#author #emotions #elves #work #carer #autism #anxiety#Mentalhealth

Hi all how are you doing ?

Little Tom was so chatty in his own little way, Ellie and Holly were little darlings. Ellie has a bad foot at the moment a bit swollen and bruised she hurt it on the trampoline at school the other day. Holly she is the cheekiest the little giggler. she loves the filters on the phone and messing about with them.

Little Tom is my little go getter he always finds a way to communicate what he wants he has this clever and funny little personality he captures every ones hearts. who meets him with his cute little smile and puppy dog eyes.

He spends most of his time laughing at me , or saying I love you and NO.this morning when I lined up the elves up he got so excited.

I don’t think they wanted me to leave this morning , Just as I was about ready to go Ellie asked for a hug, Holly jumped on me and said your not going and little tom grab hold of my top laughing. But on a serious note little Tom has his hip operation coming up soon he had his premed the other day

His mum was saying how unhelpful they were at the Train station because they didn’t know they would have to pre- book help for wheel chair access. What if a wheel chair user wanted to be spontaneous and just wanted to go out. they would normally drive too appointments but daddy wasn’t available to drive thier so she went with toms other carer.

It is funny how if you don’t have a disability either visible or invisible it is as easy as doing what you want when you want but when you do have these other issues thier is many things you have to check out before you even make a decision to go. Will it be accessible what happens in an emergency, what do I need to bring incase of delays . Is thier going to be a changing table big enough. where are they if your not familiar with some where it can be a huge hurdle.

Going into London at the moment with all these protests can be more of an issue for some just trying to get their special needs kids to thier appointments. his hips hurt so sitting in his wheelchair for long journey’s must be hard for him. he didn’t want to go in it this morning, he wanted a leg massage.

Still that was not something I was involved with as I don’t work with Tom on week days.

Upon returning home hubby was already pouring my coffee the kids were still asleep, I was waiting to see how long it would take for them to come and see if I was home but an hour later they hadn’t even stirred, I called up too them one second later we heard this almighty bang and thud as Jake jumped of his bed and came running down the stairs followed shortly after by Niki. I love thier big hugs when I get home. Jake had the baking bug today wanted to make cake and dinner.

Triple chocolate Fudge Cake his favorite one of the only ones he will eat, he found a liking too it when he was anxious one day and cooked one for his teachers, I remember the look on his face when he tentatively took his first ever bite of this particular type of cake.

Smell of food cooking is becoming easier for him , as is touching some foods. one step at a time. he did also have a small piece of chicken on his plate today but only managed a bite, but still it is one bite more. he made a beautiful roast chicken dinner.

Playing cards while we waited , my hubby had the Sunday sleep, and Laurence of Arabia move time.

Niki was talking to Tom and her Friends so was hibernating in her room only coming down for feeding time, she waited till I left the room and put her Brussels on her dads plate , but she did eat her corn on cob and broccoli. so I was very pleased with that , yay me getting my vegetarian daughter to actually eat veg. the rest of the day has just been chilling .,

Any way good night for now our week has come to and end with smiles on our face and appointments done. now to look forward to the schools shutting for half term so we can chill with each other .

good night much love Faye xx

#author #emotions #bookevent #talking #autism #anxiety #mentalhealth #christmas #elves

Hi all today was the big book event, and although a quite one it was great.

I have a a different way of thinking about this it is why I never inbox my book links unless someone asks. I would much rather have people drawn to visit and ask then direct sales. Maybe that is why sales can be a little slow sometimes. The way I look at it is one book at a time, the book may not have an impact of everyone that reads it but it may have an impact on that one person who it connects with.

Setting up was lovely, this time though we all got bigger tables so had the room to really display our books to draw people over.

We added a few extra things as give aways, chocolate coins. Not just for the kids adults wanted some too😀

The event organisers all Thier to get us set up, show us where to go. The lifts to get up Thier with all our stock.

Having book marks business cards and small posters to show people where they can find you online if they choose to go away and think about it before buying . 😀❤️

I made one sale today so that is good, it was brought by a mother for her daughter who is 10 and not long been diagnosed. We got talking and had something in comman that may have been different if it wasn’t for chatting about our kids.

