My Asperger's Shutdown - What it was and why it happened

As some of you might know from my posts on Facebook, last Friday I had what is called an 'Asperger's Shutdown'. I was fine up until the afternoon when I got my Free From Food prize from Holland and Barretts. I got a bit too excited and ate too many chocs from the prize. So, what happened to me? Half an hour after eating dinner on Friday (about 5.30pm) I tried to read the paper but my brain wouldn't let me. It went all fuzzy and I felt I couldn't cope with any thinking. My body followed soon after. It couldn't cope with staying sitting and I had to go to bed. There I stayed until the next morning (apart from getting up to change into my nightwear). The following morning, I got up and felt really tired. I had had a restless night, feeling hot, sweating and stuffy with cold. I started having a wash and managed to wash my face and arms properly then my brain went fuzzy again. I had to stop and bend down, feeling as though I was going to faint. After a few minutes, I managed to continue but only wiped myself with a flannel and water. I creamed myself and got dressed. Went downstairs to have breakfast of toast. After half an hour, I couldn't cope anymore. I had to stay downstairs until my bed was made, and when we made it, I went back to bed. I was like this all day Saturday. Sunday I was a bit better but still kept going to bed and went to bed in the evening earlier than normal. Yesterday I was still tired but better.

So, why did it happen? What causes a shutdown? An accumulation of lots of issues going on in my life. Over the last couple of months I have had health problems, financial security worries, and I have had to sort things out about my health over the phone and personally, ie lots of communication, which as an Aspie I find hard to do. Lots of these issues have been resolved, and then on Friday I received the huge box prize of Free From Food and I found that someone had bought one of my ebooks. It was like as my mum has described as 'holiday illness'. After worrying about lots of things, they have come to a conclusion and my body relaxed, a bit too much. My brain couldn't cope with everything it has had to deal with, so shut down to recharge itself. Thankfully, it and I are both on the mend. I hate it when one of these happens because you can't control it and you can't do anything except go to bed. You just have to go with the flow of it and get better.

So, there you have my version of what a 'shutdown' is and why it happened to me.

Social Media Part 2

Here is Part 2 of what Talli Roland told the RNA London chapter about social media.

Amazon - Complete your Author Central page, everywhere. Even the foreign ones, which you can do in English. You can stream videos through the page, and link your blog etc to it. It is good for readership.
Bookbub can be expensive, esp if you write women's fiction. So choose another genre.

Have a newsletter. You can put the link to it in your next book.

Goodreads - Be v careful as an author, esp with reviews. Talli mentioned there had been a well-known chick-lit author who had put a scathing review of another chick-lit author. Not good. Someone said, it might have been Eve Farr, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything.

There are other sites you can use; Google+, Instagram (just photos and for a younger demo), Tumblr (microblog, quotes and photos), PInterest (70% women), Klout, which you can put on your followers, what topics you write about and find out what influence you get.

Website. Talli uses Networked blogs.
Youtube - can record book excerpts and blurbs. Stream the video via your Author Central page.

You get out of it what you put in. Awareness = sales. Think global. Be genuine. Have fun.