Novel...

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Hi folks!

I'm glad to find this site, and a forum like this!

I was finally diagnosed with Asperger's last year, aged 56, after many years of problems with depression and anxiety... and many more years of difficulties in most aspects of everyday life - school, work, social situations, etc. My diagnosis has helped me to make sense of my life at last.

I've written since I was 10, which is when I got my first typewriter. It's always been my sanctuary: my place to go to escape from things and to try to make some sense of what's in my head. Over the years, I've published some short fiction and poetry, and won a few minor prizes. Three years ago, I published my first novel (it's now out of print and didn't make me any money, but that's the lot of most writers!) Anyway... at the time, the suspicion was that my problem was Borderline Personality Disorder, because I had most of the symptoms. So I decided to write a novel about what it's like to live with that condition.

Since my diagnosis, though, I've re-read it... and I realise now that it's ALL about living with Asperger's!

Here's a short excerpt. You'll see what I mean...

From Chapter 7

'I moved into this flat on my own. My sister and I weren't speaking then, and I didn't have anyone else to help. I didn't have much anyway. My only big stuff was a fridge, a wardrobe, my bookcases and sofa. Most of it came to pieces. I used the camper to shift it all. I started at 9 in the morning and finished at 11 that night. It took 12 trips in total. 12 trips-worth of stuff from a tiny bedsit. Each trip meant between 8 and 10 times up and down the stairs, carrying boxes and bags and even the fridge, a stair at a time. So, an average of 9 times up and down on each trip. There are 50 stairs from the car park to my door. 50 x 9 x 12 trips = 5,400 stairs I climbed, carrying heavy weights. Then the same number down again. Then, at the bedsit, 18 stairs x 9 x 12 trips = 1,944 stairs down carrying the same heavy weights. Then the same number up. Total stairs up for the day = 7,344. I made some extra trips, too - to make sure the old place was empty, to put the camper away, to check the meter - so I can probably round that up to 7,500 and be about right. A stair riser is about 7 inches. The stairs here are, anyway. 7,500 x 7 = 52,500 inches, which is 4,375 feet. The summit of Ben Nevis above sea level is 4,409 feet. In moving that day, I climbed almost the equivalent of the height of the highest mountain in the British Isles.

It reassures me to know this. I climbed more than a physical mountain that day.'

I look forward to hanging around and reading some others' writings.

Best,
Tom

Well, hi! I also fancy myself a writer (albeit an unpublished one), had been diagnosed later in life with Asperger's, had been misdiagnosed in the past - with hyperactivity, and have had problems with anxiety and depression. Glad to have you onboard in WP.