A FOREST woman has co-authored a book ready for an Amazon October release with eight other authors. 

Alison Roberts, originally from Aberdeen and now living in Coleford, contributed a chapter to The Grief That Doesn’t Count, which is a collection of true stories written by women who have experienced unrecognised forms of loss in their lives. 

Alison said: “Because it’s called The Grief That Doesn’t Count, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s about a loved one that passed – which everyone thinks of as grief.

“This book is about other experiences in your life – like some of the other stories where they’ve been adopted, and that’s a quite traumatic thing to happen.

“My story is about my mother not allowing me to be myself and wanting me to be somebody else, never being good enough.

“That’s a grief because it stays with you. Some of the other stories are really heart-wrenching but my one is like a follow-on from my mum and then my sister would put me down all the time. 

“I didn’t know how to deal with it at the time, but writing this book has been a healing process for me and for the other authors.

“There have been parts where I’ve really wanted to end my life, which is in the chapter. So there’s lots of experiences, traumatic experiences that affect you in your life.”

This will be the first time Alison has authored a published book, and she said it took around eight months to write. 

She said: “I’ve been following a lady called Cassandra Welford, who is an author. She’s published about nine books herself.

“Some are her own books but the other books are co-authored. I got to know of her through a friend, Ellie Charles, who is an author as well.” 

Cassandra Welford is one of the authors of the book and a publisher through Welford Publishing, who have previously published The Girl Who Refused to Quit series. 

Alison described the writing process as done in several stages.

She said: “You’re given how many words, like 3000 words, and then a couple of months to at least get started.

“Every month after that we did a group call so Cassandra would tell you things and explain things. We always had her support behind us along the way.” 

Alison previously considered writing a book as the sole author a few years ago with Welford Publishing.

She said: “I started going there for a couple of months, going along with trying to write my own book, but it just didn’t go very far. I don’t think it was the right time and wasn’t meant to be.” 

However, Alison hopes to revisit the idea in the future as there’s “only so much you can fit in one chapter” and can explain a lot more about her experiences in depth. 

Alison also gave advice for younger authors, or authors who have not yet had their work published. She said: “The best advice I can give is to never give up. If you know you’ve got that feeling inside you that you know you can write a good book, personal or whatever, it’s definitely worth it.”

Some of the authors will be meeting in October for an official book launch to celebrate the release of their work, however the plans have not yet been finalised. 

You can keep up to date through the Welford Publishing website or via their social media platforms, and perhaps grab your copy in October by visiting the Amazon website.