‘Adventure Revolution’ by Belinda Kirk – Purchased Book Review

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Adventure, Adventure Revolution, anxiety, Author, Belinds Kirk, book blog, Book Review, Books, Fear, Forest Therapy, Hiking, Inspiration, Mountain, Mountains, Walking

Please see photos for the blurb.

This book needed to be written, and I’m so glad it was. Belinda Kirk writes in such a clear way and presents her findings with such clarity. This is an absorbing read, and I’ve re-read several chapters a number of times to let the wisdom sink in.

The chapters build on each other helping the reader to gain a real grasp of what the author has to say. I especially appreciated how Kirk shows how spending time outside can help us overcome challenges, develop resilience, learn new life skills and strengthen relationships. Moreover, having an adventurous spirit can give us the skills and wisdom to enhance our own daily lives.

As a keen hiker with a fear of heights and poor sense of direction, I know how spending time in the wilderness and up mountains has helped me become more confident and value perseverance. As such, reading this book has aided me in developing more of an understanding of myself, keen to try new experiences.

This book is more than a guide to the awesome power of adventure – it’s a joyous understanding of life!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Self-Publishing Update: Back On Track With A Lot To Do

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Adventure, Ben Nevis, blogging, blogging101, Book, Discover, Discovery Prompts, Discovery-Prompts, Hiking, Mount Whitney, Mountain, Mountains, Novel, Self-publishing, Walking, writing

Hi Guys,

Hope you are all well, healthy and keeping safe 😊

QUICK RECAP

In my last self-publishing update (14th May 2020) I mentioned about the sudden horror I felt when I realised that sections of my Ben Nevis hiking book needed a serious revamp. Due to the lockdown I needed to offer up-to-date safety advice regarding taking public transport to the countryside for a hike. It left me very despondent, but after chatting with my family and editor I now have a blueprint to update the book with a couple of extra chapters and sensible advice.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE RELEASE DATE

I had originally planned for a release date of late summer. That’s on hold now as we don’t know how long this lockdown business may carry on. I’m keeping a journal of all my hiking-based endeavours in lockdown so that when things start to settle I can put together those extra chapters.

Then it may be necessary to add another post-lockdown chapter as we start to venture out more frequently (and safely) into the wilderness. Time will tell how this fans out.

I really do feel that in terms of getting this all done there’s a mountain to climb. This climb is taller than Ben Nevis, but smaller than Mount Everest. Somewhere in the middle. I think Mount Whitney is about the size of it! I say this because I’d love to trek Mount Whitney one day; as difficult as it’d be I know I’d enjoy it – and that’s exactly my feelings toward my book at the moment.

Presently, I’m hoping for a release date of Spring 2021 – but it really is a case of seeing what is happening in the world before finalising the date.

EBOOK FORMATTING AND COVER UPDATE

I also mentioned in the previous self-publishing post that I have this self-imposed bugbear that formatting the book would be something I’d not be able to get my head around. I added that my brother surprised me with the knowledge he has of this.

Well, it turns out that as he’s pursuing his own projects he’s going to provide me with the know-how and tools to complete formatting the book for release on different platforms. I mentioned about the cover design and other component parts of the process and he said he’ll be able to provide support for that as well.

Given how exasperated I’d become with the extra work I now need to do for the book, to have the good news above serves as a massive morale booster; I feel that there is a tangible end date in sight now – even if that exact date is not yet known.

My brother’s involvement will free me up mentally to focus on other aspects of the self-publishing process.

When I become more involved with the other aspects of self-publishing I’ll post up the resources I use on this website.

I’VE GOT A NEW DESK

One of the joys of writing is that it can be done anywhere with pad and pen, laptop or phone. I’m normally perched on the end of my bed with scraps of paper spread about as I tap away at the keyboard.

However, we had a move about with the furniture downstairs and I’ve now got a little desk space sorted out in the kitchen. It’ll be interesting to see how writing here works out with the daily life in our household going on around me. Perhaps I’ll have to reconsider the times of day I write, but if needs be I can always retreat to my bedroom where my set-up there has served me generally well.

UPCOMING PLAN

So, after it all falling flat last week, things are looking up again. I feel more reinvigorated to focus. By the time of the next self-publishing post I hope to share that I’ve made decent progress with revamping the book.

I’ve also got some ideas for near future posts on hiking that I’m currently working on and will post up soon.

Plus, I’ve really got into writing poetry, so there’ll be a few poem posts as well.

Thanks for reading, Everybody. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

If you have any comments, it’d be great to hear from you.

Bye for now 😊.

Self-Publishing Update: How My Favourite Authors Will Keep Me Motivated

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Adventure, blogging, Blogging community, Book, Hiking, Journal, Lockdown, Motivation, Mountain, Mountains, Self-publishing, Walking

Hi Everybody,

I hope you’re all safe and well.

This week the infernal boredom of being stuck in has got to me more. I know other people are going through worse things during this pandemic, but it’s so important not to neglect our own mental health. For me, I’ve found it harder and harder to motivate myself to write. In ‘normal’ times when I find it difficult to write I have a few writing activity books that have exercises in and this encourages me to keep going. Presently, though, things had almost ground to a halt.

