A Shameless Demand for Your Hard-Earned Cash!

I'll be uncharacteristically brief. I took part in the Great North Run last Sunday. That's a run of 13.1 miles for those who don't know. I'm 67 and undertook the run to raise funds for the charity that helped me defeat the pernicious condition commonly known as ME/CFS, from which I suffered for 10 years. Now recovered, which in itself is an unusual event, I wanted to give something back to the community that supported me. So, please visit my blog here to discover how you can gain a free eBook as a reward for your generosity. A look at another post, here, will give those of you who are interested full details of the run itself (it's a long post). But, if I've caught you at your most busy and generous, you can bypass it all by simply going to my JustGiving site here and donating a couple of quid, dollars, euros, or any other currency you happen to have on your person.

Thank you for you attention and your generosity.

A Change is as Good as…

My new study, where the writing continues.

Hornsea Writers has been my peer group for over ten years. Moving from the area has extended my usual weekly journey from a thirty-six mile round trip to one of four hundred and thirty miles. Oddly, it’s a drive I won’t be doing on a regular basis!

I’ve yet to discover a writing group in my new location in the Forest of Dean, (if anyone reading this knows of such a group, please let me know) but this is largely because I’ve been too busy setting up a new home to do any research.

So, why am I still writing on this blog? Well, I didn’t want to leave this hugely supportive and professional group simply because I could no longer regularly attend meetings. And, fortunately for me, the group felt the same way. There’ll no doubt be the occasional opportunity for my physical presence in Hornsea in the future, since my publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, is situated close by. No doubt Dan will have ideas that involve my actual appearance at his idiosyncratic premises. For the rest of the time, however, my connection will be virtual. 

It’s one of the advantages of our modern connected age that distance is no longer a barrier to communication. As a group, we’re mutually interested in our writing and social lives, so I continue to remain a presence and we’re still exchanging news and ideas. It’s a privilege to be a member of such an intelligent and experienced group of writers and I hope to remain here for as long as I continue to write.

At present, that writing largely consists of an autobiographical account of my ten years with ME/CFS. And I’ve actually started writing the book, following a fairly long period when I had time only for research and development, due to the house move. Once the book’s published, half the proceeds will go to the charity that helped me during my early years with the condition. I’m also training for the Great North Run, a half marathon that takes place on 13^th September this year. I’m raising money for the same charity through that run.

If you’d like to follow my progress with the book and the running, you can do so on my website by clicking here. And if you’d like to sponsor me for the charity, Action for M.E., you can do that by using this link: https://www.justgiving.com/Stuart-Aken/

Thank you.

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