Richard Writes: Blog by Children's and Romance Writer, Richard Carlson Jr.

“If you want to reach a goal, you must “see the reaching” in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” – Zig Ziglar: Motivational author and speaker

I have several typed pages of content to add to Barefoot at Summer Camp which as you might already know is a young adult romance http://www.youngadultromance.com/ . Right now, it is about 23,000 words and I hope to bring it up to over 50,000. I am considering entering it in Amazon.com’s Breakthrough Novel Award Contest early next year. My manuscript is going to win it if I enter, I just know.

I am still realizing and overcoming more obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I am very gradually recovering from paranoid schizophrenia, too as I progress a very little bit each day.

“Self-esteem is the immune system of the mind and of the spirit.” – Lee Pulos: is a psychologist, entrepreneur and author

“All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” — Brian Tracy ( http://www.briantracy.com )

I am slowly recovering.

I hope to be recovered for my high school reunion which is scheduled for 2014. I couldn’t go to my twentieth-year reunion because of my paranoid schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Maybe I will be able to.

I hope to see people again. I want to see what they’ve been up to. I remember many of them on the list at our high school class’ Web site, which I visited today.

I haven’t been doing exactly what I should with my diet. Starting this evening, I’m going to drink much more plain water instead of sweet tea and other drinks with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and a myriad of chemicals. Will I stick to it? It’s about time. I need to lose weight and ridding my body of the aforementioned should help. I am going to lose the weight.

“It’s really important that you feel good. Because this feeling good is what goes out as a signal into the universe and starts to attract more of itself to you. So the more you can feel good, the more you will attract the things that help you feel good and that will keep bringing you up higher and higher.” — Dr. Joe Vitale

Take it from me: you’re very lucky if you think “normally.” Be very happy if you do! You are very powerful and might not realize it…

“Normal” people (those who think like people are supposed to) might not realize how lucky and fortunate they are! I know firsthand what it is like to think abnormally as, as you might already know, I have paranoid schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I am still in recovery which has been in progress for seven and a half years now—I take my meds and wait and see if and by how much I improve waiting to think like a person is “supposed to.”

I was talking with my sister earlier today while helping her with her Spanish homework and noticed how much I had improved recently. I noticed a special situation where I was verbally communicating like she, my dad, and my mom usually interact. O.K., I know I’m not being descriptive enough about the “special situation” for you to possibly completely comprehend as thinking is usually difficult to describe. Sorry I can’t because you would see why at work, for example, I have difficulty in certain situations and often shy away from doing or saying certain things.

What will I have to look forward to when I recover (that is, assuming I do, which I believe I will)? The entire world will be mine. I will be able to do what “normal” people do, which is a miracle, in that they can do certain things that I can’t or have difficulty doing because of my communication. I want to (and will) be on TV and in other news media which right now I don’t function well enough to get involved in. I regret the many missed opportunities that have passed me by because of being very mentally ill. I often feel a little sad about it, however, I will recover and when I do, I will be like a superhero, in that I will function like normal and be able to do what I want.

With me composing this blog entry, I can see my improvement…

I just experienced a little bit of paranoia which I realized was paranoia right after it hit me. That’s a good sign-that I figured out it was paranoia and didn’t continue to be concerned about what I was thinking. Anyway, back to my blog entry…

I still suffer from OCD because I am still too polite. I am getting better though and being less, too much polite. It’s getting late and it is time for bed;I had better go.

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn, motivational speaker

I continue to improve as on Thursday I noticed that I eat slower than previously. Previously, I would eat quickly, basically scarfing my food down. It is not by choice that I am now eating more like a “normal” human being as it is something in me. I’m only guessing, but it might have to do with my nervous system, as I’ve read that a schizophrenic’s nervous system doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. I also noticed, which is great, that I write a little bit slower, meaning my printing and me signing my name is at least more legible. At times, my parents and sister have explained to me to eat slowly and my dad has told me to practice my printing because of how sloppy it can be; is it something because of my mental illness? I must ask my psychiatrist when I see him in a few months.

Also, I’ve continued to notice that I have trouble with being too polite (which I assume is OCD), it seems as far as I can tell, because I say “please,” “thank you,” and “sorry” too much and inappropriately at times especially at work. Within the past two days, I told a customer I was sorry about something and he said something like, “There’s no reason for you to be sorry,” because I had said it very inappropriately.

I hope that I recover soon. It’s been a looooooooooooooooooong time since I began my recovery (over seven years, now). As always, I very much look forward to taking my schizophrenia meds tonight before bed. I look forward to seeing how much I show improvement as it appears that I do every day.

9/11 Coloring Book: A Day We Remember / Kolorowanka – 11 września: Dzień, który pamiętamy

“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”-Napoleon Hill

Today I received the proof copy of 9/11 Coloring Book: A Day We Remember (English and Polish Edition) which I approved. It looks great! It should be available on Amazon.com within the next few days. Don’t be bashful-please leave a review of the book on Amazon and please send us an e-mail too if you’d like as we’d be very happy to hear from you! Thanks.

9/11 Coloring Book: A Day We Remember ( http://www.911coloringbook.com ) was translated into Polish and I received the Polish text several days ago as WorldLingo has a fast turnaround time. Yesterday and today, I uploaded the book block interior and book cover files to CreateSpace, a print-on-demand self-publishing online publisher and am waiting for the files to be checked by them. I should receive a response possibly today or the latest by tomorrow. Then, I will order a proof which I will arrive in about a week which I must approve before the book is published. Oh, and by the way, the Polish translation looks great even though I can’t read it, unfortunately!

