In last week's League Express there was a letter from me in which I referred to the issue of mental health and how it can affect some players when they finish playing, some referees when they finish refereeing and any number of supporters when they grow old. My suggestion of a way to keep mentally healthy is to start writing a novel based broadly on your own life and times, your family history, schooldays, employment, home town and its history and culture and your connections with and your knowledge of your favourite sport.
Many people who I have said this to have agreed that it seems a good idea but that they would not know how to do. For them I have written three pages of general advice and encouragement . I am in a good position to do this because since starting to write 'One Winter' as a hobby in 1988, I have now written half a million words in six novels in a series that runs between 1961 and 2008 and is set in a fictional town called Ashurst, set a couple of miles to the east of St Helens!
If any one reading all this would like to be sent these three pages , which are called Geoff's RL Writing Notes, then just E Mail me at
wgeofflee@gmail.com and I'll send them to you.
However if you prefer to read one of my novels first or make it a Christmas present for someone who enjoys a good
laugh, go to the London League Publications website at
http://www.llpshop.co.uk and click on Books and then Fiction.
Or you can do both!