Tim ‘humbled’ by regional honour for book
Mental health service user Tim MacWilliam has received regional recognition for his book about living with ADHD.
His book, Sit Still Timmy!, was named overall winner in the biography and memoir category for the East Anglian Book Awards. Tim and his family attended a Celebration of New East Anglian Writing on Thursday 15 February.
Tim, who receives treatment from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust adult ADHD team was also joined by supporters, people participation co-ordinator Andrea Bland and clinical nurse specialist Angie North.
The audience on the night heard from the six category winners, who shared their publishing experiences and talked about what the region means to their writing.
In his book Tim candidly shares his experiences of living with undiagnosed ADHD, the good, the bad and the hilarious, as well as the impact of this condition on those around him, not least his wife, Catherine, who wrote the final chapter, describing her experiences of living with someone with u ndiagnosed ADHD for many years.
Angie said: “We were delighted to learn Tim was the overall winner for his category, and were thrilled to be there with him, and his family, when he received his award.”
“Tim tells us he may consider children’s literature in the future and plans to include Andrea and myself, as a pair of mischievous aunties. I can’t imagine where he gets his inspiration from. Well done Tim we are all very proud of you.”
Sit Still Timmy! is a self-help book combined into a life story of late-diagnosed ADHD designed to help those with the condition, those yet to be diagnosed, and close family members forced to endure the daily fallout of unpredictable behaviour.
“I’m thrilled that Sit Still Timmy! won the biography and memoir category for this prestigious award,” said Tim. “I really enjoyed the awards ceremony and felt quite humbled to be nominated among the other category winners who wrote such fantastic and varied books.”
He added: “ADHD affects one in 20 people, and I hope this memoir will help those with and without the disorder to understand more about this roller coaster of a condition. Perhaps my English teacher who threw me out of her class all those years ago will get to hear about it.”
Tim, who lives in Wymondham, was 58 when he was diagnosed, having been branded lazy and foolish by teachers, relatives and peers at school and regularly walking out of or being sacked from jobs. “I always knew there was probably something different about me, although I had no idea what,” he said.
His epiphany came after his daughter, who works in mental health, suggested he might have ADHD. “At that moment, life made sense for the first time in over half a century. Sit Still, Timmy! aims, in turn, to help those recently diagnosed make sense of their life and realise it is OK to be you,” he said.
The book takes readers on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, including suicidal thoughts, self-harm and addiction, dodging live ammunition during a charity walk on the Isle of Wight and losing young children on the beach and car keys in the sea.