A. B. Aldman

Becoming a husband and then not too much later a father, I felt my identity disappearing. I tried to talk, I tried exercise but writing has been the best outlet for me.

We writers are under pressure. Most of us are not professional writers and have other things to do. Work. Families. These have their own pressures. Let's not pressure ourselves too much.

Do you know what the two deadliest words are in the English language? I am going to tell you if you listen to this podcast. My podcasts are raw, unedited, and real. This one isn't really about writing as such but it is related to how I am where I am and I am certain I'm not the only man to have experienced these words.

Ultimately i started writing, in blog form, because of an anxiety attack. I enjoyed the writing it was cathartic but also it helped get my thoughts straight. Many people didnt like the way i wrote, saying i was to open and too raw and i ended up stopping the blog. I regret it. A positive is i started my novel instead and i am loving it.

Us writers take inspiration from many places, especially life experiences. I have struggled with body confidence and low self esteem all of my life and I can almost pin it down to an event that happened when I was 11/12 years old. This has influenced and event right at the beginning of my book and it wasn't easy to write but at the same time I enjoyed putting it on paper.

I write to help with mental health and to keep control of my anxiety and depression. Being a husband, father of three and working full time, finding time to write can be difficult. I haven't found a great solution to this yet, but managing to write a minimum of 500 words per day at the moment.

I started my podcast so you can follow me on my journey writing my first novel. A few years ago I started a blog, documenting my experience with depression and mental health. Pressure from family and friend meant I stopped writing this podcast, but I am back and writing a novel. This novel isn't biographical, but a lot of my thoughts and emotions have gone into this book.