Then I remembered the Neil Gaiman book ‘Art Matters’. In this work Gaiman says that when things get you down make art. Write, draw, paint – basically just keep being creative. Re-reading this book and reminding myself of this gave me that fresh kick I needed to keep going.

I started to watch YouTube videos of Neil Gaiman: anything from interviews about his life or his top tips for writing. My favourite piece of advice he gives is to write truthfully. Truthfully about events in your life or conveying how you feel about something in fiction in a truthful way. This is more advice that has lifted my spirits to help me endeavour.

So, I’ve been able to redouble my efforts and keep the wolves of lethargy from the door. The next time I get hit this way I’ll look up more of my favourite authors to see me through. It certainly helps.

EDITING UPDATE

I’ve now worked my way through the grammatical and plot changes to my Ben Nevis hiking story as suggested by my editor. Now, I’m going over it again and focusing on enhancing additional themes that she suggested bringing to the fore (e.g. the mental health benefits of walking). I’m enjoying doing this as it is helping me become more reflective as a writer by making my work more deeper and personal and hopefully it’ll resonate more with people that may be interested in reading it.

I definitely feel I’m growing in my writing abilities.

SELF-PUBLISHING LATEST

As well as the ongoing editing developments, I’ve begun to look more and more at the different aspects of self-publishing. In my last update I mentioned I can only focus on one thing at a time, but self-publishing means I need to juggle a few balls. Still, I can maintain my writing as my primary focus whilst having a few satellite projects orbiting at the same time. Keeping a checklist and schedule are important.

I’ve now got a shortlist of people to do a cover design from Fiverr. I’m looking at sorting the ISBN number for cataloguing the book as well.

The one aspect that had been causing me trepidation was getting the book formatted for different ebook platforms. Whenever I’ve thought about it my expression has been the same as the face in ‘The Scream’ by Munch. The whole experience had caused a lot of procrastination.

However, I was chatting to my brother this week and he surprised me with his knowledge of the processes involved. As the techy one in our family, it’s such a relief that he’s there to rely on when I get to this stage. I just had it in my head that formatting was going to be one of the toughest parts of self-publishing. It’s a big box ticked.

PLAN FOR THIS WEEK

The main thing is to keep motivated. To keep watching videos about my favourite authors if I’m in a quagmire.

Keeping the themes consistent in my manuscript is key now.

To have a definite cover designer by the end of this week would be good.

And to finish my blurb too.

I’m putting together a blueprint for revamping this website too.

AND FINALLY…

Thanks for stopping by and reading this. Reading others posts on WordPress is a source of encouragement to keep going, so I look forward to reading some of your posts as well. Remember: as Neil Gaiman suggests, if life gets on top of you make art.

Peace and love, Everybody 😊

Learning More And More About Myself As A Self-publishing Writer

Tags

Adventure, blogging, Blogging community, Book, creative writing, Discovery Prompts, Hiking, Mountain, Novel, Self-publishing, writing

Hi Everybody,

Hope you are all keeping safe and well.

I so wanted to put this post up earlier this week and to do some of the daily prompts. However, I’ve been so engrossed in working on my Ben Nevis story that I’ve sacrificed other writing projects.

I’ve had to rewrite a few sections of the book at the suggestion of my editor, e.g. adding potted histories of the places I’ve hiked to and focusing more on the mental health benefits of walking. I really enjoy doing research as I know it adds layers to my book. It’s meant developing discipline and being thorough. Gaining knowledge is a wonderful and if it gives more soul to what I write, then that’s a good thing.

Sometimes I feel that I should be slogging out the work every day and burning the midnight oil more. However, I’ve noticed that my better work comes when I step back occasionally – a day here or there – when I do no writing and just think through what I need to do. Others I know need to keep writing and writing each day in order to keep their work focussed. Stepping back helps me to maintain my efforts and look at things afresh.

When I first started to write more seriously I thought taking the odd day off here and there wasn’t good as it didn’t seem the done thing amongst other writers I know. Similarly, I felt pressure if I didn’t write a thousand words every day. To get around issues like this I realised that as long as I was dedicating myself to writing in some way each day, that’s okay. If it means stopping and thinking (most likely on a hike!) about what I’m writing and that makes me a better writer, then that’s what I’ll do.

I think when you work things like this out and your more comfortable with how you go about things, then that shows your maturing as a writer.

Slow and steady is definitely my modus operandi. I’m really only able to focus on one thing at a time. So, I feel that I need to get my changes done and sent to my editor for a final check for publishing before I can look at any other matters related to self-publishing -completing the blurb, sorting the cover design etc – when maybe I should be concurrently undertaking those activities along with my writing. Time and experience will tell if this approach is suitable.

But this is a journey and I’m willing to adapt and learn – and that inspires me.

Perhaps it’s just knowing that I’m learning more about myself and evolving more as a writer that encourages me to keep developing my craft.

And long may that continue.

I’ll look forward to catching up on everybody’s posts over the weekend.

Have a good weekend, everybody 😊.