Books, which are always a wonderful gift, are difficult because you can’t remember what they have already read and what is part of the to be read pile next to their bed, couch, in their car, and hidden in various secret spots.

Instead give your favorite author the guidance they need to take positive and productive steps towards their writing career with Author Support Coaching.

Creative Collaboration Sessions—Does your favorite author need someone to collaborate with? We can discuss professional/business goals, character development, filling in plot holes, uplifting sagging middles, or anything else needed. These sessions in one-hour blocks are normally $50 ON SALE for $39.99!!!

Personal Sessions—These are geared to meet the needs of your favorite author. We can work together to figure out the next steps in their author career, flesh out characters, strengthen plot ideas, or do whatever else they need to be successful. We meet over the phone for six one-hour sessions scheduled over 3 months. Normally $249.99 ON SALE $209.99

Goal Setting for Authors—Group Coaching is limited to 10 participants per class. In this class we discuss the different roads to publishing and how to connect with other authors. We will set SMART goals, create a 3-year author vision and more.

We will meet over the phone for six 75-minute sessions scheduled over 3 months. Sessions will be recorded. Normally $199.99 ON SALE $149.99

Class dates and times can be sent with the gift certificate, or you can pick a specific class as they are limited to ten people.

Start dates for my first four classes of 2019:

Jan 12th, 7am Arizona Time

Jan 16th, 6pm Arizona Time

Feb 3rd 8am Arizona Time

Feb 11th, 7pm Arizona Time

There will be more classes throughout 2019.

Gift certificates are good for one year!

I look forward to working with you.

Alica

Interacting with authors can be challenging. We often have conversations in our heads. Frequently we map out the mating habits of mythical creatures. And we have been known to gush with purple prose and fall into ennui.

I want to help. Let me support, encourage, and plot with your favorite author. I love working with authors and to make your holiday shopping easier, I have all my Author Support Coaching services on sale!

Creative Collaboration Sessions—Does your favorite author need someone to collaborate with? We can discuss professional/business goals, character development, filling in plot holes, uplifting sagging middles, or anything else needed. These sessions in one-hour blocks are normally $50, ON SALE for $39.99!!!

Personal Sessions—These are geared to meet the needs of your favorite author. We can work together to figure out the next steps in their author career, flesh out characters, strengthen plot ideas, or do whatever else they need to be successful. We meet over the phone for six one-hour sessions scheduled over 3 months. Normally $249.99, ON SALE $209.99

Goal Setting for Authors—Group Coaching is limited to 10 participants per class. In this class we discuss the different roads to publishing and how to connect with other authors. We will set SMART goals, create a 3-year author vision and more.

We will meet over the phone for six 75-minute sessions scheduled over 3 months. Sessions will be recorded. Normally $199.99, ON SALE $149.99

Class dates and times can be sent with the gift certificate, or you can pick a specific class as they are limited to ten people.

Start dates for my first four classes of 2019:

Jan 12th, 7am Arizona Time

Jan 16th, 6pm Arizona Time

Feb 3rd 8am Arizona Time

Feb 11th, 7pm Arizona Time

There will be more classes throughout 2019.

Gift certificates are good for one year!

I look forward to working with you and your favorite author,

Alica

Now if I could only get the rest of my life sorted out so neatly LOL

My son is off serving in the Air Force. My 18-year-old is in their senior year and there is so much college stuff to deal with. OMG the paperwork!!!  And let’s not even look at my ever-growing to-do list.

So what about you? How are you doing as 2018 starts to wrap up? What have you accomplished (no step forward is too small)? What challenges are you facing? Have you created goals for 2019?

I would love to assist you as you create a strong foundation, formulate S.M.A.R.T goals, and plot the next steps in your author journey.  You can find out more about my Author Support Coaching HERE.

So, with all this I should be filled with Care Bear Happiness, but I’m not. This is the difficult part. The part where I get headaches because my back and neck are opening and stretching. I know the more I do and the stronger I get, that they will stop. Frustration/anger/sadness are pouring forth from my body as I now longer eat my feelings with grains.

It is this delicate, hard to judge process. Self-care mixed with pushing so I can improve myself and a touch of poor coping skills to try and stay sane-ish. Some days are easier than others. I have been journaling, purging my negative thoughts so they don’t just spin around and around in my head.

I am taking suggestions for positive coping skills as I go through this process. I am sure just as I settle and balance out, I will increase my steps or do harder yoga and find a new level of emotions I tried to eat into not existing.

I know I am in for a long journey, but I am excited about regaining my life—whatever that is going to mean in the future.

It is so weird and disconcerting. Like when you are speeding down the highway and looking out the side window. The world is zipping by, but you don’t feel like you’re moving, and your brain revolts, and your stomach freaks out, and you throw-up everywhere.

It feels like that.

I suppose I should be happy that my body isn’t physically reacting to my depression. Maybe it won’t last as long. Then again it might last even longer. Who knows?

All I know is that today I want to do yoga, binge on pizza, walk in the sun, and devour an entire plate of nachos while watching Moana so I can cry and laugh.

