Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

It’s all history now

‘When I decided, five years ago, that I really needed a creative outlet from my rather dry IT career, historical fiction was a natural fit,’ writes subscriber Richard Buxton.

‘I was a solid Bernard Cornwell fan and already a bit of a swot on the American Civil War. I signed for a local evening class in Worthing, my home town. As I wandered into my first lesson, I don’t think I really had any idea how it might change my life. I recall being terrified reading out my work for the first time.

‘But little successes build confidence and for me to succeed there needed to be lots of baby steps to start with. My tutor introduced me to the local West Sussex writing club and I won a couple of club competitions as well as one on the internet. It was enough to encourage me in deeper. I applied to do a Masters in Creative Writing at Chichester University and was rather shocked to be accepted. By now I was writing my first novel, Whirligig, more as a learning exercise than anything else, I told myself.

‘I was introduced to America as a student in upstate New York when I was much younger. There’s far more to American history than most people know and it’s always fascinated me. Whirligig tells the story of a young Englishman, Shire, arriving wide-eyed in New York as I did. I just had to get a degree; Shire gets swept into the Civil War.

‘The degree was a joy and in the eighteen months that followed I won the Exeter Story Prize, The Bedford International Writing Competition and the Nivalis Award run by Fabula Press. I had to face the fact that I really could write. The wins gave me the selfassurance to work hard on the novel. I had wonderful support from The Literary Consultancy and earlier this year was confident enough to take the plunge and published Whirligig in all its glory with the expert help of Head and Heart Book Design. Opening the package with the very first copy was like being a five-yearold at Christmas.

‘The sequel is well underway and the third book more than a twinkle in my eye. It’s all history now, or rather historical fiction.’

Website: www.richardbuxton.net

Making sense of adult Asperger’s

‘When I was diagnosed with autism at the age of 28, having only heard of Asperger’s Syndrome and highfunctioning autism a year previously, I was sent away without so much as a leaflet to explain what it was, why I had it, how it would affect my life, and why it had taken so long to identify,’ writes subscriber Gillan Drew.

‘I had nobody to talk to – nobody knowledgeable, at least – who could help me come to terms with this life-changing news.

‘Like anybody, I turned to books and the internet. I discovered, much to my dismay, that books on autism seemed to fall into three categories: those for autistic children; those for parents of autistic children; and those for healthcare professionals working in the field. There was very little about adults with the condition and nothing for the many thousands of people diagnosed each year as adults.

‘The internet was worse. There were hundreds of sites offering conflicting, confusing, inaccurate, unreliable, opinionated and impenetrable information and advice, often littered with jargon and insider knowledge, with no explanations for the layperson. Moreover, so much of it was negative in tone. I therefore struggled to accept the diagnosis, to make sense of where I now found myself, and to understand what any of it meant for my future.

‘I realised there was a real need for a book on Asperger’s and ASD Level 1, something that could explain the basics to newly diagnosed adults, untangle the jargon, and describe in clear and plain terms how autism might affect the various parts of your life. Failing to find it, I decided to write it myself.

‘I am happy to announce that JKP has published my book An Adult with an Autism Diagnosis: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed, available on Amazon or through your local bookshop. It is not “the only book on autism you will ever need”, but it contains answers to everything I wanted to know when I was first diagnosed. It has been gratifying to learn from online reviews that it is already helping people, which makes all the struggle worthwhile.’