I’m presently coming up with a number of possible ideas for picture books of which I have been taking notes for. One new project is a story about a twelve-year-old boy loaning money to a friend which I wrote many years ago, but needs revision I assume as it will make an entertaining book someday.

If I make the time today, I will work on Barefoot at Summer Camp: Young Teenagers in Love ( http://www.feelingsfeelings.com ). I plan to revise and add more storyline to bring it up to 50,000 words to enter in Amazon.com’s Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. Presently, the word count is a little bit less than half that number

I am still having trouble with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as I can tell I make the wrong decisions at times and then realize it, sometimes a day later. Is this a sign that I am still recovering? I believe so. I also make gradual improvement each day with my paranoid schizophrenia after taking my meds which is a good sign as I see it that I will recover one-hundred percent.

I decided today to submit 9/11 Coloring Book: A Day We Remember ( http://www.911coloringbook.com ) to an online translation service for translation into Polish which I did. Bigfoot in My Backyard ( http://www.bigfootinmybackyard.com ) will most likely be translated into Spanish after it is ready and edited.

I still am recovering from paranoid schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder as I notice gradual improvement every day after taking my schizophrenia meds. Hopefully, I will be recovered soon as it seems like it has been forever since I began recovery over seven years ago.

I am going to self-publish my story, Bigfoot in My Backyard ( http://www.bigfootinmybackyard.com/ ), which is a picture book about a ten-year-old girl and the creature she finds in the Arizona desert. I am in the final stages of editing which I hope to have done soon and Kevin http://www.kevincarlson.info/ has begun the illustrations. I started writing it several years ago and it has been sitting here since.

Also, I am looking into having Bigfoot in My Backyard translated into Polish via an online service which will make it better!

A few days ago, I received Barefoot at Summer Camp ( http://www.feelingsfeelings.com ), as it is now titled, from the editor with her suggestions and edits of which I am very happy with so far as I haven’t had the time to read everything.

Based on the little that I have looked over, I will be making changes to the beginning and adding a much better ending for starters. The WordsRU ( http://www.wordsru.com/ ) editor, Sarah has suggested that certain changes be made as she puts it to, “…[take] this story to the next level…” which I plan to do. I will devote much of my writing time to Barefoot at Summer Camp and will produce a great work of literature which will, I know, be loved by readers. By the way, the editor Sarah edited 9/11 Coloring Book ( http://www.911coloringbook.com/ ) and did a fantastic job! I highly recommend her and if you decide to do business with WordsRU, the client can (as far as I recall) request her from a drop down box during the submission process. Also, please let them know that Richard Carlson sent you-thanks.

9/11 Coloring Book: A Day We Remember has been available at Amazon.com for some time now. The proof I received looks great and I can see by the Amazon.com sales rank that it has at least one sale!

I have continued to improve with my paranoid schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I am still becoming aware of more OCD that I have. I wish I didn’t have any more OCD as I am seeing how much it interferes with my life including writing as I don’t always use certain ideas I come up with. I see these ideas as plagiarism, for example and don’t use them. It’s not that it is plagiarism, it’s just that because of my OCD, I sometimes have a difficult time deciding what is and isn’t. I am not claiming that I plagiarize and not realize it: I have trouble with what is acceptable and seeing some of it as plagiarism when it isn’t and such.

I am getting better from my paranoid schizophrenia. I have experienced some paranoia which isn’t all that of a big deal accept that I might not do something I want or should do because of it. Most, if not all (I can’t absolutely tell) of it I overcome and see that it is paranoia.

The “voice” that I still hear is “fading” away and the best I can tell is becoming integrated sort of speak into normal thinking very gradually over time. It is difficult to explain my thinking and I wonder if it’s even more difficult to explain to someone who thinks normally as I’ve tried to with little or no luck.

Also, my autistic younger brother Kevin and my Web sites have been updated: http://www.richardcarlsonjr.com/ and http://www.kevincarlson.info/ . Please visit and of course order our books and download the e-books too.

My younger sister, Suzanne drew the cover illustration for Barefoot at Summer Camp which looks great. She’s talented and hopefully she’ll also be involved in the artwork part of our books in addition to Kevin.

Be sure to order Valentine’s Day Coloring Book which makes a perfect gift: http://www.kevincarlson.info/valentinesdaycoloringbook.phpThanks!

A few days ago, I received the proof for 9/11 Coloring Book ( http://www.911coloringbook.com/ ) and approved it. It should be available on Amazon.com within the next few days. Please let Kevin and I know what you think about it as we’re anxious to receive reader feedback.

Feelings and Barefoot at Summer Camp ( http://www.feelingsfeelings.com/ ) which is a young adult romance, is a story about a thirteen-year-old young man and a twelve-year-old young woman at as the title suggests, summer camp. The story contains a plethora of literary symbols as it symbolizes the Cold War between the United States and former Soviet Union making it irresistible. For example, the two main characters’ names stand for and “suggest” America and the Soviet Union. These deeper meanings are throughout the manuscript. I have a color scheme file to be used for the book cover background, which goes along with the deeper meanings as the colors represent America and the Soviet Union. The colors are “American flag” red, white and blue and a “Communist” red color.

It seems like Feelings and Barefoot at Summer Camp will be ready to submit to CreateSpace sometime early next year assuming it doesn’t need a lot of work after being edited by the WordsRU editor. In the meantime, I plan to revise other work in progress and submit another project to an editor soon as I have several manuscripts that are close to being complete. I will probably also work on my Christmas story project.