Publication in 'Shambelurkling and other Stories'

On Wednesday I was looking at Trevor Belshaw's Facebook wall and I noticed a link. Some may say fate was playing a hand with this as the previous thing I had looked at was D.J. Kirkby's blog post 'Wannabe Farm Girl'. I enjoyed this blog post a lot and my brain was already getting creative when I found a link to The Pages Magazine about an anthology that is being put together to help children with Autism.

Reality took hold and off I went to do the school run and a grocery shop. All the way around the store, a voice was whispering in my head. As soon as I got home, I wrote a story called 'Poppy's Party' and sent it off. It's a story told from the point of view of an autistic 10 year old boy.

By the time I got back from the school collection, I had received an email saying that my story was going to be included in the anthology. I do not have words for how this made me feel. I am actually not sure it has sunk in yet.

Getting to know D.J.Kirkby has enabled this story to come together. As you may know, D.J. has Aspergers, and since we have become friends, I have read a lot about Autistic Spectrum Disorder in the hope of understanding what she, and others with Aspergers/Autism, have to cope with every day. I was actually quite terrified of sending 'Poppy's Party' to her but she told me once she had read it that it was exactly how she had felt as a child. This made me feel incredibly proud of this story.

I have since written another story called 'Fabulous Fairies' which is also going to be included in the anthology.

'Shambelurkling and other Stories' is an anthology aimed at 8-12 year olds. It is going to be published via Lulu on 28th November 2010. It will also be available on Amazon at a later date. It is a fund-raising anthology and all royalties will go to The National Autistic Society Early Birds Plus Programme. If you would like to read 'Poppy's Party' and 'Fabulous Fairies' you know what to do, as they are not available to view anywhere else at this time.

Thank you for your support of this project.