C.R. Richards's Blog, page 8

Book Baby News Alert!

Creed of the Guardian, Book Three in the Heart of The Warrior Series,

is now available for PRE-ORDER on Amazon.

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Book Three – COMING October 18th, 2019

Protect the Innocent. Punish the Guilty.

Seth the Ice Lion, now an Apprentice in the Jalora Legion, reluctantly travels aboard ship with his new battalion. Western Beta’s mission seems a dull assignment. Guarding miles of bogs and old ruins should be a simple task, but Seth soon learns nothing is easy for the Bearer of the Lion Ring. The Jalora is the embodiment of Good and the source of Seth’s power. It commands he search North Marsh for a relic capable of saving his homeland from the ravenous appetite of the Jackal invaders. Surrounded by deadly bogs and savage beasts, he must find the relic before the Lion Spirit inside of him takes control of their shared body.

Invaders from across the sea hold a firm grip on Valdeon, but their thirst for blood remains unsated. They lust for the riches of Andara. Using fear and greed as weapons, the Jackal enlist aid from the continent’s unscrupulous mercenaries to prepare for a larger invasion. They build a stronghold – Stone Fang Fortress – in the Bloodtooth Mountains of the north. It is here they prepare to conquer the free world.

Will Seth find this powerful relic before the Jackal swarm invades Andara? Or will his people be enslaved under the iron fist of the Jackal Lord? Seth’s answers hide in the deadly bogs of North Marsh…

Haven’t read the series yet? Check out Books One and Two.

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Book One of The Heart of The Warrior Series

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Book Two – Heart of the Warrior series

Be Positive. Be Happy. Be Well.

Keeping Your Cool While Your Hair is on Fire

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Is your hair on fire? Relax! © SFIO CRACHO – stock.adobe.com

Have you started a new job, project or training program? It’s tough being the newbie isn’t it? The first week is the worst. You stumble around trying to complete tasks to impress your new boss, but you end up feeling awkward and ignorant.

Here are some things to remember while you’re running around with your hair on fire.

Five Things to Remember Your First Week:

Everybody was the New Guy Once
You are your harshest critic
Seek Out the Gurus Who Are Willing to Help You
Be Kind to Yourself
Take a deep breath. It gets better with each passing day.

Be Positive. Be Happy. Be Well.

Dark Summertime Books from My Reading List

Summer is the perfect time for sprawling on a lounge chair at the beach, by the pool or even on your own patio. And what would leisure time be without a good book? Dull. Dull. Dull.

Vacation reads don’t have to be light and playful like your summer plans. My taste in literature runs toward the dark side. Here are some of the summertime books I’ve read or am planning to read over the sunny season:

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Dark Fantasy Books – © Dina Stock.adobe.com

Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Fire Season by Steven Blackmore

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

Cabin at The End of The World by Paul Tremblay (This is on my Reading List for August)

Grab a cool beverage, tuck your favorite Dark novel under your arm, and find a comfy spot. Happy reading!

Be Positive. Be Happy. Be Well.

Happy July 4th!

Wishing you Fun, Friends and Fireworks!

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© jd-photodesign – stock.adobe.com

The Top Three Reasons to Challenge Yourself

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Challenge Yourself! © MarekPhotoDesign.com – stock.adobe.com

We humans love our comfort zone. It’s safe here. We know who we are in our jobs, our skills, and even our relationships. No nasty surprises jolt us. Life is predictable, but it’s also stagnant and boring. We may be stuck in a rut of our own making.

It’s time to challenge yourself. Take up an exciting hobby. Learn a new skill. Go for the job you want. Why now? WHY NOT? Each day that passes is another day you lose to inertia. Our minds crave new experiences. Feed your brain!

Three Reasons to Challenge Yourself

You May be Missing Out on Great Opportunities – Do you daydream about a new job? Maybe you’re lacking a few skills or experience. Don’t stay in your dead-end job. Take some online courses. Volunteer with a few nonprofits to build up your experience. At the very least, you’ll find out whether or not you want to pursue that particular dream
Life Won’t Wait While You Dither – Opportunities for growth and happiness are everywhere. They can pass us by if we don’t muster our courage and go for it.
Our Lives are Finite – Despite the best efforts of the beauty industry, Time continues to pass. Our bodies and brains age. Keep your body moving and your mind alert. You’ll live a longer and healthier life.

