My books
'Tits Up' - A Journey Laid Bare
'Tits Up - A Journey Laid Bare' is now available from most bookstores, from Troubador Publishing or from the shop on this site. The book is an extremely personal account of my journey through breast cancer treatment. I wrote it because when I was first diagnosed, I was too scared to pick up a book to find out what my immediate future was going to look like. I wanted to know more, but everything I looked at was too full of facts and figures, of statistics and survival rates.
I wrote the book to make the journey a little easier to navigate for other people diagnosed with breast cancer, and to raise awareness of the issues surrounding treatment. The information is all there, but it's in a conversational style which is easy to read by patients, their support network, and also people who just want to understand more about cancer treatment.
Writing 'Tits Up' was an incredibly emotional but therapeutic process resulting in a book of which I am very proud. I am also delighted that proceeds from the sale of the book will be helping various breast cancer charities.
'Tapestry' - A work in progress
The draft of 'Tapestry' was started well before my life changed course and I channelled my energies into writing 'Tits Up'.
Tapestry is a novel of fiction which has been enormously enjoyable to write from day one. Against a backdrop of Northern industrialisation, international design and traditional fabric-making, Tapestry focuses on the unravelling threads between generations of a family, tethered to their heritage but stretching to cut free to be viable in the modern commercial world.
The saga explores ugly aspects of white privilege, greed and arrogance, but also the beauty of innocence, honesty and respect.
'Ten Years After' - A work in progress
'Ten Years After' is a work of fiction which has been simmering away on a back-burner for a number of years. It follows the story of a successful and highly creative businessman whose life could easily have taken a completely different route.
The story explores the fragility of life, the speed at which courses may change and how bad experiences can be channelled towards a positive outcome if given the chance.
'bottoms up!' - A work in progress
'Bottoms up' is another work in progress. I have reached my first major milestone after being diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer so I'm toying with the idea of writing a follow-up to Tits Up - A Journey Laid Bare.
I'm delighted that Tits Up has received some lovely reviews, both from patients who said it gave them a better idea of what their treatment plan might entail, and from family and friends who wanted to understand what their loved one was going through. I'm also extremely proud that it helped to raise over £2500 for breast cancer charities.
I've asked a few key people what they think of the concept of me writing a prologue to the first book and they love the idea. It will cover topics such as the physical scars of cancer treatment, mental health issues, survivors guilt, personality changes, friendships and relationships etc. Again, like Tits Up, it won't be an easy thing to write but I think the results should be worth it. Watch this space!