Today I am so pleased to welcome C.F. White to Joyfully Jay. C.F. has come to talk to us about her latest release, Responsible Adult Series. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Share Your Heart: Raising Awareness for Williams Syndrome & The Responsible Adult Serial

Thank you so much for having me today on Joyfully Jay. Today is a rather special day for me – it’s the international Williams Syndrome (WS) Awareness Day, so what better way to celebrate than to tell you all about WS and why it’s important to me, and my three book Responsible Adult serial.

Williams Syndrome is a rare genetic condition that affects one in twenty-thousand births and is caused by a spontaneous and random deletion of 26-28 genes on chromosome #7. The condition itself is characterized by medical problems, including cardiovascular disease, developmental delays, and learning challenges. But a far more fascinating trait that those who have WS share is their unique personalities. WS people are particularly friendly, overly social and have an affinity for music. In a nut shell, they are everybody’s friend, will talk the hind legs off a donkey and love a good boogie. Don’t we all, I hear you say. Well, not like these lot, I can assure you. I’ve been to many a party and gathering with them, because my son was diagnosed with WS at 3 months old.

So why am I telling you about WS and my son? Well, he’s pretty much the very reason why I started writing again. I used to write as a child and into my teen years, but then life took over and I never found the time anymore. Ironically, the moment my free time was limited further when my second son was born disabled, I suddenly found myself making the time. I had a lot of it when he was a baby — he never slept. And when I mean never, I’m talking never. He’d be up all night. So to keep myself amused whilst gently rocking him or pacing the living room whilst soothing him, I created stories in my head. Then, when I got the chance, I started writing them down. Slowly but surely, I was working on a couple of novels without really realising it.

My son is the very inspiration behind my Responsible Adult series of books. Being so overly social, so friendly, and not seeing the ill in anyone, a WS little boy made for a perfect character. Especially when giving him a bad boy big brother who has a past life full of juvenile delinquency and making him his sole carer. Because I defy anyone to not have their hearts melted by Flynn. And that was the whole premise behind the three book series. How this little boy sees the good in everyone, when many of us struggle to do the same, and how he can change his big brother’s outlook on life by helping him open his eyes to love.

Like Micky says in Misdemeanor:

“He’s an eternal child. Sees the world like it should be in a fairy tale, minus the evil characters. Everything is bright and beautiful and everyone is his friend.” Micky hesitated. “It’s a real shame that life isn’t like that. Because a world full of Flynns would be the one I wanna live in.”

This series is about having to grow up, having to make sacrifices, having to make tough choices, and having to take responsibility. Micky is nineteen and had to take care of his little brother after the tragic death of his mother. He’s already harbouring many a secret and had a past life of juvenile delinquency in a small town that he cannot escape from. Micky wasn’t ready, nor equipped, to be sole carer to a disabled child. And, although I am a fair bit older than he, and I, at least, made the choice to have a child, I still feel exactly like he does—juggling through life, making decisions and choices I feel completely unqualified to make. But that’s my lot as a mother. And that is Micky’s lot as a big brother. Luckily Micky gets a little help along the way, even if he doesn’t accept it right away.

In honour of Williams Syndrome Awareness Day, Pride Publishing are putting Misdemeanor, Hard Time and Reformed on a price promotion. You can now get all three books at 99p/c each on Friday 18th May. Link here: https://www.pride-publishing.com/serial/responsible-adult, but you can also buy it at this price at most other retailers.

If you’d like to learn more about Williams Syndrome, then you can find out all the excellent work that the charities in both the UK and US do here:

These charities are solely run by the parents for the parents. They don’t receive government funding, they rely on donations. Without these charities, many families would be completely isolated in their communities and I salute the brilliant work they do in raising awareness, giving information and organising gatherings for all our WS people to chat, laugh and dance at. Just like we all need to do from time to time.

I’ll finish off by asking that we all try to be a little bit like our Williams Syndrome friends. Be nice. Be kind. Be friendly. And, using the WS motto, please if only for Williams Syndrome Day, share your heart.

Thank you for listening and hosting me today, giving me this opportunity to share a little of my heart with you all.

Share-your-heart-master


Blurb

Responsible Adult SeriesThe Responsible Adult series follows bad boy Micky O’Neill as he attempts to better his life to bring up his disabled little brother. A past full of juvenile delinquency and living in a small town rife with idle gossip means Micky struggles to be seen as anything other than a no-hoper from the wrong side of the tracks… until he takes a job at the local supermarket and meets his boss, Dan, a university graduate and self-proclaimed shy, awkward bookworm.

Dan, older and burned from a past relationship, is the one person who sees through Micky’s tough-guy facade to the true heart underneath. With fear and mistrust on both sides, the two must steer their way through a complicated relationship where outside forces are determined to break them up at every turn.

Responsible Adult is a series about growing up and learning that falling in love always brings responsibility.


Bio

Brought up in a relatively small town in Hertfordshire, C F White managed to do what most other residents try to do and fail—leave.

Studying at a West London university, she realised there was a whole city out there waiting to be discovered, so, much like Dick Whittington before her, she never made it back home and still endlessly searches for the streets paved with gold, slowly coming to the realisation they’re mostly paved with chewing gum. And the odd bit of graffiti. And those little circles of yellow spray paint where the council point out the pot holes to someone who is supposedly meant to fix them instead of staring at them vacantly whilst holding a polystyrene cup of watered-down coffee.

She eventually moved West to East along that vast District Line and settled for pie and mash, cockles and winkles and a bit of Knees Up Mother Brown to live in the East End of London; securing a job and creating a life, a home and a family.

Having worked in Higher Education for most of her career, a life-altering experience brought pen back to paper after she’d written stories as a child but never had the confidence to show them to the world. Having embarked on this writing malarkey, C F White cannot stop. So strap in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride…

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