What If I Fail?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

Meet any successful entrepreneur and you’ll find they’ve had their fair share of failures. It’s hard to believe they experience hiccups when you see the abundance they have in success. Many would tell you they learned more from their failures than anything else.

I believe the greatest failure in life is not to try at all.

Be Positive. Be Happy. Be Well.

 

 

How Work Management Software Can Help Creatives Finish Their Projects

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Work Management for Creative Projects – © Tartila Stock.Adobe.Com

Creative brains are restless processors of imaginative ideas. Our itchy fingers yearn to start creating the next fun project we dream up. Unfortunately, our next big idea rarely waits until after we’ve finished our current endeavor. Progress on our manuscripts, paintings, or screenplays falter. We lose momentum and begin missing deadlines.

Work management software can assist in planning our creative projects and help us stick with a firm schedule.

What is Work Management Software?

Work Management Software (aka task management or collaboration software) is a category of digital tools designed to plan projects and non-project tasks. Their applications can range from single users or small teams to large project management offices. Easy to use and readily available online, these tools are perfect for creative projects.

In other words, work management software is a project management tool for everyone.

Which Tool Should I Use?

I’ve been a project manager for over fifteen years and have used many complex project management tools to track my large enterprise level schedules. Mastering the platforms required extensive training and some technical knowledge. Many times, the tools were cumbersome and made managing the project unnecessarily complicated. It also limited project management tool access to companies who could afford the expense and resources to maintain them.

The new wave of work management digital tools has opened the door for individuals and small business owners who can’t afford the expense and don’t have time for extensive training. Larger businesses are adopting these easy to use tools as well, effectively reducing their setup and training times.

In researching for this post, I’ve discovered a smorgasbord of new tools. Most of them are unfamiliar, so I’m suggesting a few I know are free and reliable. Asana and Trello are both easy to use and have free basic plans.

A Sneak Peek at Trello

I use the free version of Trello. Why? One of my project teams used it in the past. It’s familiar. It’s free. And it’s fun.

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Trello for Creative Projects

Simple Steps to Set Up Your Creative Project

Trello and YouTube have great “how to” videos to get you started setting up your new account and boards. In this post, I want to give you a few tips to help you plan effectively. You have some things to think through before jumping into the tool. What will it take to complete your project? How long will each task take? If I connect these tasks and their due dates correctly, then will I have my project completion date? Finally, who do I want to access my boards? Are there team members I’ve assigned to tasks and do they need to see those tasks?

Step One – Create your board

Give your board a meaningful and descriptive name, so you can quickly identify which project it represents
Set it to “Private” (setting located at the top of the board by the name) if you don’t want anyone to see your board
Invite your team (if applicable)

Step Two – Plan and create your cards

Think about the task categories your creative project must navigate:

Create – What steps must you take to create your book, video, etc.?
Edit – Do you or a team member need to review the work and quality check?
Publish – Are you sending this to a client? Or will you be producing/ publishing the work yourself?
Market – Do you need to create marketing tools and advertising?


Set Due Dates to hold yourself accountable
Plan carefully to calculate a reasonable and accurate project completion date

Step Three – Track your progress

Mark your finished items ‘complete’ to gauge where you are in the project
Review your splendid progress in ‘real time’ for a boost of self-confidence
Watch potential time slips and mitigate them before they happen

Work Management Tools can help you stay on track. Keep your designs easy and straight forward. You’ll soon see the value of organizing your work.

Be Positive. Be Happy. Be Well.

Cosplayers Assemble!

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Denver Pop Culture Con – © Viacheslav stock.adobe.com

Denver Pop Culture Con is coming this weekend at the Colorado Convention Center! I’ll be there doing panels with awesome authors: Terry Brooks (Shannara Series), Cinda, Williams Chima (The Heir Chronicles) and many more!

Stop by the Author’s Booth during my signings for a chance to win free ebook copies of The Heart of the Warrior series books one and two!

Find my complete Denver Pop Culture Con Schedule at this link.

Special Guest Interview: Mental Health Month

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© ileezhun Stock.adobe.com

May is Mental Health Month. A special guest is joining us this week to discuss her experiences as a Mental Health Provider. Tamara Soal is a Licensed Professional Counselor (MA, LPC, NCC) in Southern Oregon. Welcome, Tamara and thank you for sharing your insights on Mental Health with my readers.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What made you decide to become a Mental Health Provider?

