Throughout the main period of lockdown during the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020, I was journaling my experiences, just as I have journaled my life for many years.
Chatting to a friend a few weeks ago, made me realise that perhaps it would help others, and in some small way help to relieve the stigma surrounding mental health, if I published some of these in a book.
Writing The Hopes and Fears was cathartic for me, as it helped me to regulate my thoughts and emotions, particularly surrounding shielding, but as it is a very personal book, it was a very difficult decision whether or not I should actually publish it. Encouraged by some very special people (you know who you are), I eventually decided to be brave and make my story public.
The book is now available in the Kindle Store, and should be available in Paperback within the next few days. It is very different to everything I have written before, and obviously not a novel, but those who have proof read it for me tell me that it is easy and enjoyable to read and gives an insight into my personal experiences during a time when everyone in the world was living a completely different life to the one that they had previously been used to.
As you can see from the cover art work below, I opted for a very different branding for this book, and even used a different author photo (a selfie taken on the day that I submitted the book for publication), because I wanted to separate it from the novels that I have written. The paperback is also a different size to the novels I have published. I doubt that I will ever publish anything quite so personal again, as it is certainly much easier to make works of fiction public than to publish your own feelings and emotions, but I believe my story should be told.
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