Andrew Jones’ Blog

Hi!

I haven’t been keeping up to date reporting where I’m up to because it’s been a bit confused!

I’ve looked at several affiliate money-making products before, and not been impressed - I have a couple more to look at but at the moment I’m concentrating on the eBook business plans - from John Thornhill and Lee McIntyre.

I’ve been doing the John Thornhill Coaching Program and Lee Mcintyre’s Free Marketing Classroom/Internship Program (details on his blog) On John’s Coaching Program I’ve got as far as setting everything up for selling a short eBook about coping with insomnia (Insomnia a Simple Guide) and should be getting to driving traffic to that during the next week or so.

Lee’s Internship has just released the third weeks tasks, they’re supposed to take about ten hours, two hours per task most times - but on several I’ve taken well over that! So the Internship tasks are kind of a strain. The first tasks were keyword searching etc., but since then have been to do with writing blog posts and reviews for Lee’s products - so he’s getting something for his effort, while we learn how to publicise sites and products… the pace is quite a strain, considering the time required.

Although time is now at a premium for me, I still want to look at affiliate marketing (of other people’s products), as the set and forget approach is more appealing than the constant product development and release approach from John and Lee’s models. Also the eBay ban on eBook sales makes the previous model defunct, I’m still uncertain what the new model will be for getting traffic to the sales page… that may be explain in Johns Coaching program this week - so far I’ve seen the suggestion elsewhere that selling something on CD is the way around it, and there may be easy ways to do this automatically - otherwise you’d spend all your time cutting and posting CDs which is NOT an attractive prospect!

That’s all for now.

Cheers,

Andy.

I’m now two weeks into the ScriptFrenzy script writing exercise, and up to page 57 of a 100 page target… of my zombie screenplay. I’m finding the writing OK, but have been putting off (’forgetting’) mapping the plot out properly, so I still don’t know how it’s going to end!

I have been using the free Celtx script writing software, as recommended on the ScriptFrenzy site. It’s easy to use, but can be a little clunky in changing text modes (Character, Action, Dialog etc.) - still, it is FREE!

Sorry if this is a bit repetitive, but  I don’t want to publish much detail about my stories - just in case I get to actually publish them at some point, and also because they’re pretty raw at the moment!

That’s all for now, as I’ve got a lot on just at the moment !

Cheers,

Andy.

So I’m on my seventh day into the ScriptFrenzy script writing exercise, and so far I’m up to page 30 of a 100 page target… but I did start from a previous idea, which I’d already written a few pages for, so it’s kind of an ‘adaptation’ of my own idea.

I’m using the free Celtx script writing software, as recommended on the ScriptFrenzy site.The software is very easy to use, but can be a little clunky in changing text modes (Character, Action, Dialog etc.) - but it is FREE!

That’s all for now, as I’ve got a lot on just at the moment !

Cheers,

Andy.

My editing didn’t gscripto great - I kept getting bogged down and confused, so I only just met the 50 hour target, and only got halfway through the editing process (I’m being optimistic there as well!)… I’m going to leave it alone for a while now, then come back to it hopefully fresh and more enthiusiastic.

The next project is ScriptFrenz - which is another month-long thing, this time it’s to write a script of 100 pages! This could be a film, stage, radio or other(?) script.

I haven’t written a script before - not sure about formatting, but there’s some how-to guides and free software (see the site - Writer’s Resources tab) to help with formating etc.

Cheers,

Andy

Okay, here I am with two days to go until the end of National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo) and I’ve still got 6.5 hours to go! I’ve done nothing on several days during the last week due to feeling a bit under the weather, and then last night I came down with a cold!

So it’s going to be a real effort just to get the hours done by the end of March, and that’s still going to leave a massive amount to be done on the editing front, as my efforts haven’t been very effective. I’ve done the basic reorganisation of scenes, spelling and grammar corrections and started writing a few new scenes… but the new scenes aren’t going well. It seems like the momentum of the rough draft NaNoWriMo phase just hasn’t come back. The new scenes are less central to the plot, so I suppose I’m not as interested, plus the whole editing phase hasn’t been much fun.

I will definitely have to spend a lot of hours finishing the editing, and I also need to get a better editing process and attitude for next time!

Cheers for now,

Andy.

The Insomnia sleep disorder is an inability to sleep, or to sleep for long enough to get a proper night’s rest. It can have the effect of making you feel constantly tired. Lack of sleep can lead to poor concentration and coordination as well as irritability.

