It seems there is a day, or week everything now. National cat lady day has just gone, but national bow tie is just around the corner (I’m particularly excited about that one). Right now we’re slap bang in the middle of Tourette’s awareness month (yes, we want an entire month). To me this is a particularly important one (not that ‘m saying bow-tie day isn’t) as Tourette’s has always been so misunderstood. The only time you see characters with Tourette’s on TV or in novels there’s a lot of shouting and swearing, usually with ‘hilarious consequences.’ I’m not saying that doesn’t exist. The vocal tics and the swearing is a rare form of Tourette’s called Coprolalia. It’s a harsh unforgiving condition, and certainly nothing to laugh about. I have the upmost respect for those guys.

But Tourette’s is more than that. It’s the jerky neck movement, the eye blinking, the throat clearing and wrist flicking. It’s millions of different tics that are individual and unique to each person with the condition. They continually change, new ones coming and going, and others sticking around for years.

That’s why I chose to write ‘Touretti Spaghetti’. It’s the story of Adam, a fifteen year old boy who suffers with Tourette’s. The story follows him through ten years of his life, from his days as the misunderstood ‘weird kid’ at school to…well that would be giving too much away. But what I wanted to achieve in the pages of this book is to tell the story of one boy’s struggle towards acceptance. I wanted to tell a real story about what it’s like to live with this, about what it’s really like. I wanted a leading character with the condition, and not just for comedy relief. I wanted someone you could cheer on and want the best for. It’s not a book of car chases and explosions. It’s about life, love, friendship and rising above adversity.

I wanted the book to help promote awareness, so it seemed only right that in Tourette’s awareness month I should make it available to as many people as possible. That’s why I have made it available for free on Kindle. It’s only for five days (sadly that’s all Kindle would allow me at one time) so get downloading it now – I’ve posted the link at the bottom. If yu like it, please help a brother out and talk about it, repost it, review it. Write ups on Amazon are particularly great. Even if it’s only just one line. It really helps. Or post something in the comments, or on my Facebook or Twitter. Even if it’s just saying ‘hi’.

Get it free on Kindle here.

Or hit me up on Twitter and Facebook.