I first got into writing when I found out about cerebral palsy, for the first time at the age of 46. I started The CP Diary at the point of my initial cerebral palsy diagnosis. I was 46 years old. It was to be a safe space for me to write. I was trying to peel back some of the layers, but it wasn’t a place I could go into detail in one go, day in day out because no would have read my blogs.
Piecing my disability together
So, 6 years into writing on my blog and I started putting pen to paper, to start piecing my disability and my experiences together and have since gone on to write 3 books on mental health.
Roll on to 2023 and the creative writing industry looks and feels different to when I first started writing my first book. Brexit has hit the creative industries including the book and animation industries. The UK had already got Brexit done and then the world spiralled into a pandemic. While the book industry was ticking over, the book industry is now changed and the independents are struggling to get their voices heard.
Social media is awash with authors trying to get their books out
I can’t speak for other authors, but I can walk you through my experiences. Social media is awash with independent authors trying to get their books out. It's an incredibly difficult industry for independent authors.
Unless you’re a celebrity your voice mostly goes unheard. My books are no exception to that, but they also deal with mental health and according to the @WHO mental health needs to be addressed.
My ‘Books’
When I first penned pen to paper to write ‘Cerebral Palsy: A Story’ I made the decision to support mental health charities, but haven’t managed to scratch the surface because no one is dealing with mental health.
My two other books include my healing story, ‘Spirituality, Healing and Me’ and then when the pandemic struck I wrote a third book about Covid called, Survival: ‘The Covid Years.’
If you're interested and fancy grabbing copies of any of my books, please go to the following link https://www.thecpdiary.com/my-books/