Don’t forget to get your copy! (Just click on the BUY NOW button below the book cover.)

And leave me a review so as many people as possible can find my new book baby!

Buy This Book Online

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Okay, okay you caught me. After three days I woke up an hour earlier than normal, did 30 minutes of yoga, went for a 40 min walk, worked a full day, then came home and forced myself to get writing and other work done at home. The next day I was exhausted, felt like a lazy, fat, old, failure and worried that I would never fully regain my health.

Then a moment of rational thought popped into my brain, and I realized that having had sleep apnea for more than a year my body was not in good shape. My muscles had been deprived of oxygen and exercise. I had put on a significant amount of weight and had been mostly sedentary.

I need to slow down.

I need to be gentle with myself.

I switched from yoga I could do three years ago to beginner’s yoga.

I am careful to get to bed early and wake up 15 minutes earlier than normal.

I make sure there are healthy things for me to eat that are quick to cook.

I give myself down time after work and do only a few easy tasks.

This feels so much better but weirdly foreign, like I don’t have the right to be gentle. Like if I am going to get healthy I should do so in this crazy, abusive, balls-to-the wall way. Which is ridiculous, but a lot of my self-talk is.

Any advice for my healing journey? Anything that helped you as you came back from illness to your best self?

I am lazy.

I am fat.

I am useless.

I am a failure.

No one else is this pathetic.

I am so weak.

I have no self-discipline.

I will never be a good __________ ( mother, partner, friend, author)

Then I almost feel asleep while driving, so I went to my doctor (shocking they can help). After blood work, tests, and a sleep study, not only was my thyroid medication not helping but I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I would stop breathing an average of 95 times an hour and my blood oxygen level was going down to 73%!

It took weeks before I could get a CPAP machine, but now I can sleep and breathe at the same time. It’s amazing! I feel so much better, and I am slowly increasing my activity. I will need to go back for more bloodwork to check my thyroid, but I wonder why I waited so long to go to my doctor and get help?

And the truth is assumptions about myself.

I assumed I was lazy.

I assumed I was old.

I assumed I was depressed (which is true) and the meds improved my emotional state but not my energy.

I assumed I needed time to rest and recover from a stressful life situation.

I assumed I was a loser.

I assumed I was a failure.

I assumed I was lacking as a functional human being.

The truth is I was and am sick. I have chronic illnesses—hypothyroidism, sleep apnea, and I easily become anemic. All which steal my energy, my emotional stability, and my brain function. I am LUCKY. So, so lucky, as my conditions can be managed.

What to take from this—ask yourself are you sick and tired or tired because you are sick? See your doctor, get a full blood workup. If they blow you off, get a new doctor or pay a lab to do the blood work for you. Don’t dismiss your symptoms as age, weight, or a personality deficiency. You don’t have to be the media ideal of “perfect” in order to be worthy of self-care and good health.

2018 is all about self-care for me, and I hope self-care will be important to you too.

Love yourself and give yourself the best. YOU ARE WORTHY RIGHT NOW.

The first service I wrestled with paying for was formatting.  I had read several blog posts saying how easy it is to format your book. How the instructions were easy to follow and templates wonderful to work with.

I bought the newest version of Word so I could download the templates provided and got to work. After hours of frustration, tears, cussing and almost throwing my computer against the wall, I felt stupidly incompetent. It seemed like paying someone else was the only way to get my book formatted, and this filled me with guilt for wanting to pay someone to do something ‘so simple’.

Finally, I gave in, and for a fee my book was formatted perfectly for all sites, all devices, and even had little phoenix graphics added to it. It looked so good, so professional that I cried. It was then I realized that only I could write and revise my book. I need to focus my limited free time on what only I could do and where my strengths lay.

Paying someone to use their skills and talents to do things I needed wasn’t bad, lazy, or disrespectful. These professionals make their living providing services and I need a professional. Why should I think badly about that?

It doesn’t matter if you are paying for someone to cook your meals, clean your house, format your book, design your book covers, or whatever needs doing. My to-do list is constantly being added to and some tasks I enjoy, some I need to do, and others I can ask for help from family, friends, or pay someone to do for me.

If you don’t value and safeguard your time, no one else will.

What are some ways you’ve found that help you protect the time you have so you can use it wisely?

They have brought home insects, birds, garden snakes, and lizards. Lots and lots of lizards. Small baby lizards, long brightly colored lizards, and fat horned lizards. Some are still alive and tormented as my cats play with them. The kids and I do our best to rescue them as quickly as possible.

We go through lots of protective gloves in my house so we can safely transport living lizards outside. We also use them to scoop up dead mangled lizard remains and then use the glove as a make shift lizard coffin.

There has been a significant increase of screaming in my house now that the cats have become mighty hunters.

Screams of “Take that back outside,” and “Don’t you dare let that go in this house,” and “Why my bed?” and of course the spontaneous screams of fear and disgust are heard throughout the house.

I am sure the cats take my screams as high praise of their mighty hunting abilities. I am glad my disgust doesn’t seem to damage their little kitty self-esteem.