Melissa Writes

Today is Chronic Fatigue Awareness Day. This is a day close to my heart as my 13 year old son has CFS, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, or ME.

Nearly four years ago, he came down with glandular fever. It took us around 18 months to get a diagnosis of ME/CFS!

This has had a huge impact, not only on his life, but also family life, and part of the reason is that it’s so misunderstood.

He only goes to school part time, and has regular appointments with doctor’s at the Royal Children’s Hospital to monitor his progress. There are many activities he wants to do that he can’t. For example, he really wants to join the Scouts, but it’s not an option right now, as well as attending school camps, and similar activities.

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Editing to fit the style guide

I can remember in primary school going through lists of different ways to say “said” in a piece of writing – said, asked, demanded, muttered, screamed, whispered, etc. We were told to mix it up a bit as it would make the writing more interesting.

Fast forward too many years to count and I start writing chapter books for children. The general advice is to use the word “said” most of the time instead of using a variety of tags, even if it’s a question.

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Sometimes exhaustion takes over

I am a writer, and a published author. Words are constantly flowing around in my head and being written down, either in a note book or on the computer. Books, words, and reading are what gets me excited. However…

There are some days when it’s all too hard and the exhaustion wins.

This can look like different things on different days.

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Challenges for this month

Earlier this year, I was talking with a friend about writing and what I want to get out of it. One thing is that I want to publish more books, get more readers, and get more sales! It sounds quite easy, and it seemed easy when we were talking about it…

I have been working on a few novellas for grown ups, and finishing these and publishing them would help to achieve this goal. I worked out that I would need an editor and cover designer to make these great, without having to get an illustrator as you need with children’s books. It seemed like a great plan.

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