My New Web Site is up and Running

Dear all,

My new website is now up and running. It is functional as a web store and it also contains copies of my blogs from blogger. A section with useful links will be added soon. At the moment, my book will be sold by myself. If you buy with paypal, I will receive the order in an email, whether paid by paypal or an eCheque. Please take a look at the web site and sign the guest book. The colour scheme is very much in line with the colours of my book's cover.

http://clivewild.webs.com

Please suggest links that would be of general interest and I will consider them. I plan to put in links to my MDF support group, the MDF national web site, my Facebook group, and my blogger page.

Thanks,
Clive

My New web site..... coming soon

My friend Lee wrote the piece for appendix I of my book. That was the perspective of a loved one of a bipolar sufferer. She kindly offered to build a web site for me. I was too much of a dinosaur to tackle it myself. She is doing a fine job and it is already looking good. She has set up a very good front page. She has also copied most of my blogs from here. I will be continuing to blog here and I hope to copy the blogs across occasionally. There is a web store where anyone will be able to order my book from me. Eventually it will change to a link to Amazon. The store gives the option to pay by paypal. As I said, it still a work in progress. Please take a look and sign the guest book. I would appreciate any feedback.
http://clivewild.webs.com
I will be setting up a set of links to other useful sites. I am open to suggestions of possible links that would be of general interest.

Please DO NOT USE the web store yet. It has not been fully tested and I cannot guarantee its full working.
Regards,
Clive

My Book

I began a quest to write my life story in a book. It is not an autobiography. How can I compete with all the celebs who have someone writing for them? It is about my experiences as a bipolar person. I have covered my whole life for completeness in order to give some some sort of base line. I started writing just over two months ago. I have had the advantage of not sleeping a lot and of being hypomanic. It is likely that I wouldn't have written my story without the help of my hypomania. I was able to get through some difficult parts of my life.

The publisher that I chose has been marvellous. They are professional and very prompt. I received the first set of galleys (proofs) on Saturday. I didn't know what a galley was until recently. I have found about 15 more typos (my fault) and a couple of layout issues. I am not sure if it is possible to ever read though a manuscript and be totally happy. This time the typos were all very minor but I want the best product possible. Because it is self publishing, I have to settle on a very good final script. One round of corrections must suffice.

It is exciting to see my book coming together. I already have an ISBN number and the whole thing seems real. It is good to see the first layout of the book even though it is in a pdf file.

The publisher has done a good job in placing my 39 colour photos. It makes the book come in at 70 pages. My only concern is that the retail price is set by the number of pages. Being a full colour book, the price will be higher than that of a regular paperback. I have the option of buying copies at a good author discount. This may be my best avenue. I can try my hand at some marketing.

I am pleased that I have written my story. It has pushed me into the world of publishing and it has broadened my horizons. My years of IT experience come in very useful indirectly. After all, book production is now very much a computer application.

Making money was never a big factor for me in this endevour. I can now see there may be possiblities to make money as well as getting a good message out. My first objective is to cover my up front costs. That would be satisfying in itself.

I'm sure my blogs have been different to my book's writing. They have been largely written in a spontaneous and unplanned way. I am forcing myself at the moment and I am curious to see how it compares to previous blogging.

I was amazed to find that I had blogged almost 40 pages in the last two months. I seem to have opened up a valve that had been stuck closed for quite some time. I always thought that I had stuff to say but I was such a withdrawn person. I feel like myself for the first time and I am happy in my skin. That may sound strange but it's the way it is.

Regards,
BipolarFella

A note of thanks

I am overwhelmed with support for my blog. I try to be as honest and open as I can. Thanks for all the kind comments on here and on Twitter. It makes it all worthwhile.

Now my book is getting into publishing, I should have more time to blog. I just hope the inspiration is there.

Take care,
BipolarFella