World Mental Health Day - Living with Schizophrenia

I have to start this blog post with an apology.  Today was supposed to be the publication date for my 'recovery book' - unfortunately I have not been able to get it finished in time.  What happened was this - I gave the manuscript to a friend to proof-read and she told me that it needed totally re-writing.  I had written it as a memoir and she thought a self-help book would be a better format. 

Well, I was tempted to ignore my friend's advice, because I had worked really, really hard to get the book finished on time and I just wanted to get it out there.  But I knew that she was right - the book was not as good as my first memoir.  She said people would be disappointed as a result, and I really did not want that to happen. 

Anyway, that was last week and I decided just to think about it all for a while.  I also realised that I had become far too fixated on getting the book finished - my home was a tip and I was completely stressed out.  So this week I have been cleaning and tidying the house, which has helped to ground me.  I have also been catching up on some reading - I have whizzed through Julian Barnes' 'The Sense of an Ending' in the last couple of days...

So.  Sorry, everyone (anyone) who was waiting for the book.  It's still on the way.  I have the cover sorted and everything.  (Briony Hartley from Goldust Designs worked on this for me, by the way.  I highly recommend her services).   I just need a bit of distance before I decide how I am going to publish it.

Meanwhile, I had relaxed successfully.  I was starting to like living at a slower pace.  I had been spending more time with the children, and all was good.  Then, yesterday afternoon, the Huffington Post asked me to blog for them.  This was the most exciting thing I had heard since I was invited to talk at Newcastle University, almost two years ago.  I could hardly believe it was true.  They asked if I could get the first post ready for this morning, for World Mental Health Day.  They had pointed to a particular blog post here that they liked and said they would be happy to use that, so I adapted it a bit and sent it over.  I still could hardly believe that it would really be used in the Huffington Post...

But it was!  It is!  Here's the link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/impact/

It's not the best piece ever, but it's a start.  And now, they say I can continue to blog for them for as long as I like, up to twice a week.  So I will do that, and link to any blogs here.

It's odd that this happened just as I decided to stop pushing myself.  Maybe it's better sometimes to wait to be asked.  Although I suppose they asked me because they noticed me on Twitter and on this blog, so you have to be out there in the first place.

Anyway, I am going off to relax for a bit now.  Sorry again about the late/missing book.  I might try and put some extracts on here soon, just to give a flavour of where it's going and how.  As soon as I work that out for myself!