I began studying psychology in my teens and while attending college. During those first psychology 101 courses, I knew it was my calling. I had too many friends in high school complete suicide and a long-term boyfriend complete suicide years after we had separated. In the course of my adult life, I chose interpersonal relationships with people diagnosed with bipolar and substance abuse dependency. Several of my colleagues and friends suffered from trauma and substance abuse. I decided I wanted to be a healer. A higher psychology degree was the answer for me at the time.

A late bloomer in the field (I earned my degrees later in life), I got on a fast track to experiencing the mental health profession after graduate school and accepted positions to accelerate my knowledge. I decided in graduate school to have a private practice, and in four years after graduation, I accomplished what I believed would be my calling.

You named your practice “Winding Tree.” Is there any special meaning behind the title?

Winding Tree Counseling Services LLC was the seed I planted in 2010. The name was chosen based on a partner’s suggestion. The more I thought about it and the Chinese Proverb, “The twisted tree lives out its life. The straight tree ends up as a board,” I decided winding was a better synonym than twisted. It also represents the complexity of family systems theory and the family tree or family of origin genograms.

Philosophy & Approach of My Practice:

An integrative, client-centered approach is the type of psychological style used in meeting the needs of individual clients. Integrative is a way to introduce different psychological theories in meeting the needs of children, adolescents, their families, and couples. My philosophy is to treat individuals with kind, empathetic, positive regard to assist them in gaining insight and balance. I practice Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) with DBT of Southern Oregon for high-risk individuals as well.

One of your specialties is working with children and adolescents to help them overcome their behavioral challenges. What are some positive actions adults can do to encourage kids with mental illness?

I work with children and adolescents to help them overcome their behavioral and cognitive challenges. I was that child and have walked in their shoes. My childhood was confusing and challenging, and I wanted to assist children in navigating the patterns of their parents or caregivers. I am drawn to foster children with abandonment and attachment issues because I experienced these as a child as well.

The most important thing an adult can do for a child is to be present, loving and without judgment. Children are naturally intuitive and can feel your truth. Behavior is communication. If a child is misbehaving, then they are trying to tell you something perhaps they cannot articulate or have the capacity to express.

It’s essential to have a holistic view of behavior, mind, body, and soul. Just as a baby cannot verbalize pain or distress, they pick up nonverbal communication. We communicate to our children nonverbally in significant ways. Adults need to be consistent and use reward rather than punishment (punishment doesn’t work). Reward, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement are shown to be effective in changing behavior.

May is Mental Health Month. If there was one thing you could share with someone who is living with mental illness, what would it be?

I would like to share for Mental Health Month the concept of radical self-care.

Radical self-care is taking care of the Self in a way that matters such as firm boundaries, and eradicating people-pleasing behavior. It is essential to take care of Self holistically by living mindfully. Live your best life and don’t allow social stigma to impede you from seeking out a professional. A mental health counselor will guide you in living your best life, offering you skills and assisting you with insight. Only you know how to live your best, authentic life. Trust that.

Remember, if you are not connecting with the counselor, find one with whom you can connect. This is your life, be the director of your story.

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Tamara Soal, MA, LPC, NCC

My Code of Ethics

I am a licensee of the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists; I abide by its Code of Ethics. To maintain my license, I am required to participate in continuing education, attending classes dealing with subjects relevant to this profession. I began practicing in the state of Arizona in 2013 as a Crisis Response and with court-mandated individuals in group therapy transitioning to Therapeutic Foster Care and a Psychiatric Hospital as a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Wyoming in 2014. I moved to Oregon in 2016 to work in community health and ultimately started a private practice in 2017.

Formal Education & Training

Master of Arts Degree in Mental Health Counseling from Argosy University – Phoenix, 2013. My practicum/ internship and the postgrad experience were completed in the judicial system counseling court-mandated individuals; domestic violence offenders, substance abuse offenders, anger management and life skills group counseling. I currently graduated with a Master of Philosophy – Psychology – February 2019 and I am completing a Ph.D. Psychology (ABD) attending Walden University since 2014 and working with a chair and committee on my dissertation looking at parenting stress and high-conflict divorces.

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Qualifications

Crisis stabilization in providing services for children and adolescents in an acute inpatient-setting meeting Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) criteria and trauma. Services included trauma-informed care and crisis stabilization for the individual and family with approaches such as family systems, trauma-focused CBT, trauma-informed interventions and crisis interventions.

