Me and Asperger's - Tone of voice

One of the challenges that people with Asperger's have is social communication, and that can mean their voice can sound rude or abrupt without intention. This happened to me last week at the local newsagent when I got the paper. I went in there, picked up the paper and went to pay for it behind another woman. I saw another older woman there who was choosing crisps. I also saw food on the counter which I thought belonged to the other woman in front of me. The older woman went to move in front of me and I said to her, I'm in the queue. I have just the paper and the exact money. The other woman turned round and accused me of being rude. She paid for her goods and left. I tried to explain by saying I have Asperger's but it was too late. The other woman let me pay for the paper. I apologised to her and she said I didn't need to. I left and went home. It upset me so much that it went round and round my head to the point I was in tears. When my mum came home, I asked her what she would have done, but she realised about the food on the counter and said that people do that there, buy some things, go and find more then pay later. Later on she said that if she had been with me she would have said a few choice words to that woman. Wanting to get it off my chest, I also mentioned it to a Facebook group of women with Asperger's to see what their reactions were. They all agreed that the first woman was rude not me. One comment I got, from the founder of the group, was that at times like that, she felt she needed to wear a T-shirt that said, 'I have Asperger's what is your reason for poor social skills.'. LOL. This gave me an idea. This all gave me peace of mind about the situation. It still upsets me to think about it, but I have decided a couple of things:

1. Not to try to get in that situation again.
2. Made me determined to raise awareness of Asperger's even more, esp about me.
3. I might buy a card that tells others that I am on the autism spectrum and what it means.

So I will be blogging more about Asperger's, writing more about it inc in short stories, and mention it a lot at my new book's launch in a few week's time along with hand-made cards and leaflets about ASD, and I will be posting on FB and Twitter about it too, sharing posts. I also am thinking of other merchandise to sell to raise awareness.

Why I like doing talks

Yesterday afternoon, I gave another talk at Sydenham Community Library about ebooks. This one was about how to get discovered as an author. Only one lady turned up this time, and only because she worked as a volunteer there. But I had to persuade her to come as she was feeling down after a bad week and was thinking of putting her writing on hold. I said why and to go for it. It was saying this that made me realise that I like giving these talks. So it was just us two. While I was doing the talk, I was getting ideas on how the lady could start writing what she wanted if she didn't feel up to writing a whole novel yet. The more I talked, the more ideas I got and told her. The lady writes non-fiction about her past life. The ideas I gave her were blogging as it's free, writing letters to magazines if she read something that struck a chord with her (this is what I have done and been successful with) and finding magazines that dealt with nostalgia and travel that are connected to what she has written. I was with her an hour, talking about discoverability and how she can start writing again. By the end of it, she had found it useful and I had come away feeling that I had helped her back on track with her writing. This is what made me realise that I like helping people, esp other authors if they want ideas or that little push to get on with things.

I went to say goodbye to the other librarians. I listened to them talking. One of them was giving ideas on how they could promote my talks in the future. There was another lady there, whom I believed had something to do with a reading group there. Plus, she mentioned she was a part-time teacher. Out came my business cards and I gave her one. Another good contact made. Although whether I shall hear anything from her I don't know.

So, if you are an author, esp an indie one and new to publishing, and need that little push with ideas or help getting discovered, come along to one of my talks (listed on my website www.julieaday.co.uk). Or sign up to my newsletter at

http://forms.aweber.com/form/25/1466306025.htm where you can get tips on writing, marketing, news on my ebooks and events. Or pop along to my Aspiepreneur blog at www.hopewithjulie.wordpress.com where I will soon be adding freebies to help authors with their planning.

New business plan for new business venture

If you have read this blog before you will know that I have begun a new venture - attraction marketing it is called. So far I have 3 leads but no commissions yet, but I am working on it. Which is why I now am working on a business plan, inspired by a suggestion from Rebecca Woodhead. Thanks, Rebecca. It started yesterday when I upgraded to the annual level of Magnetic Sponsoring and its companies. Now I have to get promoting. So, here is my plan (only in my mind but will write it down later). Once a week, starting with this blog, I will aim to promote my business to others somehow in a major way whilst still messaging on FB. This includes learning how to do a FB ad and how to make videos of myself now I have got the Webcam working on my laptop.

Now that I have been upgraded, there are more higher level products to advertise. For instance, if you want to be great at blogging and want to get leads to it try

http://julieaday.problogacademy.com/

Or, if you want to learn how to be a better marketer you can check out

http://julieaday.theultimatesalesfunnel.com. Now on offer at a reasonable price.

For other products where you can learn how to build good relationships with customers, there is 'My Affiliate Page' on my website.

Come and learn with a team led by someone special and different - me. I have Asperger's Syndrome and this is a challenge for me to be a leader. Let's be challenged together.