A. B. England
  • Home
    • About
    • Writing Credits
    • Calendar
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Written Works
    • Paperbacks
    • A.I. Universe
    • Icarus
    • Myth & Science
    • Secrets and Stones
    • Supers
    • Yekara
    • Leave a Review
  • Store

Thoughts on Own Voices

8/4/2020

0 Comments

 
I began looking into the autism hashtags on Twitter in late 2018 and early 2019 between beginning to suspect I might be autistic and before seeking a diagnosis. Like most social media sites, Twitter uses algorithms to determine what to show you, even from the people you follow. So an interesting thing happened as I broadened my searches from just writing related topics to autism and ADHD.

Tweets and hashtags related to the own voices movement, most specifically those related to authors with autism and ADHD, began popping up in my feed. Before then, I hadn’t heard of such a thing.

Read More
0 Comments

5 Proactive Steps to Develop Your Talent

7/7/2020

0 Comments

 
Being both a homeschool family and a bunch of creatives, it’s no wonder summer is a busy time for the lot of us when it comes to our personal projects. During the break the kids and I all take advantage of the extra time to pour a few more hours each day into the creative pursuits we work on throughout the year. So it also tends to be a time of skill growth as well.

This is always a good thing, though both girls have found it to also be a tad frustrating. You see, they have a talent for more visual arts than me, and both have been progressing quickly. This is developmentally normal given their ages and the leaps in fine motor control and abilities to understand and think through complex sequences. However, this becomes a bit of a problem when working on large scope projects such as the comic series one is writing and the animation and game design the other is pursuing. By the time they finish a leg of the project, the art they are producing no longer looks like what they did at the beginning.

Read More
0 Comments

Blast from the Past: 30 Facts about Me

6/30/2020

0 Comments

 
It's the fifth Tuesday of the month, so it's time for a Blast from the Past post. The one I picked this time was part of a 30 day blogging challenge I did back in 2012. I've learned a lot about myself since then, and some things have changed. So I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it and point out where I was way off base with a few things and whatnot.

New comments will be written in green. Everything else is from the original post from January 7, 2012.

Read More
0 Comments

Quarterly Goals Update

6/2/2020

0 Comments

 
The title of today's post is kind of a misnomer. I will be giving an update on the quarterly goals "series," but it's not the kind of update you'd expect.

Actually, the whole update can be summed up as quarterly goals will be suspended indefinitely. Details are below the break if you are interested, if not, that last sentence is what it all boils down too anyway.

Read More
0 Comments

Frustrations of a Neurodivergent Mind

5/5/2020

0 Comments

 
I don't intend to turn this into an autism or ADHD blog, I promise. However, considering how much of my life tracks back to this pairing, I can't exactly talk about my experience with writing without bringing them up from time to time.

Both "disorders" have the strengths and frustrations, and there is a fair bit of overlap between the two. Yet, when both are experienced by the same person, this combination creates some unique presentations that can complicate the diagnosis of both.

This is one contributing factor to the majority of us autistic ADHDers being found "late" on average. One in particular is behind the largest of my current frustrations and why I missed a couple of weeks last month.

Read More
0 Comments

When Your Coping Skills Need Work

4/21/2020

0 Comments

 
One of the more frustrating parts of "flying under the radar" long enough to reach adulthood before your difficulties become apparent enough for others to see them is the arsenal of maladaptive or faulty coping skills built throughout your youth. Quite often, you can sense they are not particularly helpful, or outright damaging in some cases, but after spending your life depending upon them, they are almost instinctive.

For those of us for whom everyday life can become overwhelming quickly on a bad day, we can fall into these poor coping skills before we even notice stress mounting. And let me tell you, that is an extremely frustrating place to be.
Picture of a book with caption,
Stories, mythology and fairy tales in particular, have been a consistent special interest of mine as long as I can remember. At first, I listened or watched, as many children do before learning to read. When I had the ability, I would watch a movie or show again and again until I could quote every line by every character.

My understanding of the world, emotions, and how people interacted and thought was informed through this. I understood family members and friends by relating them to characters, using the way those characters reacted to predict how the people around me would respond. I used those characters and interactions I'd watched ad nauseam to cobble together the scripts and the mask I used to navigate the world.

Once I mastered reading, chapter books and novels became constant companions. In them I found a way to escape the sensory nightmare that was the school bus outside of staring out the window and disassociating throughout the trip. I found hundreds of new characters to fuel my imagination and build understanding, and novels went further into their mindset and thought patterns than movies and shows ever could, bettering my understanding of emotion and social interaction.

Unfortunately, this newfound joy and source of information came at a price.


Read More
0 Comments

2020 Quarterly Goals: Update & 2nd Quarter Goals

4/7/2020

0 Comments

 
There is a meme that has been circulating about Facebook and other sites regarding the first quarter of 2020, and I find it has been appropriate.
Well, that escalated quickly meme. Image of man holding beer and looking into the middle distance with a shocked look on his face with caption,
The first quarter of the year has been quite the roller coaster for our family and for many others we know and have heard from via social media. Of course, this impacted the goals I set for myself in several different ways.