The other children’s author’s in our room were set up and ready for the people attending to come in. Some made sales some didn’t you have to take it as a positive because you learn and pick up tips from other author’s.

I love all Thier work and there different style. I have learnt to appreciate what they have been through to produce Thier books.

We all talked about the marketing side of things and getting books to wider audiences.

The were some children’s activities going on in the lower part of the Library and they ran a little completion, to see if they could find things and then come and get authors to put Thier signiture the winner got a £10 book voucher. That was a fun little thing to get people in the rooms where author’s were. They were a little quite so opening the book and showing them Niki and Jake and telling them about the family photos they seemed to relax,

Maybe they can run a selfie completion next time, getting pictures of adults reading with them parent’s or care givers , grandparent’s aunt’s and uncle’s teachers. This could work well for all kids even kids with disabilities because it could be something for everyone to be involved with. The one with the most selfies wins the prize. That’s a way to get on and off line working in tandom with each other, plus gets adults to take the time to engadge with reading.

I found it helped our family alot you get quality one on one with each child Noone feels left out. You find kids really benifit from it and start opening up to you more plus they start inviting you into the online places they love it if you notice Thier post and put a ❤️ on it. This is an unintrusive way of keeping an eye on them online making sure that Thier ok. The best thing is they invite you.

I spoke to some dad’s too about the book, and found out one of them taught kungfu for about 25 years so I shared that I found it was really benificial for Jake.

I spoke to another lady, who was an English teacher who has written a book too but waiting to get a publisher. She shared that she lost a child in later stages of pregnancy that is something we touch on in the book not in the main story but in remembrance of my daughter who passed. In the dedications part of the book.

This is what I hoped too achieve by writing a book opening up chats about the more difficult subjects. It’s as much for parents and families as is it for kids. Finding away to understand each others feelings and what makes us feel the way we feel sometimes it helps kids learn how to find ways to cope with Thier feelings if they see Thier parents are open about how they feel.

Any way that is all for now have to get ready for my night shift with the kiddo’s lots of fun to have tonight with them .

Much love Faye XX

#author #christmas #selfhelp #emotions #elves #autism #anxiety #mentalhealth #bookevents

Hi all how are you?

I am excited and so ready for this book event.

It is great because one leads to another then more opportunities come your way, which is great if you are starting out as an unknown author. These events don’t just bring opportunity to show your book off, they give you a huge chance to meet other author’s , librarians, readers.

A massive opportunity to get into speaking events, sharpen your skill set, and learn alot about the publishing industry. Sharing other authors journey’s and making friends it pretty awesome.😀👌

You get to be a little creative and think about marketing, other products you might want to add to your list of things to sell. Metadata is a bit of a minefield especially if you change publishers getting new up to date data or have corrections made not an easy task can leave you frustrated.

That is definatley the biggest issue if your self publishing after having a publisher.

The amount of people I have connected with on many sites and enjoy conversations with really opens your eyes up to the bigger world outside of your norm.

I enjoy reading other blogs especially here on wordpress because Thier is such a wide range of blogs people’s perspectives, people’s work.

The majority of new authors have too work real hard at promoting and selling Thier books making valuable connections. I would not say my journey has been the easiest, infact it isn’t something I would wish on any other author, but I am really resilient I never give up no matter what obstacles get put in the way. 😬😀💯

Would I have done things differently or even published if I knew it would be so hard, that is something I ponder on occasionally before I give myself a talking too, and focus on the future.

I had hoped to have my next book finnished by now , it is started but the obstacles that have arisen for the old publishers going into liquidation has made me take a big step back from that and really focus on this first book and doing what needs to be done to get it where it was ment to be last year. The book data is being sorted and slowly the old book will be replaced by my own self publish book. It is out both in ebook format and print format avalible to down load through kobo and appearing on many book seller’s sites. Now to get reader’s and reviews the next part of the process. Events although are fabulous it really depends on how many people turn up and if your book catches Thier attention enough to buy it. I tend to talk to people who come to the event. Usually at this time I would feel the nerves bubbling as the reality that the day has come to get out there.

