Learning to talk

I did my presentation to a class of mental health professionals at Bradford University. I actually enjoyed doing it (thanks to the confidence I've gained at my ASC speakers club). My uni talk was about how the mental health services used to be in the sixties and seventies, highlighting many of the issues which are still relevant. We discussed what needs to be done differently to prevent people today having similar bad experiences of the system to those that I, and many others, have had.

The following day Professor Phil Thomas, one of the founders of Critical Psychiatry, came to Bradford University to do a presentation, and I was invited to that. I couldn't find anything to argue with him about. He was lovely. After the session I plucked up courage to give him one of my book promo cards. He said he'll get it. I hope he does.

Next thing coming up on the book front is this Friday when, along with some members of the Leeds Survivors Poetry Group, I'll be doing a reading at the Ilkley Literature Festival.

A few weeks after the Ilkley festival, I've been invited to be Guest Speaker at the AGM of a Mental Health Advocacy Group. I'm delighted that over a year after 'The Dark Threads' was published I'm still getting spin offs. I do hope that at least in some small way I'm helping to right some wrongs by speaking out.

But I must-must-must get on with writing my novel.

Me again

This can't be right. It can't be that I haven't posted since 14th August. I knew I'd neglected my blog for a while but I'd honestly no idea it was for so long. Does anyone care? I don't know, but I do. No point having a blog if I'm not going to keep up with it. I've been busy (really I have) but not with things that would make interesting blog reading. But good writers don't wait for something madly interesting to happen to inspire them. They just write and make whatever they write interesting through the strengths of their writing. So why can't I? (don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question).

Anyway, to get me going with my blog again, I decided to just sign in and, well, get going. I'm tapping away on the keyboard just letting my rambling thoughts pour onto the page. This isn't the way to make riveting reading, I know, but at least it's getting me going again. I don't want this blog to degenerate into the character of the Tony Hancock's sketch who tried to keep a diary and said things like 'Today I had a boiled egg for breakfast'. But, on the other hand, if I just wait for pearls of wisdom before I write anything, I might as well clock off and go to bed.

The room has just filled with the sound of barking dogs (my new doorbell tone) so I'd better see what's up. I might just have been about to write something wonderful. But, like Coleridge getting interrupted by the 'man from Porlock', the world will never know. I'll be back soon.

Saying NO and feeling guilty

I've figured out why I've been suffering from back pain lately. It's because I forgot my age and fitness level last week when playing with my six-year-old great-niece (OMG! 'Great' makes me feel so old!). We enjoyed pulling each other about and playing at see-saws. It was great fun at the time.

I must do something about keeping fit since I gave up my gym membership over a year ago. Nah, I don't need to pay gym fees to get fit, I told myself. I can do it myself for free. Well, that idea hasn't worked out for lazy bones me. I realise now that it was the paying that gave me the incentive to go.

I should go for a walk. No, I can't with my bunion.

I should go swimming. No, it might trigger off my recurring ear infection.

I should buy a treadmill or exercise bike. No, I've nowhere to put one.

I should get one of those what d'ya call it, a wii? No, I've heard they're no good for keeping fit.

I should rejoin the gym. No, I can't afford it.

I should stop making excuses and get off my backside. No, I can't. I've got lots of writing to catch up on today . . .

White Rose Ladies Humorous Speech - 12 July 2010

Sunny July

Contacting universities (see post below) paid off. I've been offered the opportunity to teach post-grad students on a mental health course. I'll have to prepare carefully what I want to get across, but it's not until early-October so I've got plenty of time to think about it.

Also in October I'll be joining with the Leeds Survivor Poetry group to put on an event at the Ilkley Literature Festival. Sounds like October will be an exciting month for me.

I'm still going to the Speakers Club and tonight I'll be doing a humorous talk on video. The practice I get there increases my confidence no end. I've progressed from dreading the meetings to enjoying them!

At last our new conservatory is ready. I've been spending the last couple of evenings in it sipping G & Ts and watching the changing colours of the sky (better than watching telly!). Next plan is to have a few friends round for a Conservatory Warming Party.

Well, I think that's just about all my news for the moment. My novel-in-progress is inching along. I've been re-reading 'Crow Lake' by Mary Lawson and wishing I could write like that.

Still at it

Okay, that's an ambiguous blog post title. What am I still at? I'd like to say writing my novel, but I've been getting distracted again. It's about ten months since publication of 'The Dark Threads' but I'm 'still at it' trying to make people aware of my book who just might find it interesting or useful. Although it is mainly aimed at the 'general' reader, I've been told it would also be excellent for teaching purposes on mental health courses. So . . .

I've been contacting universities all over the UK, trying to convince course leaders that my book is just what their students on mental health courses need. Actually I'm sounding a bit flippant now, but this isn't just about my book. I do honestly believe that students in training to become mental health professionals would benefit from an understanding of how it feels to be on the receiving end of treatment. They have enough dry and stuffy textbooks to read, written by professional experts who have the theories. The perspectives and 'lived through' experiences of both current and former patients are often missing, and much needed. Fortunately, it seems that nowadays some course leaders fully agree. I'm delighted at the positive responses I've received so far.

But it's all very time consuming. My novel is taking a back seat again, though hopefully not for too long.

Catching up

The months are rushing by and I'm lagging behind. I've got so much catching up to do, so I'll start with this blog. I can't believe it's mid-June already. I've sniffed and sneezed my way through the past few weeks with hay fever, but I think the Beconase is now starting to work. I'm funny about taking medication for anything, perhaps because of the drugs (prescribed) trouble I had in the past. I know that was different, but now I just don't like taking any sort of medication if I can help it.

I've been working on my novel but it's been a case of two steps forward and two steps back. I write a chapter, feel pleased with it and then the next day I read it again and I'm not. My recycling bin is full of discarded pages of my manuscript.

We had our 26th wedding anniversary on Tuesday. What did we do to celebrate? Well, we had a plate of chips in Morrison's (romantic, eh?) and then we trailed around trying to choose furniture for our spanking new (almost ready) conservatory. We came home feeling tired, shared a bottle of wine - and went to sleep.

This, as you will have gathered, is a disjointed blog posting where I jump from one unconnected subject to another. Blame the hay fever (or is it the Beconase?) for my butterfly mind.