Wandering Thoughts of a Writer: goals

Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts

I met Jeremy in a group I’m part of on Facebook. One day he asked me if I would be interested in interviewing him about his upcoming release called, The Gateway. Of course I said yes. At the time I didn’t realize he’s legally blind and has cerebral palsy. When I discovered those things about him, it blew me away.

Wow!

Double Wow.

I can’t even imagine having those disabilities and trying to write a book.

We all have our challenges in life and while we’re facing them, we tend to ask “Why me?”

We feel alone.

Lost.

At times we even resort to thinking, what’s the point?

When there’s a road block in our way, hampering us to reach our goals, we either . . .

A.) Make up excuses on why we can’t pursue our dreams.

B.) Forget about them and move on to something less appealing but easier to obtain.

C.) Blame others or the universe for why we can’t have what we want.

D.)Say “Bite me road block! I’m going to find a way to knock you aside or hurdle over you. I don’t care how long it takes. I will defeat you and (in Jeremy’s case) write a book!”

I had asked Jeremy how he writes his books since he’s legally blind, and he told me with a device called a Braillenote. He writes his books as Braille documents, then translate them into Microsoft Word documents using the Braillenote.

Amazing.

His tenaciousness in working around his disabilities so he can write The Gateway is awe-inspiring. He has a strength that I admire, and I wish him the best of luck on his journey as a published author.

What’s The Gateway about?

The Gateway introduces readers to Chicago, IL in the year 2059, and Dr. Richard Caulman, a physicist who aims to revolutionize transportation. Instead his creation leads to an alien invasion which puts the entire world in danger.

Now let’s talk to Jeremy, shall we?

Hi, Jeremy. I’m glad you’re here. Please tell everyone about yourself.

I’m legally blind and have cerebral palsy. I live in Cincinnati, OH where I was born and raised. I was born premature and wasn’t expected to survive.

When did you start writing stories?

I started writing at age fifteen.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

When I was fifteen.

What type of stories do you like to write and why?

I like to write adult and children’s books, because . . . well, to be honest I haven’t thought of why. I just enjoy writing.

Who is your favorite author?

Stephen King because his books are engrossing. He’s also my inspiration.

I love Stephen King’s books, too. He seems like a cool person, and his sense of humor is great. J

Where do you get your ideas?

Honestly, I don’t know. They just come to me.

Where can people connect with you?

My official Facebook is:

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJeremyBreitenbach

Thank you Jeremy for stopping by and giving us a dose of humility by showing through your actions that with perseverance, strength, hard work and believing in yourself, goals can be obtained. I wish you the best of luck on your publishing journey.

author, cerebral palsy, disabilities, goals, Inspiration, legally blind, new realease, 2 Comments

Wow! Can you believe this year is almost over?

I can’t.

So what have you accomplished this year? Do you ever think about that before the New Year begins? What about the things you had to endure? Do you set goals for the next year?

I do all of the above.

In 2013 I published two books: Dark Spirits and The Devil’s Third. I put the ecopy to Beyond the Eyes for free on Amazon, because I love the new mythology I created, some of the characters, and I want others to experience it as well for free. I’ve learned more about marketing, but of course I’m still learning. I joined lots of literary groups. I met and became friends with some wonderful authors. I created a street team on Facebook. I’ve done book launching parties, blog tours, interviews, and book signings. I’ve met and interacted with some of my fans whom I love.

Yeah, I’ve been busy trying to spread the word about my books and make a name for myself in the literary world. But there’s still a lot of work to be done and a lot to learn.

I’ve accomplished all of that stuff while working at a f/t day job. Talk about being stressed out at times. Not to mention, dealing with the mundane things in life we all have to deal with.

Blah!

But I believe the end result will be all worth it. In fact, when I hear from fans telling me how much they love my books, a renewed energy engulfs me, and I continue on.

Yeah, it’s worth the stress and tears.

Did I say I love my fans?

So 2013 was mostly a year to get a foothold in the literary world. I also had this blog pimped out by telling Parajunkee Design my idea on how I wanted it. She did a wonderful job, don’t you think?

Lately I’ve been dealing with being crazy busy at my day job. It’s always like this in the winter time because I work for a mom and pop propane company. So far this season we’ve been slammed. The weather has been in the minus degrees. It’s like living in a freezer box, and of course people need their heat. I don’t blame them, but I wish they would be nice and not so demanding. I mean, most of them are nice but some are assholes. In those situations, I wish I can do what Darth Vader does here:

Anyway, the owners at my job are awesome people, so I’m fortunate not only to have a good job, but to work for down to earth, sweet people. I remind myself of that when I’m getting stressed out or when customers piss me off.

In a couple weeks it’ll be 2014. I have a couple projects going on at the same time: a Beyond the Eyes novella and a novel in Ameerah’s (uh-meer-uh) POV. I already have the cover for her book, and it’s beau-ti-ful.

Seriously.

You’ll love it.

Trust me.

Originally I was going to make her tale a novella, but she has a lot to say. She was a flapper in the 1920s, then her parents stuck her in an insane asylum where she died. Because of her contempt for humanity, she became a dark spirit. So, yeah, she has a lot of shit to tell ya.

Those two projects I plan to complete this year. We’ll see if I can write them both at the same time, which I’m attempting right now. A fan of mine wants me to do a spinoff on Carrie and Tree, so I may do that as well this year.

In 2014, Kevin and I plan to finish siding our house and completing the inside of our enclosed porch. We live in a house that was built in the 1930s. It seems when we start one project to this house, another one presents itself. Needlessly to say, we still have work to do on our homely abode.

Oh, I also need to get more organized. LOL

Yeah, that is a must.

So what about you?

What was 2013 like for you?

What are your plans for 2014?

books, goals, literary world, new year, 0 Comments

I deleted the last post I did because it was too depressing. At least to me it was.

After I had written that post, this was the conversation I had with Kevin:

Kevin: “Are you happy?”

I shake my head

Me: “No.”

Kevin frowns.

Kevin: “Why?”

Me: “I feel like no matter how hard I try, it’s not enough. And the way this world is, like what happened in Aurora, Colorado, makes me sad. I just don’t understand any of it.”

Kevin: “You know, five hundred years ago, people would get slaughtered for no reason, and it was by a sword, not a gun. Sometimes they’d force a guy into their army and would make him fight for them. So imagine being on a battlefield with just a sword, facing another army you didn’t want to fight, but had to.”

I nod.

Me: “Yeah, I can see what you mean. It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Kevin: “You also need to start thinking about your goals and not your problems.”

Me: “That’s true. I forgot about that. I will.”

So Kevin jarred me out of my funk, and now I’m back to focusing on my goals and not my problems, although I have to admit, I still feel sad about what happened in Colorado.

Anyway, I thought of something fun to do to help promote my book. I’m not going to say what it is because I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pull it off. I did tell Kevin about my idea. He laughed and told me I have too much time on my hands.

Um, not really. It’s just my creative mind keeps throwing ideas at me. I hope this idea works though, because it would be fun, and I think you guys would get a kick out of it.

Anyway, I have to get back to work. I hope you’re having a good day. J