So Much Happening!

October 22, 2008 · Filed Under Dyslexia, Dyslexia Week, Go Play in the Sand, Jill Tipping, Security Film, U V Shield · Comment 

I have asked Jill to write this for me. I am feeling pretty tired at the moment and writing my blog is quite hard. So, as I have things to say I have asked her very nicely to do it for me.

It is Dyslexia Week coming up starting 9th November. It is also Enterprise Week the week before. I am going to be doing a talk for a group at the University. I love doing talks but I never feel I am very good at them because I always feel there have been things that I have forgotten to say. People seem to enjoy them though.

My book is going really well and all of a sudden we have had loads of orders which is great. We sell through Waterstones and all the other bookshops, but we also sell from the publishers site. Just follow the link through from my book. I havejust spoken to the Kent Messenger and hopefully they will be doing an article about my journey in the local paper. Perhaps also on the radio as well!

I am also having a meeting soon about going into the schools to help out in all sorts fo ways with the dyslexic kids to encourage them to stretch out and have big ambitions despite having reading problems. This is my real passion in life so I am very excited about that.

I am going to be on ‘Sheppey Island Discs’ soon. That is going to be fun. You can have a choice of music and then a luxury item and then A BOOK! Not sure that would be much good for me, but if I keep going with my reading, who knows!! (Jill said my luxury item could be the remote control – she calls it my ‘Noo Noo’ as I always have to have it by me! Very funny!!)

I am definitely improving in my reading. My teacher is very strict and so is Jill. I have to read every day which doesn’t sound much but to me that is really hard work, especially when I am tired. I have read about David Beckham last week and this week it is a poem and a recipe, all specially written to teach me how to say the sounds. It is a work book really with exercises for writing as well (which I am particularly bad at).

Work is busy at the moment with my UV Shield Window Film Business. What recession!! I am going up to London tomorrow to see one of my favourite clients to talk to him about Security Film. I have window filmed his house and his offices and I am hoping he will be able to point me in the right direction for getting more work in London.

Off to post off some more books and see another client so must dash.

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Conquering the Vowels

August 27, 2008 · Filed Under Dyslexia, Go Play in the Sand, John Tipping, Phil Beadle · Comment 

A E I O U. You can throw them at me in any order and I can now SOUND THEM! Why is after 42 years I can now do it. I have practised and practised and they nowmake sense. You see, before they were just shapes. I knew what they were called – I could say their names – but I couldn’t sound them out. Now I can! Dare I believe that this is the start of a miracle? I have just had the one lesson because my teacher has been on holiday but bless her, she kept emailing us on her Blackberry to make sure I was OK. She knows how difficult it is to concentrate on something that seems so simple to everyone else but can seem like a mountain to climb to someone who is dyslexic.

I has been an interesting week. I have been busy doing all sorts of things. One minute I am at a networking meeting promoting my book (I sold 18 in one day on Friday!). It is weird because as I pass the book over I look at that person and think, ‘ooops, they are about to find out about some of my most inner thoughts and feelings’. But so what! What is the point of writing your life story but only putting in half of the story. There may well be a few people who are a but upset by things I have written and I am sorry about that, but it forms part of my life and I am just writing about my own feelings. If they want to, they can write a book about their feelings too – no one is stopping them!

So, one minute I am in my suit at business meetings and then the next I am in my U V Shield T shirt

The U V Shield Teamputting up Security Film on some windows and then I am digging a hole putting in road signs. Never a dull moment! Here is a picture of me and Sam, my Step-son who comes out to work with me. He is only 15 but has loads of practical sense so is a great asset. We have a good laugh when we are out working. He’ll be back at school soon so I will be back on my own again.

This week I am swapping between putting up window film and helping my mate Colin put in my Mum’s bathroom. Challenging! I would never make a plumber that’s for sure.
Last Wednesday we went up to London to meet Phil Beadle for dinner and a catch up. It was a really nice evening. Phil is really interested to see how I get on with my reading. He is convinced that I can do it as long as I find the ‘key’. He is helping us to promote the book. He and Jill did a lot of talking and I did a lot of listening. The thing with a dyslexic brain is that it takes longer to process information, so once you have worked out what has been said and then thought of something sensible to say, the conversation has moved on to another topic, especially if you are trying to keep up with Jill and Phil!! That’s why everybody thinks that I make random comments – I am always a couple of topics behind! I don’t mind. I think it makes me ‘mysterious’!

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