How to stay sane as a creative genius

Many people favor one side of their brain or the other, or at least many people think that's how it works...

an article from Psychology Today states:
"...theory about the brain suggests that people who are left brain dominant are more quantitative, logical, and analytical, while right-brained individuals are more emotional, intuitive, and creative free spirits; however, there is no evidence to support these classifications. On the contrary, most behaviors and abilities require the right and left side of the brain to work together to achieve a common objective."

My right brain was surprised to read this, but my left brain was not (haha). With this in mind (groan), it takes a versatile person to be a creative genius--someone who can use both sides of their brain in harmony.

Then, another question came to mind: Why do so many creative geniuses seem to have psychological afflictions? Is there a correlation? After doing a minimal amount of research, most of the articles I read said that though many famous geniuses seemed to share a thread of mental illness of some kind, there was no conclusive evidence to suggest an artist needs to suffer to achieve greatness.

My logical side says:
The human mind is fragile and complex. Being a creative person for a living, you are constantly judged. All that negativity and rejection can do two main things: 1) damage your psyche and 2) push you to be better. That's where I believe the relationship lies. Anyone who can't handle the criticisms and callous judgments might give up and never achieve greatness. It's only those who persevere through harsh words and subjective comments, putting emotion and strength back into their work that become incredible artists.

Lately, several artistic friends have been going through doubt, dry spells, and depression. I'm amazed at how many, really. But I believe every one of them will reach success as creative geniuses because they are sticking with it. I applaud them and pray for them and hope this small bit of logical encouragement helps them understand themselves a little better and proves to them how great they can be. How great YOU can be!

Believe in yourself!!

And as we continue with the WINDY HOLLOW -- Beast World #3 Release Tour...
Last week, in case you missed it...
6/20 - Heather Holden - Reverse Interview, I interviewed the Artist
6/22 - Ellen Jacobson - Fun Interview
Here are the stops this week:
6/24 - Patricia Lynne - Keeping Magic Alive
6/26 - MJ Fifield - Fantasy World-Building

I hope you'll stop by for some Magical, Fantastical Fun!
And don't forget to join in the Giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

WINDY HOLLOW - I did it!

WINDY HOLLOW
Beast World MG Fantasy Series, book #3
by Tara Tyler
Available NOW!

In BROKEN BRANCH FALLS, Gabe and his friends go on a quest to save their school, blowing up all the rules, and discover their origins.

Then they go to CRADLE ROCK and meet some real live humans, scaring them into attack mode. The Beasts realize they have to spread the truth ASAP.

Now, school's out, and Gabe is ready for a break from all the drama...

Gabe and his friends fly over the Great Sea for the wedding of the century: a dragon prince and a beautiful harpy. But Gabe can't relax on this vacation. Besides competing in rigorous wedding events, he overhears the nearby human village WINDY HOLLOW is in danger from an evil human scientist and a vengeful were-ogre experimenting on beasts. Gabe and his friends risk crossing the mountains to help, despite several warnings. 

Maybe he's going too far this time, but he's in too deep to quit. It's do or die, hopefully not die!

Paperback ~~~ Ebook

After agonizing delays and finally accepting the inevitable, I took my rights back and published Windy Hollow myself. Now, I have to see what's what the rest of my books so I can re-publish them! All in all, it's not been too terrible. And those older books could all use a tune-up anyway. We get better and better with each book, right?

For now, I am soooo excited to have several friends helping me spread the news about WINDY HOLLOW! Check out my Release Blog Tour schedule where I'll be interviewed, guest posting, and more!

6/20 - Heather Holden - Reverse Interview, How does she Create such Awesome Art?
6/22 - Ellen Jacobson - Interview with some surprising questions!
6/24 - Patricia Lynne - Keeping Magic Alive
6/26 - MJ Fifield - Fantasy World-Building
6/30 - SA Larsen - Special Newsletter & a Vlog?!
7/1 - My IWSG post with updates and a Special Guest!
7/3 - Alex J. Cavanaugh - IWSG Day - Fantasy Movies
7/4 - Tonja Drecker - Independence Day! - Kids in Books
7/8 - Christine Rains - Levels of Romance
7/10 - Heather M. Gardner - Binge Watching TV
7/15 - Tyrean Martinson - Hiking!
7/17 - Julie Flanders - Gotta Have Friends
*7/22 - Juneta Key - Surprise Post! (she doesn't even know what it's about yet!)

I'm overwhelmed with appreciation. I'd never be able to do this alone. So glad to have this generous community offering time and talents!

And of course, there's a giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by and playing. Your support is priceless!

How to Self-Publish the RIGHT way!

The traditional route to getting your book published is painstaking, time-consuming, and full of rejection. The only difference between that and self-publishing is the rejection.

While I go through the process of self-publishing Windy Hollow, I'm taking you along for the ride! (ps - Here's a form if you're interested in helping me with my Campaign or Windy Hollow's release)

Steps to Self-publishing:

1. Write a phenomenal book - I have lots of posts on that...
2. Edit - Hire a professional - the more eyes & critiques, the better, plus a technical/grammatical final look.
3. the Cover - I've already given my two cents on covers, here. A definite must to get professional help, especially if you want/need artwork.

And today, I'm talking in general about Formatting.

Once you have polished the contents of your book, you have to go back through and delete stray formatting extras, like extra tabs or spaces. All paragraphs should be uniformly formatted with automatic indentations and spacing. You will have to forget about "Select All" if you need to make changes to margins, line spacing, paragraphs, etc. once you start getting it ready for publication.

There is so much involved in Formatting for publication! Just look at the first 4-5 pages of any book. Title page, copyright/publisher page, dedication page, and the dreaded Table of Contents... which I guess could be optional, but is preferred for some genres like fantasy and sci-fi and middle grade. These pages conform to no formatting used in the rest of the book and are usually not numbered.

You also have to consider that the top of each page alternates between the title of the book and the author's name. Even/Odd page headers are easy enough to deal with, but when you throw in each new chapter page, it throws everything off! New chapter pages do NOT have a header. It's best to start chapters as a new "section" which can be designated with "different first page header" and conveniently linked back to the Table of Contents. I haven't tried linking to the TOC yet, I didn't have the patience, so I did it manually.

If you have any cool/fancy images for new chapters and/or breaks within the chapter or illustrations, those also need special attention. Each one should be checked and re-checked to make sure they all look the same.

At the end of your book are the Acknowledgments and Author Page, plus any other info you want to include. As with the first few pages, these pages each get their own format, usually without a header.

Not too bad, right? Ha! I almost went cross-eyed checking all the formatting. Little things kept popping up and I'd have to re-check the whole thing again to see if the flaws were anywhere else in the book. And there's a whole other set of rules for print pub vs e-pub!

I like to write this stuff down for myself as it's usually a long while between publications and I tend to forget what-all is involved. Hope it helps!

I also want to make a special announcement! My wonderful and brilliant romance writer friend, Elizabeth Seckman recently published her latest novel! Perfect for Father's Day!

HOOSIER DAD

by Elizabeth Seckman

Sarah Andrews can hold her own in a courtroom, but when it comes to love, she’s 0-3 and Rich Cooper was her biggest loss to date. 

Now available!

 Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / kobo.com

Elizabeth is a mom, a wife, and the caretaker of far too many pets, all of whom her children swore they'd take care of. But they went off to college leaving fur babies in their place. She is a multi-published author of women's fiction and romance. 

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