything I write is through the lens of make-believe. It puts some distance between me and the memories, as though it happened to someone else. I had an experience like this (not a cupboard but an apartment) and the things that happened to me in that time I would never be able to write from my own point of view, so I create a different character and it happens to them, not me.

I watched as a truck full of Israeli soldiers rolled in, jumped off the truck and started shooting children. I have tried to write about that, but by about sentence four or five I'm shaking so violently I cant go on.

Again, this is something I could not write from my own point of view. To get the words down it would need to be happening to someone else, someone fictitious. It's still horrific, but it gives some distance.