Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)

You can buy me a coffee if you like! More accurately, you can help support my work either as a one off or monthly if you really want to show your love…

No sooner did I announce in April that I was going to start a subscriber service here where you could pay what you want (including nothing at all) to read my posts, than everything went to shit around me and both reading and writing came to a grinding halt.

My son had a very bad motorcycle accident at the beginning of May, spending a long time in a coma and nearly as long coming out of said coma before rehab for him could even begin. He finally came home from Preston Hospital a month after his accident and remains wheelchair-bound though – mercifully – with his brain fully intact. That was a miracle considering he broke most bones in his head and had major bleeds internally. He also permanently lost the use of one carotid artery. He really was a mess.

Simultaneously, my brother-in-law got a heart infection and also went into a coma. He took even longer to finally be released and now lives with us too. Already severely disabled, he needs almost as much care as our son.

Finally, through all this, we had my mother-in-law to contend with. I’ve been saying for the best part of a year that she’s ‘not right’ and showing clear signs of dementia, but the medical authorities repeatedly decided she was ‘absolutely fine’. She was not. Rather too late, we’ve had confirmation she has Parkinson’s but, unfortunately, the dementia side has worsened considerably. She too now lives with us.

All of which has meant, if I’m honest, that I’ve been either too exhausted or (sometimes) too depressed to read. And without reading, it is difficult to write book reviews. Thus, the hiatus.

Things are a little better now. Our son is becoming a whizz in the chair and able to do quite a lot for himself now. My brother-in-law is adapting to living here and even coping with a highly anxious – and slightly scary* – German Shepherd dog who still doesn’t entirely trust him. My mother-in-law is finally receiving some of the support she actually deserves (you know, like medicines and things they finally judged us worthy of after weeks of fighting). The sun remains shining and the birds are singing too. Peace is restored (for now).

This is a good time to say thank you to everyone who ‘bought a coffee’ using the link above to help cover the horrendous costs of travelling every other day to Preston – a round trip of seven hours, which meant many cancelled lessons and meetings with clients and thus no income. We continue to have considerable costs, though nowhere near as bad as they were, so if you fancy helping out, please do ‘buy a coffee’. Thanks.

So… long story short, I’m back and hoping that reviews will start again imminently. In the meantime, the lovely Jen Bowden, over at Northern Voices, has recently interviewed me about my novel, The Pukur, and what it is like being a writer in the North of England.

The interview isn’t out yet but one she did recently with my good friend and podcast collaborator, Nicholas Graham, is out now and you can listen to it here or click the link below. If that doesn’t whet your appetite for my interview, I don’t know what will! Nick is obscenely knowledgeable and, almost as obscenely, genuinely lovely, so do have a listen, find out about his superb novel, The Judas Case, and send some love his way. He’s also a true northerner, though he hides it well.

*I say slightly scary, but one very good friend admitted to me recently: “I know you love her and with you she’s adorable but for the rest of us she’s fucking terrifying”. Fair point.

Interested in learning more about this book? Shortform provide a brilliant set of summary notes you will find really helpful. Get your free trial here with 20% off the subscription you use the link.

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

Get a free trial and 20% off Shortform by clicking here. Shortform is a brilliant tool and comes with my highest recommendation.