A quick note: I still don’t know what’s going on with LandFall and it’s participation in the list. I’m now pretty confident I know what’s happened, but it’s now been 11 days since I last heard from Inkshares and they have not yet offered any ’official’ details on what’s happened.

I’ll try reaching out again this week with my thoughts and see where that goes.

Keep an eye on that horizon.

Happy Holidays! I want to extend a hearty thank you for your support. Over the last few months, I’ve continued to receive messages of how The Body of Chris has affected families with a wide range of mental health difficulties. None of this would be possible without you, and I never forget it.

Inkshares is currently running a promotion of 50% OFF selected books through December 16th, which means The Body of Chris is on sale for $8 (paperback) and $4.99 (ebook)--tough to beat! This time of year reminds me of child-like wonder, and it’s been touching to hear my boys sing Christmas carols they’re learning for their preschool play. The season can also bring up a lot of difficulty for those living with some of the issues presented in my book. If you know someone who may benefit from reading about my journey, I hope you’ll pass this email along to them. There is profound healing in simply feeling less alone.

Speaking of my boys, the International Bipolar Foundation recently asked me to write something on parenthood with bipolar disorder, and this is what I came up with:

"I remember poignant moments of deep connection and longing that marked those early days of fatherhood. At the time, I was unwilling to accept treatment for what I considered to be a sensitive, spiritual disposition unmet by the profane existence of modern society. My son was colicky, needing an extraordinary amount of devotion just to fall asleep. I would sing him songs, rock him for what seemed like hours, and then be trapped by his delicate body asleep on my chest. My arm would go numb as I drifted in and out of sleep myself. I would stare at his face, the promise of a life yet unmarred by suffering, and tears would stream down my cheeks. I felt a love fuller than I had ever known. In these fleeting moments, I became willing to commit to whatever treatment necessary for my ability to be present in his life." (read the full article here: http://www.ibpf.org/blog/fatherhood-bipolar-disorder)

I hope you all have a wonderful close to 2016; wishing you the best year yet for 2017!

Love.

Chris

Okay, update time. A short-ish one.

No calendar chart today, mainly because there was nothing new to put on it over last weeks.

Everything was rather disrupted again this week, must be the time of year. One thing I did find the time to do however, was to listen to the entirety of my book over a couple of days.

Yes. Listen.

Now it may have been with my Mac’s automatic text-to-speech through Scrivener, but it was overall a pretty good experience. The most surprising part of it all was that I actually found myself entertained by my own writing. There were small comedy moments that I’d forgotten I’d written that I actually laughed at. So I think that’s encouraging? Right?

I also realised that structurally, I’m really solidly pleased with the second half of the book. There are a few kinks to work out on the front end, but overall there’s not as much hardcore editing/rewriting to do as I thought. Which is good.

Work is back to focusing on Ghosts again this week, LandFall has hit a bit of a snag which has it in a form of limbo. Hopefully, it will get sorted soon.

Until next time.

This is just a quick heads up about the status of LandFall.

During the week LandFall was moved out of ’The List’ and placed over in the LaunchPad contest. This is an error. I’m hoping it’ll be resolved soon.

I’ve done some looking and I think I have a pretty good idea as to what’s happened, but until I know for sure, I can’t say what the outcome of that resolution will be. For now though, I’ve put a hold on working on the story until I know what’s happening.

I wanted to be transparent about the situation and will continue to be so going forward. Stay tuned, when I know, you’ll know.

Keep an eye on that horizon.