Hello and welcome to Day to Your Ego Mariosol Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Fina, and I am an Ego and Soul enthusiast. We can no longer be strangers to our egos and how they function. So come join me as we find out why and how this philosophy of dating your ego but marrying your soul is true and useful for you.
Hello and welcome everyone. I would ask you to put down your pens, put away your phones and turn up the attention because I have a very special guest here with me, Christina Adams, author, blogger, and a human being who has embraced the strongest side of physical pain. Welcome, welcome, welcome. How are you today?
Hi, I'm good. Thank you for having me. How are you? I'm really well.
It's Sunshine here and I'm guessing it's nighttime there. Yes, it's looking quite dark outside but we've had a lovely day so fingers crossed for a good weekend. Okay. For our listeners, Christina Adams is joining us from London, England.
Christina, please do tell us a bit about yourself and your background. Well, as you said, I'm an author. I've released three books so far. Two are Women's Fiction and one is a nonfiction book aimed at writers.
I also have a blog called The Writers Quickbook which is also an writer's and it deals with all aspects of the writing process. Right through from research to actually writing and rewriting to marketing and publication because so many people they think of writing a book, they just think of a writer, a bunch of over desks typing away but there are so many other elements to writing and they're actually the time consuming parts and they're the parts that aren't written about as much. So I really wanted to delve into that and I have a degree in creative writing. So that's also part of why I set up the blog because I didn't want to stop learning what's I graduated.
I wanted to keep learning and also share what I'd learned with as many people as I could. Excellent. And so what are your goals with your blog and writing over the next three years? I have about seven or eight books planned at the moment.
So at one time it was about 14. So that's not bad. Yeah, I'd like to get as many of those out as possible. I've got hopefully two that I can do by the end of the year.
One of them should be with the beta readers by the end of this month. So that would be quite exciting. And also I want to keep growing the blog. I want to keep growing the readership, helping more writers.
I'd like to do some consultancy with writers at some point as well, like help them overcome the issues that I've had, which is common theme on my author blog and on the writers' book. But at the moment for me it's a time thing because I have a day job as a content marketer. So it's kind of balancing everything out at the moment. And I'd like to keep progressing with the content marketing as well because everything I learned on my day job benefits, my author brand and everything I learned from my author's self benefits, my day job, because marketing just makes the world around basically.
Oh, wow. Sounds like you've got a good combination there. For all the writers out there who don't find the time to write, would you say they could use any other kind of software tools? I've heard of people talk to me about dictation tools that then write out what you dictate to them.
Is this something you've come across? Do you think writers could use that? Writers who don't have the time to write? Oh, yeah.
I think you need to do whatever you need to do. Like, I write on the tram. I write when I'm in a queue. I write when I'm waiting for people or if I'm not writing them, I'm really reading.
And I haven't had people use dictation. I haven't used it very much myself because I talked too fast with the software that I tried. So it turned out very well. I have had some people who have been very successful with it and they've written stuff for clients, they've written in time novels that way.
So it can be quite useful, but sometimes it does mean you have to do twice the amount of editing because it doesn't always get the grammar and punctuation and stuff right. So you kind of have to watch out for that. But I also think like phones make it easier than ever because you just get a book out or you can open a note and just start sort of like a quiet idea. You don't need to worry about carrying a round notebook anymore because you've got everything you need in a device that you carry around with you 24-7 anyway.
We've all had that spark of inspiration just as I fall in sleep. Yeah. What do you do? I mean, I'm literally falling asleep and I get this great idea and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, this would be great.
And then I obviously fall asleep and sometimes it's there in the morning, sometimes it's gone and if it's gone, I'm saying it's gone. It's sad. If I have that idea, I'm falling asleep. I have to write it down because I know we'll remember it in the morning, which is really annoying because then obviously you light up the nice dark bedroom and you start to feel a bit more awake.
But the worst thing for me is when I have a great piece of dialogue in my head because if I don't write that down, that will be completely gone. But plot point is probably, there's a potential it will be there in the morning. But if it's dialogue, it's never that good. The second time around.
True. Like it's the moment of inspiration. Yeah, exactly. When you find that you had it's perfect.
The second time you're like, this just isn't working. What am I doing? I'm not doing it. Do you believe that the subconscious mind of a writer works nonstop and then there are moments when you let it out on the page because one of my friends who's a poet said that to me.