Secondary Insomnia has an underlying medical cause whereas Primary Insomnia does not. Secondary insomnia can be caused by any condition causing pain or discomfort, or directly causing anxiety or other mental disturbance, or specific conditions such as Sleep Apnea or Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you suspect an underlying medical or mental condition you should seek medical advice as soon as possible.

Duration of a period of insomnia can vary from transient (a few nights) to short term (up to 3 weeks) to chronic, long term insomnia (over 3 weeks)

After failing to sleep for a few nights, you may become anxious and worry that you won’t sleep again, which can prevent the onset of natural sleep – this is termed Fear Insomnia.

Normal foods or behaviors can act as obstacles to sleep: Caffeine and other chemical stimulants. Stress and anxiety from work, watching exciting TV programs, reading real exiting novels in bed can all hinder sleep. You should look at removing any obstacles to sleep.

There are three main areas where you can encourage sleep: Sleep Environment, Sleep Discipline and Sleep Conditioning.

You cannot force sleep and two things which often cause problems are worry that you won’t get to sleep, or won’t get enough sleep and your mind being too active. Hot drinks, warm baths and other relaxation techniques can help.

That’s it in short!

Cheers,

Andy

After dealing with cognitive issues, and obstacles to sleep (though a lot of it is the other side to encouraging sleep) you can then continue the behavioral therapy by addressing the following 3 main areas:

Sleep Environment - a comfortable bed, a bedroom that is quiet, dark and the right temperature

Sleep Discipline - use your bed for sleeping (and sex) only, watch TV etc. elsewhere

Sleep Conditioning - creating a routine, going to bed and getting up at the same time

It’s all pretty obvious really isn’t it? Get your bed and bedroom right, create a routine including using the bed only for sleep (and sex, if you’re lucky! - which can sometime lead to feeling sleepy afterwards…) so that you are getting your subconscious on your side. Basically so that when you go to bed you have as much mental and physical support for just going to sleep, but without putting pressure on yourself, causing Fear or Anxiety Insomnia!

I know that doesn’t go into detail, maybe I’ll expand it later!

Cheers,

Andy

Ignoring medical and mental primary causes, which are outside my expertise…

Another way of putting the obstacles to sleep is by three main areas:

Sleep Environment - Is your bed too firm or lumpy and uncomfortable? Is the room too hot or too cold? Is it too light or too noisy?

Behaviour - if you have trouble sleeping, there’s a good chance you’re sleep discipline is poor… going to bed late, sleeping late, napping during the day… can all disrupt the sleep cycle.

Sleep Conditioning - Are you habitually watching TV, playing computer games or reading in bed?

Address these and you are well on the way to getting a better night’s sleep.

Chrres,

Andy

The first thing to do when tackling insomnia is to remove the obstacles to sleep.

Caffeine and other chemical stimulants… They’re stimulants, what more do you need to know - if you want sleep, don’t take stimulants… (e.g. don’t drink coffee after lunchtime as a rough guide)

Mental stimulants… Watching exciting TV programs, reading real page-turner, can’t-put-down novels, or doing anything else that gets you mentally stimulated just before going to bed is not going to help you sleep!

Mental obstacles… Stress and anxiety - these are more difficult to control, but one method that should help is making a break between work and personal life - by either mentally unwinding (watch TV, read a book etc. to break the hold of work related thoughts), or physically, by doing regular exercise – especially after the work day ends - a long walk, jogging, the gym… this also relaxes you mentally as well as tiring you physically - but don’t do it close to bed time, as it can also wake you up!

If you have a problem such as fear, due to real threats; or grief due to a recent bereavement, then it would be advisable to seek professional help or counseling – as solving that underlying problem will have a greater effect than trying tackle the insomnia which this serious underlying situation is causing. The same applies to physical problems such as painful conditions or illnesses – i.e. seek professional help for any know medical causes first!

So that’s it - next is what to do to encourage sleep!

Cheers,

Andy

This editing isn’t as much fun as the rough draft writing was! It’s been going slowly…

I started off with the idea of putting post-its on a wall and moving them around, but they kept falling off! So then I copied all that info into a spread sheet instead and shuffled the scenes that way, to get a better flow, which worked OK.

After the above scene shuffling I only had one scene I didn’t want anymore (I might even redo that one) - so I decided the next step should be fixing spelling and grammar… and I’m still at it! I must have spent about 25 hours so far, and all I’ve got is a clean copy of the rough draft.

The good news is that I finished the spelling and grammar today, and shuffled the scenes in the document - so I’m ready to start writing the new scenes I identified in step 2 (of Started editing my novel)

More next week!

Cheers,

Andy.