Thank You!

With just over a week to the release of my book, I want to use this blog entry to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped and supported me in the process of my book. I could not have achieved this without the individual support of so many people. I would like to personally say thank you to those who have turned my vision into a reality and allowed me to physically hold my book.

First of all, without my designer Marie-Louise of Lovely Evolution, this book would never have happened. I want to say a massive thank you for taking on this project. With your extensive expertise and skills in design, I genuinely believe you have brought a sense of uniqueness to my book. I understand that this may have been potentially your most challenging project to date, but I am so grateful for you creating not only a book but also helping to turn my idea into reality. Although I am aware of how time-consuming this project has been, I hope you will view it as a significant accomplishment that will inspire you to work on other projects in the future.

Marie-Louise also enlisted the help of Mark Coster of Pixooma Ltd and Maddie King of Graphic Mouse to support with the designs of my book. I would like to individually thank you both for your assistance in making my vision a reality and for supporting Marie-Louise throughout this project, I am enternally grateful for all of your hard work, inculding continuing to push forward when faced with the challenges we have had and making all of the suggested alterations. In addition, I am grateful to Marie-Louise for also introducing me to Beckie Sanderson, the owner of Miss Digital Media, who has helped me with the uploading of my book to Amazon.co.uk and the marketing images. I strongly believe that innovative projects are successful from the collaboration of people working together, without all of your support and help we wouldn’t have made it to the finishing line, thank you.

Many people are aware I have dyslexia, but I took on this project because I wanted to improve my writing style and skills, which gave me a sense of achievement along the process. I would like to thank those who worked on editing my book.

Thank you, Marie Gale, for editing my book and fact-checking aspects of my work. I know that it was a very large manuscript to work on, but I appreciate you taking the time to edit my work and understand my dyslexia. I am eternally grateful to Bridget for her assistance with editing and assuring consistency in my book, including helping to check the designs. You have taught me so much about writing and helped me to develop my writing style. I appreciate all the advice you have given me on aspects of my writing and the designs of the book. I genuinely believe that having Bridget, who has worked on Lonely Planet guidebooks, has helped my book stand out from competitors.

Even though I have mentioned Katy Latham doing a piece of artwork for my book in an earlier blog post, I would like to thank you for creating a piece of artwork that I believe everyone will appreciate. I can't wait for readers to be able to turn to open my book and see your drawing first. It is a drawing that will forever motivate me to share the darker aspects of our British history.

I also would like to thank my best friends Nicole Usher and Maria Pop for letting me borrow your digital camera to capture pictures of many of the places that feature within the Midlands section of my book. I also would like to thank you for your continued support and positivity throughout the process of my book, it is your constant positivity that has continued to motivate me.

I also would like to thank all of the places that have supported and assisted me in writing my book – from those who have provided me with photos to those who have fact-checked my work and assisted me in telling the history of each place. I would also like to thank those who are also helping me in the marketing of my book; without your continued support, I would not be able to get my book known about, so thank you for sharing my book to a wider audience of people.

I would like to thank my partner Jason Mccaughey for supporting me throughout the whole process of my book, from listening to me talk about the process to helping relieve the burden of stress. I am also grateful for all the memorable days we have had through the process of my book – from the meals out to our crazy gold tournaments- which have helped me to recharge and will always be treasured. By the way, you may have won the battle of crazy golf, but you haven’t won the war.

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to everyone who purchases a copy of my book. As every copy sold will continue to motivate me to share the dark history of Britain, thank you!