A note from Vicky: My Current Health Limitations

Hello there,

Thank you so much for getting in touch with me and enquiring about something work-related. I’m grateful for your interest.

I hate that my health has declined to the point where this page is now necessary. Previously, I tried to reply to every single person who made an enquiry about working with me. As my health has deteriorated further, I’m now barely able to be on my laptop, so (much as I wish I could) I can’t reply to every message about work.

Please don’t take this as offensive, or that you are being brushed off. Not at all! I really value you. Many of you are well known to me, some are even good friends of mine, but for now, I’m not able to email everyone back individually. My health has declined to the point that some days I am only able to read or type for a few minutes a day.

I am incredibly grateful to get asked to do things — like being on podcasts, doing radio interviews, writing endorsements for products, speaking at events, or helping spread the word about people’s new book releases on my social media. I don’t take any of that for granted and am always humbled and honoured that anyone would want to involve me in what they’re doing!

Unfortunately, at the moment my health has declined to the point where I’m not able to do any of those things. I still get a significant number of enquiries every day in my inbox, so I needed a way to say “thank you so much for asking, I really wish I could help, but I’m too unwell”. Hence, the creation of this little web page!

If you’re not aware of my health issues – I have several different chronic illnesses: M.E., Fibromyalgia, an autoimmune disease called Scleroderma, and a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. If you’ve read my book “Undivided”, you’ll know that my health began to decline in 2015. My capacity has reduced every year since.

Now in 2020, things have got a lot worse. My conditions have deteriorated significantly which affects my energy, my cognitive processing speed, and my mobility. I am mostly stuck in bed with chronic fatigue and chronic pain. My brain is affected as the pain and fatigue slow down my thinking, so I am rarely able to read or write for more than a few minutes.

Some of you may think: “OK, but I’m only asking you for something small, like whether you can tweet about my new book’s publication to help spread the word?”. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for me to do this at the moment as I get so many requests to promote products/books on my social media channels that I can’t say “yes” to one and “no” to another without causing offense, so I’m forced to have a hiatus on promoting anything at the moment. I also have a personal commitment that I don’t endorse or promote a book that I haven’t read myself, cover to cover, as I have to know exactly what it contains (even if I know you well!). As I can’t read due to migraines and fatigue from M.E., I can’t manage to get through whole books, which is another reason I sadly can’t do endorsements right now.

Others may ask: “But I just want you to be on my podcast – can’t you just do that from your sofa or your bed?”. I used to be able to make that work in previous years, but now in 2020 my energy has dwindled to the point where I need every grain of energy each day to do basic things like getting dressed, eating food and cleaning my flat. It’s scary to have no ‘spare energy’ and this is the most unwell I’ve been in my life.

Thank you for understanding that this page isn’t me brushing anyone off, or not caring enough to email a more personal message. I wish I could do so.

If my health improves to the point where I am able to write forewords for books, or be on podcasts, or take part in radio interviews, or promote products on my social media again, I’ll make that well-known on my social media channels, so that’s the best place to look for updates.

I’m so sorry not to be able to help this time. Thanks again for your interest in working with me.

Vicky x