S.K. Nicholls's Blog, page 74

My Brand of Happiness

Mini autobiography: In high school and after I got married, I dreamed of being a writer…but we were poor, dirt poor, not a pot to piss in poor…(well, we had two toilets, but only one worked), but we ate too much WIC cheese, peanut butter, cream of wheat, cereal, and other Government staples.

A hospital…on the merit of my grades, offered to pay my tuition, books, and transportation to college to become a nurse…I wanted to improve my family’s standard of living…it was never enough… no matter what we had, we wanted more…it was futile…the stress was enormous…eighteen years later I got divorced… and being a nurse afforded me a nice single lifestyle…but it wasn’t enough, I wanted more.

Fell in love at the age of 46, got married again, at 48, after 12 years single (on purpose, by choice)….happier than I have ever been…quit nursing full-time…started writing again…did I say,

“HAPPIER THAN I HAVE EVER BEEN!?”

Chuck Wendig

Why the story? : A friend just wrote on his blog, “You choose the keys to your car.”

Love and writing…two things that make me very happy. My two keys.

What makes you happy?

Filed under: Writing, Publishing, & Marketing Tagged: happiness, keys, lifestyle, love, poor, writing

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Published on October 29, 2013 10:07

Blogging How To (Menus)

Reblogged from Green Embers:

MENUS

Welcome back to my humble little blog. On my last post Anmol asked for another how to video!

anmol(alias HA) says:

October 28, 2013 at 12:22 am

Cool! :) Would you tell me, how to create a drop down menu(like you have) on the site? Because I tried doing so, but it didn’t work. :)

Which I have done. It only took me 26 times to get this one decent, down from 70.

Blogging How To (Sticky Posts)

Reblogged from Green Embers:

So someone asked me how to make a sticky post so I thought I would try something different! Because you know me, why do something simple when I can make it complex!

(I think that might be a guy thing.... or maybe a programmer thing).

Anyway in the name of complexity I thought, "Hey this would be neat if I could record my desktop while this happens and just make a video!

Catalysts is Live!!

Reblogged from Legends of Windemere:

Quicker than expected, Catalysts is for sale on Amazon Kindle. Click on the cover to go to the Amazon sale site. Pick up this horror novella for 99 cents and have a Happy Halloween.

Blurb:

When trapped in an elevator together, Jeffrey and Darla learn that misery doesn’t always love company. With the screams of death and chaos echoing from outside, they find themselves slowly slipping into a world of fear and darkness they may never recover from.

Quentin Hide and the Evil Lord Twigton Debuts!

Reblogged from Dean'z Doodlez:

Weekly Prompt: Sunday October 27, 2013

Reblogged from The Community Storyboard:

Welcome to the Weekly Prompt. This week, I'd like to see what all our talented wordsmiths can do with the following pictures. Pick one, two or all three and write whatever they inspire you to write. The catch? Your post must contain the word "ghost." Also, please post the words “weekly prompt” in your title, if possible.

Happy (haunted) writing!

Ancient Aliens (Warning this will get kinda Hairy)

Reblogged from Green Embers Recommends:

The hair and early astronaut theorists:

I said I wasn't going to but I have to. I have watched the progression of the world's worst hairstyle over the various seasons of this show and I have to say, he has made me believe in aliens. No one on this planet (okay maybe GaGa, but keep in mind I said this planet)

Quick Reminder. Post Your Book’s Cover(s).

Authors, if you haven’t posted your book’s cover(s) into the Read Tuesday catalog, you can do that now, Here. If you have not signed up to join Read Tuesday, what are you waiting for? Read Tuesday is a promotional event, like Cyber Monday, or Black Friday, but it is all about books. All you have to do is sign up, and agree to discount your books for one specific day. Oh yeah…and tell all of your friends and family. It’s going to be HUGE!

Filed under: Writing, Publishing, & Marketing Tagged: books, Covers, Event, marketing, promotions, Read Tuesday, sales

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Published on October 26, 2013 12:35

Stats Junkies and Why I Am Not One

A psychiatrist once told me, “Statistically speaking, you should be dead.” A long time ago, after suffering a multitude of tragedies, I went to see a psychiatrist on the advice of a friend who felt I was too happy, and thus, there must be something wrong with me.

I didn’t quite know how to take what that psychiatrist had to say to me, or what my friend had to say. I dismissed them, but agreed to go into therapy. I stayed in that therapy with that same therapist from the age of 19 to the age of 36, when I got divorced and moved to Florida.

He was an old man, this therapist, even when we first met, and reminded me of my grandfather. He served as a sounding board, a sort of third party perspective. He studied Tibetan Buddhism, and used to talk to me in parables and stories, hoping I would gain some insight. He never gave advice.

We didn’t reveal any deep, dark, suppressed secrets, or make any startling revelations about my life, except for one. Since my childhood, I have always had a tendency to focus on the good things, the happy times, the joys in my life, rather than the sorrows.

When I decided to get divorced, all he said was, “What in the hell took you so very long?” I told him how I had wanted my children to stay together and not be separated or have to deal with step siblings or step parents. I moved to Florida, and received a package in the mail from my therapist. It was three books on Tibetan Buddhism. He died on the day he sent me that package, (noted by the postmark on the package). I discovered this when I called his office him to thank him. I cried.

Well, I am telling you this little story to tell you about statistics and why they are virtually meaningless to me. I don’t look at my stats very often. In fact, only twice since I began blogging in April, 2013.

It is far more important to me to build relationships with real people online than to make the numbers gleam.

I had a post about, “Making Your Gravatar Work for You.” It took about five minutes to make that post. It is my second most viewed (120) and clicked on post of all times. 58 people have “liked” it. That’s great! It was meant to be helpful. (Second only to my nudism post, “Uninhibited?”, which people might just be curious about. [131 views and only 32 likes].)

I made a post a couple of days ago about my It didn’t get reblogged. It only had 40 views, only 13 people “liked” it, and yet it is one of the most meaningful posts I have ever created. It wasn’t done on a whim, like the gravater post that I made in 5 mins, simply because I was annoyed, (that post had many comments expressing gratitude BTW). It wasn’t a post that took me hours to prepare with many uploaded, captioned photos, like some of my feature posts.

It was a post wherein we were engaged in meaningful dialog, where people discussed the use of nicknames, their preferences as both readers and writers, how to write nicknames into a literary work, and the creative process of writing. Now don’t get me wrong. I love it when you “like” my posts, whether you comment or not. That is great. It means maybe you actually read it and enjoyed it, and that is a large part of what I am here for.

I was, a couple of days ago, really in a serious mini-crisis that I could not get out of alone. It was causing writer’s block, and no therapist could have resolved that crisis. I just want to say that you, the people who engage me in comments with your meaningful contributions, well, you just make my world go around in this place called the blogosphere. I am writing again, excited to be doing it. I am motivated and having fun. Thank you.

The stats really don’t matter. The people do.