CHRONIC! Anthology

The South Hams Authors Network is proud to support this project, which centres real voices and real experiences. 

CALLING ALL WRITERS, POETS, RANTERS, AND REBELS…

If you’re ready to submit your work for the Anthology – send it using this link: https://roguedebby.co.uk/chronic-anthology/

Why This Matters...

Chronic illness is often misunderstood, invisible, or overlooked. It can take decades for people to be diagnosed. Through this anthology, we aim to foster understanding, connection, and awareness. We hope to lift the spirits of others living with similar issues and provide understanding to those around us. These stories are not just about illness — they’re about life, love, creativity, and the human spirit.

We’re talking about the daily grind of invisible illnesses — the kind that take years to diagnose, if they’re diagnosed at all. The kind where doctors shrug, families roll their eyes, and you're left Googling your own symptoms in the dark while someone tells you to “just go for a jog.”

Our community has been gaslit, sidelined, misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, and basically told to shut up and stretch. We’ve been dumped into the “fibro/CFS/ME/hypochondriac” pile and then blamed for not getting better fast enough. (Spoiler alert: kale doesn't cure systemic inflammation.)

So, we’re calling on you — if you’ve got something to say (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, haiku, rants, jokes, visual art — hell, even a scribble on the back of a napkin), we want it.

We want the beauty and the horror. The tragic and the hilarious. The absurd moments, the awkward doctor visits, the polite nods from friends who secretly think you’re just being dramatic. No pity, no sugar-coating, and absolutely no use of the word “suffering.” We live with this stuff — and we do it with grit, sarcasm, and probably a heating pad strapped to our lower back.

Over 30% of the UK population are dealing with conditions nobody wants to believe in. The rate is higher in the USA. If we're all faking it, we’d choose a condition you could believe in.

This anthology is about those of us labelled fat, lazy, anxious, depressed — or worse, “non-compliant” as a way to show our truth to be seen and heard. We’re here to break the silence, smash the stigma, and maybe get a laugh or two in while we’re at it.