Being a Published Author with Chronic Illness

This has been a passion project since I was 15 years old. On the 29th July 2022, I get to call myself a published author! I never thought someone would actually want to publish the novel I worked on for 10 years, but here I am. At the age of 28, I am living my dream (whilst also working full time and studying a Masters, phew very busy!) of being an author. It is not about whether I make money or anything, it is just something I have always wanted to do.

I have always loved to read, and find it helps distract me from pain, fatigue and all my other symptoms. Writing was a very difficult task for me, and editing even more so. It was a challenge to stay focussed through my chronic health issues, but I managed it slowly over several years. Recently, my focus has been on following up communications with the publisher to get everything ready. I put my blog to the side, but now I am back. Apologies for the shameless advertising for my novel, I am just very proud and excited and want to show everyone that anything is possible.

It has been quite tiring, ensuring I follow up on emails as quickly as possible to avoid delays, and each edit would take a long time to read through. One time, I received an edit back from the publisher to check through whilst I was in the middle of my worst fatigue flare up. I only managed to read over it by using a text to speech app so I could listen to it. It took a while but it was still faster than waiting till the flare up passed, and it did help distract me when I was too fatigued to do anything but lie in a dark room and wait for the time to pass.

I have dedicated my novel to all those living with chronic illnesses, and to show that you can achieve your dreams, even if it takes a little longer for us. It was very important for me to also release my novel as an ebook to make it accessible for anyone. The ebook is available from publication date on Amazon.

If you would like to support me, or follow my journey as an author, feel free to follow my Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/BethanJonesWrites

You can also buy my book at any book retailer, or at the links below:

https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/marian

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