Shopping as an Aspie

When I usually go shopping, I don't think about myself as an Aspie and how everything affects me. I just get on with where I want to go and what I want to get, then go home. But last time I went shopping, I took  note of all the things around me that could affect me as an Aspie. Here is what I thought.

On the bus going there, if I'm with my mum I will chat to her so I try to tune in to what she is saying and tune out others talking; but this can be hard when other people have v loud voices and shout to each other, and little ones crying. If I am on my own I usually look out the window and tune out other people talking around me.

Inside the shopping centre I noted all the lights and the music. The lights were quite bright and could really affect someone, esp a child, with a sensory challenge to lights. The music was quite loud in places, with different music coming from different shops at various levels. Can be a hard challenge to a child with major challenges with noise. I don't mind communicating with shop staff because I have to, but I try not to speak as much as I want to. One thing I don't like is having to go back and check something with staff in a shop eg being charged wrongly. I hate this as I feel that everyone is looking at me, and I hate confrontations.

So, here are my tips for shopping as an Aspie:

1. Write a list of what you want to buy
2. Put that list in order of the shops you need to go to
3. Try to tune out other people's chat on the bus
4. At the shopping centre, try to tune out the constant chatter and music
5. Concentrate on just what you want and where you are going.
6. If you get flustered, and have an Aspie card, and feel you might have a meltdown, then show it to people. Don't be afraid to do that.

So that is how I felt shopping as an Aspie and my tips for a good shop. If you have any more tips, please let me know.

What is your brand?

Following my previous posts about the issue I have had (my book has now been taken off Amazon completely), I thought I'd write about what is a brand, or what I have learnt is a brand.

A brand is...You. It is not a name, a logo or your voice. It is you. So, learning this, I have decided not to brand my children's books now, but keep myself as an Aspie children's author as my brand along with what I write. So my brand is me writing magical realism and ghosts. When someone mentioned this to me on Facebook, it got me thinking. Yes, they are right. I started thinking about other authors and their brands, and came up with two that I often read who have a definite brand: Nora Roberts writing under her own name, and Jacqueline Wilson. Their style of writing, and esp with Jacqueline Wilson, the book covers are definite brands. So I am going to learn from those two about how to work on my brand as myself. I want my book covers to reflect me and what I write as my brand.

So, question for you; what is your brand like? Can you describe it, like I have for me? Go on... tell me.

Title and branding - A cautionary tale

I was going to post about shopping as an Aspie but something cropped up yesterday that made me feel I should warn others about. It is about titles and branding for book series. As some of you know, I have branded my new fiction series about children with Asperger's Syndrome a certain name. I did do lots of research on names back in May when I was thinking about it all. One name I really liked but had been used by someone else, so I message them on Facebook to ask if they owned the rights to it. I never heard back...until yesterday. Because I hadn't heard all this time, of course, I went ahead and used the name. The message I got yesterday was that the name was the name of the company founded by the woman who runs it and she had the rights to it, and the only other person who could use it with authorisation was a specialist publisher I know about. Anyone else couldn't use it, and if they did, they could end up being sued by the company. This gave me great worry and anxiety with my own Asperger's. I thought, oh no, I am going to get in to great trouble here and panicked. I had to come up with alternative names for my brand.

I came up with a couple of titles this morning, but when I Googled both, they were already taken by magazines and companies, so they were a no go as well. I got a few suggestions from others on a FB post I put up last night, but most of them are too similar to the first one I had. One suggestion, by my designer, Rachel Lawston, was to drop the idea of a brand. And this is what I now plan to do. Someone else I know said that if I do drop the brand idea, then my books would reach a wider audience. So, it is a good idea. I want my books to find as many readers as possible. I have deleted the brand name on the blurb for Billy, and will ask Rachel to delete it from the cover, too. For those books I already have ordered, I am going to blank out the name. The same with the postcards I have which were made from the cover. I might relaunch it again in the new year, we shall see.

So, the motto here is: if you are thinking of giving a series a brand name, like I did, do a thorough research. If it looks like it has been taken, even by a magazine, forget the idea. You will be thankful in the future. I did want to give all my books a brand but it might seem it is best not to. You will see from this post that I haven't actually put the title of the brand I had, that is because I have emailed the company concerned to say that I won't use the term anywhere again.

Me, Asperger's and Fireworks

Tis the season... to hear fireworks leading up to Bonfire night. Yes, we get them early here in SE London, and I know others have too. I know that lots of Aspies have sensory challenges with noise, and fireworks can be part of that as they are v loud, some of them. For me, most fireworks don't bother me as they aren't that loud. But there are a few that make me jump (and my mum too) because they are either v loud, sound as though they are just outside, or there is a silence for a few minutes before a loud one goes bang. It is those bangers that make me jump now and then. There was one last year that was so loud and so near, that it set off our sensor alarm on the house.

So if you are an Aspie and don't like fireworks because it is too much noise for you, I have a few tips:

1. Wear headphones.
2. Wear headphones listening to music
3. If you have headphones attached to your TV, then listen to the TV with those.
4. If you don't, then if you can bear it, turn up the TV.

I hope you get some help from this post.