Areas of competence include crisis intervention, trauma-informed CBT, DBT and psychoanalysis/psychodynamic modalities. I have completed level one of The Gottman Method for couple counseling and Grief Training with New Song for Grieving Children (AZ) and WinterSpring for credentialing to continue to serve grieving children in Oregon. I am currently working with DBT of Southern Oregon in the Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) program as an individual therapist and co-facilitator for a weekly Teen DBT group and in private practice.

Counseling experience includes providing services for SED children/adolescents and their caregivers including foster care in wraparound services and therapeutic family care. Counseling experience includes court-mandated individuals in providing services for domestic violence offenders and individuals required to complete anger management using the Duluth method within diversion programs. Mental evaluations required by the court in determining further legal action.

Winding Tree Counseling Services, LLC

More about Tamara Soal on Psychology Today

Book Baby Announcement

I finally have a firm release date!

Look for the latest book in the Heart of the Warrior series

October 18th, 2019!

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Book Three – COMING October 18th, 2019

Protect the Innocent. Punish the Guilty.

Seth the Ice Lion, now an Apprentice in the Jalora Legion, reluctantly travels aboard ship with his new battalion. Western Beta’s mission seems a dull assignment. Guarding miles of bogs and old ruins should be a simple task, but Seth soon learns nothing is easy for the Bearer of the Lion Ring. The Jalora is the embodiment of Good and the source of Seth’s power. It commands he search North Marsh for a relic capable of saving his homeland from the ravenous appetite of the Jackal invaders. Surrounded by deadly bogs and savage beasts, he must find the relic before the Lion Spirit inside of him takes control of their shared body.

Invaders from across the sea hold a firm grip on Valdeon, but their thirst for blood remains unsated. They lust for the riches of Andara. Using fear and greed as weapons, the Jackal enlist aid from the continent’s unscrupulous mercenaries to prepare for a larger invasion. They build a stronghold – Stone Fang Fortress – in the Blood Mountains of the north. It is here they prepare to conquer the free world.

Will Seth find this powerful relic before the Jackal swarm invades Andara? Or will his people be enslaved under the iron fist of the Jackal Lord? Seth’s answers hide in the deadly bogs of North Marsh…

Read the Dark Fantasy Epic from the beginning
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Book One of The Heart of The Warrior Series

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Book Two – Heart of the Warrior series

Can What You Eat Reduce Your Stress?

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Culinary Medicine © norikko – stock.adobe.com

One of our local news stations holds an annual health fair this time of year. During their morning broadcast, they dropped the term “Culinary Medicine.” I’ll confess, I hadn’t heard the phrase. As a Celiac on a strict gluten-free diet, I was intrigued. There is no cure for Celiac Sprue or gluten intolerance. My diet is used to counteract the symptoms of the disease as well as reduce my risk of developing certain types of cancer.

So, is western medicine moving away from a “pop this pill” philosophy and embracing a holistic approach? Answer: It depends on the doctor.

What is Culinary Medicine?

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, and I am no expert in Culinary Medicine either. However, I am living proof of how a healthy diet can improve your energy, reduce illness and help with depression.

The healthcare industry, to combat rising obesity rates, is increasing its efforts to counsel patients on nutrition. Nutritious cooking to reduce illness is at the forefront.

Food as medicine? It makes sense if we remember the saying, “you are what you eat.”

How Choosing the Right Food Can Help in Stress Management
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The perfect berry! © pilipphoto – stock.adobe.com

Green Leafy Vegetables – Eat your spinach, because Popeye was right. Green leafy veggies produce dopamine – the feel-good chemical. They help to encourage calm and good moods
Oatmeal – This hearty breakfast food is good for you on several levels. It will help to manage your stress by keeping your blood sugar level stable
Yogurt – Take it from someone with food allergies. When your gut is sick, then your brain doesn’t work well either. We’ve seen the commercials about probiotics. Yogurt is a great way to increase these chemicals and calm brain functions which handle our emotions
Salmon – Omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatories which assist in reducing harmful stress hormones. Salmon isn’t as “fishy” as other fish. It doesn’t have to be in fancy dishes. Try it in tacos for a yummy new take on an old favorite
Blueberries – “Calling Dr. Blueberry!” I eat these perfect little berries every day. They boost my mood and make me smile.

Be Positive. Be Happy. Be Well.