Georgie's story

"My life has been transformed over the last two years and I can say with absolute certainty that I owe it all to the Expert Patients Programme."

Georgie
Newcastle

Georgie Foord has had fibromyalgia since 1997 and was coping well with her exercise regime and careful diet. Attending an EPP course in 2003 helped her to achieve her goal of publishing her own work.

Do you remember that long hot summer of 2003? I was newly retired, bored and restless, drifting aimlessly through the weeks. Then my husband, visiting our local hospital, picked up a leaflet that changed my life. 'Thought this might interest you,' he said, waving it in my direction. "Be An Expert Patient" I read. Apparently I could join a course aimed at improving life for people with long-term medical conditions. I should explain that I've had fibromyalgia since 1997. I thought I had been managing quite well on my own, with my exercise regime and careful dieting to control my weight. Why should I want to go on a course? I didn't feel ready to be classified as someone with a chronic illness.

However, I allowed myself to be persuaded and on a stifling hot day in July I arrived at the community centre in Ferndown, one of a group of a dozen people of all ages and with all manner of problems. The challenge to commit myself to doing something I had always meant to do but kept putting off was a surprise. The other people on the course concentrated on pledging to exercise more - go swimming, walk a mile a day and so on. But this was already part of my life. What could I do?

And then it happened. I don't know where it came from but I found myself saying that I was going to enrol on a Creative Writers' course. Writing was always something I was going to do "sometime in the future". I had been scribbling stories since I was a child, but in my heart of hearts I had to acknowledge that I was scared of putting myself in the limelight, risking ridicule and rejection. What on earth was I doing? Before I could change my mind I went to the library and picked up a copy of the Adult Education brochure. There were several classes I could join, but when I contacted the office I found the Beginner's Class was full. Help! But a promise was a promise, and nothing daunted I enrolled in a class entitled "Writing Fiction to Sell".

September came around and, quaking at the knees, I turned up to my first session. All the other people there seemed to know each other and had been going to the class for years. But very soon I was made to feel welcome, nobody asked me to read out my work until I felt ready, and they were all very encouraging, any criticism was constructive and really helpful. It was more like a coffee morning with friends than an educational class. We were given lots of tips about how to target various markets (all the popular women's magazines) and the format to use when submitting material. To my delight I sold my first story to "People's Friend" magazine the following March, and during summer of 2004 I earned enough from my writing to pay for a week's cruise on the Nile!

I am still going to the class and my tally is now nine stories or articles sold. I spend several hours a day at my computer, although I have to take frequent breaks to rest my muscles (the fibromyalgia has not gone away). My life has been transformed over the last two years and I can say with absolute certainty that I owe it all to the Expert Patients Programme.