She said she writes a poem, she goes away and then her subconscious mind is working with it. And then when she comes back to it, she has more number of ideas than she did before. Maybe that's true only for poetry. Maybe not so much for fiction.
But what are your thoughts about the subconscious mind of a writer? Yeah, I think your friend is definitely onto something. I think the biggest issue is that a lot of writers kind of stop themselves. They edit as they write.
They're not prepared to just word vomit onto the page. And for me, that's the most fun part of writing. And that's the most important part of writing. You have to be prepared to not feel to yourself and to let those terrible ideas come out.
Because when you let the terrible ideas come out, that's when you find really great ideas as well. And being able to free write and tap into your subconscious in that way is a skill. And it's a skill I've heard quite a few writers say, no, can't do it. I have to let it as I go.
But it's a skill you can learn not to do it, you know? Some great tips there by Christine Adams. Any of you want to learn more, you can head over to her blog, the writers cookbook. Christine, just moving along.
Can I ask you? Tell us about a time in your life when you had an aha moment. For me, it was when I went to a workshop at Nottingham Brighter Studio, which I've been a member of a few years now and I'm also on the board. And at the time, I hadn't been on the very long, but it was led by Joanna Penn, who was like the queen of indie publishing, basically.
And she made me realize that I didn't need to wait for a traditional publisher to tell me I could publish my book. I didn't need to wait for a gatekeeper. I could write this book. And then I could release it myself and have full control over the end product over all the design of it, over the cover over the marketing.
I could do it myself. And at the time, I was in quite a bad place and discovering this and most empowered me. I was like, yeah, I could do this. And it actually led to me writing, editing, typesetting, doing the graphic design and marketing and publishing for my first book, what happens in New York in about a year.
And that includes rewriting it a couple of times as well. Yeah, I learnt most of the skills required to do that as well, because I couldn't afford to outsource stuff. So I did all of that while working full time and buying my first house. It was a busy time, but it was also very inspiring for me.
I was just so thrilled with energy and drive. And it's because of that workshop that we're talking here today. A little thing is going to lead to big things. And we also sort of introduced you as a human being who's embraced the strongest side of physical pain.
And I'm sure listeners want to know what their introduction was about. Do tell us about your physical condition related to chronic fatigue. Yeah, I have chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. And that's been going on.
It's difficult to say how long it's been going on, but it's definitely been several years. It's one of those things that's gradually gotten worse over the years. And it's quite difficult to have diagnosis because no one wants to die, no someone that is young with a condition like that. It's seen as on par with arthritis, you don't get into like your 50s, 60s, that's our age.
And all the leaflets are filled with people, my parents age. So it was a little bit isolating in that regard as well. But yeah, when I was diagnosed, it almost felt like a relief because I finally had answers. If there was a reason I was tired all the time, it wasn't just because of my size or because I was overworked.
It was just because my body works definitely to other people. And I do know some people who have similar conditions to mine. Some of them let it stop them. It's difficult to watch, but you can't really say anything.
And I've made the decision that no matter what I will keep writing, because it's my writing that keeps me going, one of the things that Rheumatologist said to me when I was diagnosed was that she can prescribe me amortructiline, which is an antidepressant for the pain in the T and then it can help some people. But for most people, it's no better than a placebo. I'm like, well, I have no issue with people taking painkillers or antidepressants or any pills. The last time I was on antidepressants, it did not agree with me.
I was even more tired than I am with a point for T which is saying something. So I decided, OK, I'm going to try my best to manage this myself. And I do have some very bad days, some days where I have to sleep it off or where I just have to kill other sofa watching crime shows. But then when I spend that time with my characters or writing a blog post, I'm so immersed in what I'm doing that the pain just melts away.
You just forget that you were ever in pain in the first place and then you stop and then you're like, oh, it's gone. And it's actually really lovely. Yeah. And I read a study a few weeks ago on a research in the blog post and it actually said that when you work on a complicated task, that can be a better painkiller than a placebo.
They don't really know the reasons why as far as I can tell, but it's stronger than the placebo effect. I was just really honored that you came onto the show because the show is about dating your ego and marrying your soul. And actually, it's the ego's job to keep us stuck and caged because of our pain. And it's when we choose our soul, which is ever loving, ever giving, you know, really our soul is our champion forever.
It's when we tune into that energy that we can really push through pain. And what I love about your story is that you actually channel through your pain and you channel it into something creative, like writing. I mean, physical pain into writing and it's not like, you know, like we spoke earlier, you're seeking into an instrument. No, you're actually physically writing.