I just don’t feel that now , I feel just excitement even sorting some of the issues today, has not dampened my excitement of tomorrow’s event.

I had a big think and a small spend for the table to look nice and inviting, a new cloth, a display stand for the book marks and poster’s, adding a little bit of glitter in the shape of a Christmas bow. It is relivent to the book being a Christmas story.

Bring your Character’s with you, what made you begin the book , my little buddy Emo Elf has helped us through so much. Although we have 16 elves now he is the only one coming with me tomorrow my silent friend Thier for the reminder that I can achieve great things. To never give up.

I am not sure what I will wear yet sometimes I dress up in my elf costume sometimes I don’t I shall see in the morning,

As you can probally tell I am in a rather chatty mood tonight.

My hubby has been a star this week, phoning around and sorting some of the data stuff, coming with me to both school meetings, sending me really silly posts that I should not really laugh at but some how has had a calming affect. I have had such a busy couple of weeks but it has been so much fun, 4 birthdays , work, doctors, dentist, schools, life seems to be falling back in to place like it was before the diagnosis maybe we just got better at relaxing and taking the moments we need to rest in-between all the things. We move in random sometimes know what the other needs and silently doing it. Oh dear that’s sounds like way too much adulting 😂😂 .

Jake’s meetings and parents evening was very good , it is great actually seeing the teachers and getting feed back on his strengths and what he struggles with, he has hit his targets for end of year 11 and even exceeded some, and for a young man with serious eating issues he is inline for a distinction in health and catering.

Jake decided to come with us to parents evening, there were a few things he brought up himself especially with his catering teacher first are you going to stay, he has had three teachers the class is a bit of a handful, she assured him she will be staying, the next he just out right said I think you should have some help in this class because everyone keeps messing about. The teacher asked him to give her a chance to settle in as she has only been Thier three weeks, it will get better in thier. She also said that Jake and a few other were put at the back of the class because they worked hard and that the ones that needed more supervision were in the front. Jake just nodded his head. She asked about Jake’s eating issues and said in this class they do cover what food groups help the body to grow and she opened up to home about having eating issues herself for about a year. Where she could only taste a metallic taste. This is what some of our kids need to know they are not alone in Thier struggles teachers have this huge thing where they teach but don’t always let Thier barriers down, but for kids that have issues they are looking for people who get how they feel.

The only thing that came up was organising extra time for Jake in his exams, which I can get added before the final adjustments to his EHCP plan is done.

The thing is getting Jake to accept this help, he does understand that it will help him, but it troubled a little when he said it isn’t fair to other students he doesn’t want a normal kid to be demoralised if he has the extra time and in that extra time he gets more marks them the normal student will be upset that an autisic kid got better grades. This is something both him and Niki have worried about showing and getting fab grades. If they study hard work hard get good grades Thier called geek or need if they get help they get called stupid.

I am Working on them not worrying what other people get or say, but it’s hard to change the way they think about these things.

My kids can be a bag of contradiction sometimes , i.e they don’t like noise but don’t like it quite either, they are loud but also anxious and shy, they are smart but sometimes Thier need for perfection stops them from starting things. They need help sometimes but don’t always want it. They hate attention on them but draw attention to themselves. They must be so confused sometimes I know this causes them a lot of anxiety.

Oh dear I think I talk to much.❤️😬

I am going to say goodnight for now

Here is the link for the Ebook again should anyone want to get a copy quickly. If you do please be kind and leave a review it helps more than you know.😀❤️

https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/emo-the-emotional-elf?utm_source=walmarthybrid&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Get+Textbooks&utm_term=0492afd3-0bea-4cf8-bedc-712d2e928a71&ranMID=37217&ranEAID=GuWPtmTDDdQ&ranSiteID=GuWPtmTDDdQ-dBOxtes9lUznrQl8HzjRmw&siteID=GuWPtmTDDdQ-dBOxtes9lUznrQl8HzjRmw

Much love Faye XX 💗💗