A Question For People Like Me

[SADguy]

This is only my second thread on No More Panic and it's a question for people like me. As I said in the introduce yourself forum, I've suffered from Social Anxiety Disorder since the age of 12, which was 12 years ago, to the point of being housebound.

Something bad happened a few days ago and it got me thinking about writing a book about my life, how my social anxiety started, how it got that bad, what other things influenced my condition, my depression brought on by the quality of my life, things like that.

Do you think people would want to read about that?..............i know places like this talk about people's particular problems all the time, but I like writing and thought people would perhaps like to read about my condition.

If it's a bad idea, then I won't attempt it, that's the main purpose of this thread.

[blueangel]

Must admit, I don't know anything about how difficult it is to get a book published, but how about starting off with a blog? They can be a great way to let off steam and they can get loads of readers.

[SADguy]

Yeah, ok, doesn't matter then

[paula lynne]

If it matters to you, it matters...........
Why dont you start writing it all out in rough draft and see how you get on. There are online writing courses you could join for help and instruction.......do it if you feel you want to, why not!:)

[SADguy]

Yeah, I just didn't want to waste my time on something that wasn't worth it really. Blogs have never been more than a momentary thought in my mind because a lot of them don't have hardly any readers and despite writing it yourself, I think blogs feel very impersonal and I don't know how I could tell people about my life in blog posts.

It's part of my condition, unfortunately, to accept people I don't know's opinions as fact and if it's not worth it, then it's not worth it, you know.

[paula lynne]

Well I think its worth it....for what its worth! haha...it may be a carthartic, positive thing for you to do, so go for it. Just start writing...and go from there.

[SADguy]

Yeah, maybe I will, not sure anymore

[Nigel]

Hi SADguy,

I think it’s an excellent idea, and if for no other reason that the one Paula mentioned – for your own benefit. Thoughts can be very vague at times, and I personally find the act of putting them into words – either spoken or written – brings a lot more clarity to them.

I’d forget about a book as such for now and just write whatever and however you feel. Just see what you end up with. You might then find that a book is the obvious choice, or an eBook maybe, or an informative website containing separate articles. Even the dreaded blog. They’ve evolved, and don’t have to be solely a personal diary type thing anymore.

One thing I’ve learned is that people love a happy ending and people love something that offers them an answer to a problem they’re facing. So it might be possible to not only write about the past and how it came to shape the present, but also document the things you’re doing in the present that will hopefully lead to a better future.

But whatever you eventually decide, write the first page today and see how you feel about it. You could even post some of it here and see what other members think.

Good luck with it :)
Nigel

[SADguy]

Yeah, perhaps you're right, maybe a book is the wrong way to go. I've just found that people like me feel alone and your psychologist or your psychiatrist can tell you as much as they like that you're not alone, but how can you really know that for sure?

Places like this, of course, and I must admit that No More Panic is more useful than anything I can say, my condition is just a variation of the people's here, you know. I don't know if I really need to write things down for me, I know about my life all too well.

With more thought, maybe people don't need to know about my life. It sounds egotistical to say that I wanted to tell people like me about my life, strangely it's far from that. If I started a blog, I'd run out of things to say unfortunately and I understand what you mean, people do like a happy ending to stories, unfortunately a lot of stories don't have a happy ending and mine can't either.

Yeah, maybe it wasn't worth creating this thread

[Nigel]

“unfortunately a lot of stories don't have a happy ending and mine can't either.”

The future hasn’t yet been written :winks:

I still think that having considered this idea, it would be good to just write a few things down and see where it goes. What have you got to lose?

Take care :)
Nigel

[allergyphobia]

I think only you yourself can know whether it would be a bad idea or not. Think about the reasons behind why you would like to write a book. You seem to think it is not for a release on a personal level, as you think that won't benefit you, yet you say you do not want people to read about your life in an egotistical way. I think Nigel is right, now you have considered it, perhaps you could write a few things down - even on here to share with everybody. I am always interested in reading people's stories.

Take care,
AP

[Groundhog]

How about aiming for the ‘magazine article’ level first to get a feel before you go down the ‘War and peace’ route.

I have had many articles printed in magazines and often your thoughts can be channelled into many subjects. Make no mistake though you will be turned down a lot not necessarily because your articles are bad but based on whether they can use them at that moment, most publishers won’t hold onto work in case its useful.

[SADguy]

No, it's ok, I appreciate the advice but this thread was a bad idea. I'm considering not coming back to No More Panic because I don't have anything more to contribute

[allergyphobia]

What a shame when people have given such good feedback.

[paula lynne]

Weve all got something to contribute sadguy, be a shame if you go.:ohmy:

[SADguy]

It's been two months and I've decided that I would try a blog, which was one of the suggestions. I'm not sure how long it'll last, as I don't have much to say in that form.

I don't feel a blog is the proper way to speak about my whole life since getting ill, so it's mainly a way for me to voice some of my thoughts on things and bits and pieces about my life when I want to share them, some of my experiences, complications and symptons, things like that.

I'm hoping the moderators won't mind me posting a link here to my blog (the name Jay Coleman is a pen name, not my actual name) The Jay Coleman Blog, as well as a link to my twitter account where the posts get automatically announced. This isn't advertising or anything, I just thought I'd share some of my thoughts.

http://thejaycolemanblog.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/JayColeman01