So, let's get right to the point and see how this quarter went.

Read More
0 Comments

Blast from the Past: Why Fandom?

3/31/2020

0 Comments

 
As I continue merging Contented Comfort's website with this one, it just seems fitting this month's Blast from the Past post revisits a post originally published on Contented Comfort's blog back in November 2016.

Why Fandom?
​

When I first started Contented Comfort, the idea behind it was just what you'd expect given the name. I knew I wanted to sell the soaps I was making. I got started in an effort to make keeping clean a more comfortable experience for my family, and then when I began hearing similar stories from others. It made sense.

Then the idea grew. I had begun learning to knit and crochet several months before I started soaping. Even after I finished making items for my family, I wanted to keep up with the hobby.

The warnings are true. Fiber arts can quickly become almost an addiction. There's something very therapeutic about watching a project grow stitch by stitch and knowing you are the one making it do so.

​Then there are the books I wanted, no needed, to write. Half the point of writing is to share those stories, so trying to sell them is a natural extension of it. I wanted to find a way to combine all of these ideas and desires under the umbrella of one business. Contentment and comfort are two words that sprung to mind when I thought about being clean, snuggled up under a cozy blanket, and reading, so that's how the business got its name.


So why did I decide to focus on fandom inspired fragrances and items in 2013?

Read More
0 Comments

Failure is Life's Teacher

3/17/2020

0 Comments

 
I returned to handling the science and English classes for my daughters back in January, and much has changed since the last time I taught them. However, one thing has remained constant. In teaching them, I learn, and relearn, lessons as well.

C.L. and I, with feedback we received from the girls, decided to go a bit more old school with their lessons a couple years ago. Neither girl felt they were absorbing the digital lessons, and we agreed. So aside from math, for which Khan Academy has been amazing for us all, we stick to textbooks and paper these days. This means C.L. and I have to spend considerably more time preparing for each class. However, it also means the girls have us to explain the material in however many ways they need us to explain it for their understanding.

Read More
0 Comments

The Dark Side of Creativity

2/18/2020

0 Comments

 
I might not have had a lot of time to really dig into any creative projects or make much progress on the ones I'd already started over the past couple of years. But this doesn't mean I forgot about them.

Sad as it sounds, I kind of coped with this desire to create and little to no time to do so via Pinterest. I might not have had time to make something, but I could usually scroll through Pinterest for about five to ten minutes each night and pin some things I thought I'd find useful once I had a bit of time again.

I have boards full to bursting with prompts and pretty stitches or psychology articles and infographics. I have pins of various mythological creatures and stories, all types of herbs, medical knowledge, funny geeky things, and all sorts of other things. Whole sheets of words pinned when I was just starting to have issues with aphasia after decades of not noticing the "spells" due to a lack of speaking in general.

It's an odd mix mash for those who find my public boards, but I have found them a source of useful information and an endless source of inspiration. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to talk about today, so I started looking through. And I found this image.
Abstract painting with caption that reads,

Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Author A. B. England, science fiction author, fantasy author, novelist
    A. B. England is a small business owner, mom of two, novelist, all around geek, and avid crafter. She loves mythology, fantasy, and all flavors of science fiction.

    Subscribe


    Categories

    All
    AI Universe
    Back To Basics
    Blog Updates
    Book Reviews
    Character Archetypes
    Common Tropes
    Community
    Creative Writing Free Course
    Editing
    Fantasy
    Flash Fiction Friday
    Icarus Universe
    Meet A. B.
    Myth & Science Universe
    Publishing
    Quarterly Goals
    Remembering Audience
    Science Fiction
    Stones Universe
    Super Heroes
    Supers Universe
    The Icarus Trilogy
    The Yekara Series
    Throwback
    Upcoming Events
    Writer's Block
    Writing
    Writing Method
    Writing Technicals


    Work Que


    ​Yekara Series Book 2
    Prewriting/Outlining
    20%

    ​The Icarus Project

    ​Rough Draft Progress
    77384 / 75000

    ​Myth & Science Collection
    Planning Stages
    38%
    Supers Collection
    Planning Stages
    23%

    ​Icarus Series Book 2
    Sketched w/ Some Drafting
    Icarus Collection
    Sketched
    Yekara Series Book 3
    Sketched
    Myth & Science Collection 2
    Intent Only at this Time
    Icarus Trilogy Book 3
    Sketched
    Supers Collection 2
    Intent Only at this Time
    Yekara Series Book 4
    Sketched
  • Home
    • About
    • Writing Credits
    • Calendar
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Written Works
    • Paperbacks
    • A.I. Universe
    • Icarus
    • Myth & Science
    • Secrets and Stones
    • Supers
    • Yekara
    • Leave a Review
  • Store