2015 was a fabulous year for Shell Shocked Britain, as I took it around the country and spoke to hundreds of people about the long term legacy of war trauma. 

It was wonderful to hear stories from the audience and hear many say that in the light of my talk they would go back to their own family history and look back with compassion at those who lived through the Great War, and its aftermath.

In October I was thrilled to be asked up to Perth in Scotland for the launch of their wonderful Great War project. They had used information from Shell Shocked Britain for one of their story boards (with permission of course) and they invited me to be there on the big day. I couldn't miss the chance to take Shell Shocked Britain to Scotland for the first time, even though it meant flights and car hire and driving to a lovely B&B all by myself. I sold all the books I took with me and met the local Mayor (pictured), a terrific supporter of those affected by post traumatic stress.

To end the year I gave a talk at The National Archives in Kew - something I was really nervous about, having undertaken research up there many times and knowing how expert the audiences can be. It went really well though, and I was lucky enough to sell lots of books in the shop afterwards - a great day and a chance to meet up with old friends who work and research there.

I have already given one talk in 2016, to the Bristol Theosophical Society,and will shortly post up the dates already booked for this year, including the Tiverton Literary Festival, and at Seale Hayne for Devon Remembers.

Over the coming weeks and months I will be taking Shell Shocked Britain around the country to give talks at various locations keen to have it as part of the First World War commemoration projects. So far, I have been invited to speak at the following venues:

8th October 2014            Epsom Library War and Words Festival. Further details and booking.
10th October 2014          Somerset Museum. Talk & Tea in aid of Mind in Taunton. Museum details.
22nd October 2014         Book launch at Foyles Bookshop in Bristol. Further details.
29th October 2014          Waterstones in Leeds for Leeds Big Bookend Festival. Further details and booking.
11th November 2014      Brendon Books in Taunton for Taunton Literary Festival. Further details and booking
14th November 2014      Talk for Taunton Association for Psychotherapists, United Reformed Church, Taunton. Further details.
17 November2014          Holloway Road Central Library for Islington Local History. Further details TBA
5th December 2014        The World War One Lecture Series, Wiveliscombe Civic Society. 
W/C 23rd February 2015 Southend Library. Details TBC
9th September 2015     Hornsey Historical Society. Further details TBA

More talks will be announced as and when details become available, and it would be lovely to see you!

Great news on the Dandelions and Bad Hair Days front. After many months the publisher has now handed me a manuscript formatted for Kindle and just before the weekend I uploaded it - the first time I have done such a thing. Exciting!

For the bargain price of £3.08 (a very odd price set by Amazon when I put in £2.99...) you can have instant delivery to your Kindle, or to Kindle for Android or PC - making it available to anyone. Even those of you with an iPad!

As an eBook the margins are very good and as with the paperback about £2 from each copy sold will go to the mental health charities - all the profits made. So if you can, do download it. It has all 5* reviews and lots of great quotes such as  'inspiring' and 'heartfelt and personal'. 

I have also set up my own small press to publish and promote ebooks. Further news about Mickleden Press soon!

I haven't been updating this site with news about Dandelions and Bad Hair Days: Untangling lives affected by depression and anxiety too much because the book has it's own website at www.dandelionsandbadhairdays.wordpress.com. 

However I just wanted to share how brilliantly it is going. The photograph to the left shows the book on the table at the front of the wonderful Brendon Books in Taunton. We sold the first print run within two weeks and are now well through the second so thank you to everyone who has bought it. It is available online from Amazon, from the Dotterel Press website and direct via the Dandelions website. All profits go to SANE and  nominated mental health charities nominated by the contributors, including OCD Action.

I'm pleased to say that the wonderful Taunton bookshop, Brendon Books, has agreed to support Dandelions and Bad Hair Days by hosting the launch party. 

Brendon Books is a Somerset treasure, being one of the few truly independent bookshops left and responsible for the organisation of the Taunton Literary Festival, which takes place from the 22nd to the 30th of September 2012.

Invitations will be going out shortly and I do hope there will be a good audience, although it must be said I am now more than a little nervous about standing there in front of everyone - even though I know the writing from all the contributors to the book is wonderful and that all the profits go to charity. 

If you would like to sponsor the even with a bottle of wine or some refreshments I would be really glad to hear from you.

I am pleased to announce that Dandelions and Bad Hair Days now has it's own website. On it you can find excerpts from some of the pieces in the book and learn more about the contributors as we head towards publication in the autumn.

It is another step on the way to making every effort to ensure the book is successful and thus raises awareness of mental health issues and as much money as possible for nominated charities. 

Sarah Cruickshank of Sarah Cruickshank Admin Solutions has kindly volunteered her professional expertise in marketing and communications to support the Dandelions and Bad Hair Days project. 

Sarah has already helped me organise a MailChimp account to offer a secure way to enter your email address and receive all the latest news on the publciation and promotion of the
book.

I have also had some invaluable advice from Sarah on the best ways to market the book via a dedicated Facebook page and
website and although the web page will take a little while to develop, the Facebook page is already up and running. So please pay a visit and 'like' it to make sure we can raise as much awareness of Dandelions and the message that mental illness can affect any one of us.  

Dandelions and Bad Hair Days has some illustrations to grace the inside pages courtesy of wonderful artist and designer Nettie Edwards.

Nettie has adapted some of her most stunning images to look great in black and white. I won't reveal them all now because I want people to have as many reasons as possible to buy the book (and with luck we will include more than 10 of her photos) but as a taster I attach one to this  post.  Nettie has a great website at  Lumilyon whereyou can see more of her work. 

Ingrid Eva Creative (who put together to cover artwork) will also be designing the back cover - not as simple as it sounds! The dandelion theme is to be continued to an area that will include a description of what the book is all about and hopefully some eye-catching quotes from people happy to endorse the whole project. As always I have to express my gratitude to all those people who are giving so freely of their time to help with it. 

Great excitement yesterday as I took delivery of the final artwork for the cover of Dandelions and Bad Hair Days.

Wonderful artist Ingrid Smejkal has designed this original work especially for Dandelions and Bad Hair Days and I simply can't thank her enough for donating it to the project.

Taking the working title as her inspiration, the 'hair' of the dandelion clock takes flight as the androgynous figure takes a first hopeful look between the fingers of strong hands. The colours are bold - an uplifting sky blue and the green figure to reflect the stalk of the plant. 

The text has yet to be added to the cover but already I am sure the book will stand out on the book shelves..

At present I am having a tough time thinking of a sub-title to the book - one that I am happy with. 'Experiences of living with depression' is just not punchy enough when the title is so creative! Any ideas gratefully received.