So it's like you're channeling that painful energy into something creative. And that's what I love about your story and you. And it's so connected to the theme of marrying your soul, but dating your ego, dating your ego sort of taking that pain and not doing anything and suffering from the depression. And I would really like to hear from you one quality that would help young women who are listening through their physical pain.
You know, how can they get past that barrier? Often I've had terrible peer with pain myself. I've suffered from in my whole life without any diagnosis really. And I've had to find my own way of getting through it, like debilitating three days in bed, crazy kind of pain.
I've been that. I've been that. I haven't had it. And you know, I found my own way.
But could you tell listeners from your own experience the one quality that they could think about or think about embracing or think about cultivating that would let them get through physical pain? I think you have to develop self awareness and that self awareness teaches you what your limits are. And once you know what your limits are, you know, when you can push yourself and you know when you have to stop because one of the things I recommend for five of my endurance dress and every health condition and existence is exercise. But there are days when I get on the cross train or we've got downstairs and I can barely stand up on it.
You know, and if I'm having a day like that, there's no point in your time to exercise whatsoever. You know, so it is about knowing what those limits are. And, you know, there's no quick fix to find that you just have to test yourself and you have to be that way further about it as well. You know, some days I've been on the cross train as well.
I'm here every couple of minutes because I'm so unfit. There's a massmatic as well. And then some days I've gone half an hour and I'm not needed to take it once. So, you know, we're very unpredictable as human beings and what's going on around us has a massive effect.
Like because of the high pollen count at the moment, I've had to kind of slow down a bit because that's a effect to my asthma and it's made my voice a little bit raspy, you know, and in the winter, the cold kind of slows me down because it makes the pain worse. So, you know, but if I'm out in the sunshine and the pain lessens and I can do a little bit more. So it's learning what triggers you. And it sounds like you've just, you know, this condition has sort of taught you more about yourself, which is great, which is what we're here to do.
What is your self-love routine? Could you tell our listeners why this is so important? This is only a recent thing for me since I finished my last book Productivity for Writers. And I've gotten into the habit of going in the bath.
We didn't have a bath on a live with my parents because we had to walk in shower because my dance disabled. And so it's just this massive luxury for me to get like, you know, it's a bubble, it's a make a hot chocolate or I'm quite a fan of warmer being a and then just curl up in this nice hot bath and have all the, you know, the heat from that kind of soothe the pain and then just read a fancy novel. But I didn't read a lot when I was younger actually, but now I just read so much. What do you tell us?
What are you reading right now? I just finished a book earlier actually. I'm reading, it's a Norse mythology new adult fantasy series. And I hope I'm terrible.
It's your own by two writers and I keep getting the name. One of them is Leo Stone and I forgot the other one, but it's called the Night Wars Saga. And I'm going to start the third one after this interview because I'm desperate to read it. I couldn't put the second one down.
But yeah, I just really like the escapism of fantasy. I kind of go through phases where I read loads of fantasy and then I read the nonfiction and then I go out to women's fiction and there's a requirement. But I always give back to fantasy just because that escapism element, you know, when things are going really badly in life, you know, it's nice to be transported to a different world or pretend the dragons exist or, you know, that you can go to Hogwarts, that sort of thing. And Rochelle Mead is one of my favourite authors and she writes urban fantasy.
So a vampire academy is probably her most well-known work. And who has some adult fantasy books as well. One series is called Suck Your Us Blues. And the other one is, I've got the name of it.
We've got a lot of books there to choose from. Wow. I mean, what can I say from warm Ravenna to Ravenna showing you your limits, to channeling your pain and to creativity. You have given us so much in this session.
Thank you so much. Do tell us how we can buy your books because I want to buy them. Yeah, so the books are on Kindle, they're on iBooks and other places as well. If you go to my website, which is christineadamsauthor.com, there's the links for all the books there.
And I may be posting some like alternate scenes from the first book as well, pretty soon. And at the end of May, there's a box set of books one or two coming out as well. And also for all my writing advice and stuff, it's writersbookbook.com. If you sign up for mailing, go somewhere and you'll get a free sample of productivity for writers as well.
Great. Well, thank you so much. Thank you and your books on the big screen one day. The readers would be on the right horse if they go and pick up a book by Christina Adams.
Thank you so much for your time. Have a wonderful day. Thank you. Bye.