Lost and Found: Life often doesn’t look great written down, unless you turn it into a story.

By B. E. Bradshaw-Baird and Daniel J. Pouncey

Growing up we all feel overwhelmed, even suffocated by our thoughts and worries of everything new and scary to us. We have heads full of questions that bleed into our chests with the strain of never getting an answer.

But what if they were to be answered? What if there was a way to the ending everyone around you says you will find eventually? If someone could tell you these things, would you listen? Would you go with them on their journeys and struggles for some small hope of validation? Or even just a glimpse of something new, if so then read on.

Follow that curiosity, let these characters show you their paths and how they stumbled upon them, and see how even they, with so much life behind them, have no idea where it will lead them. Here you may find something familiar, something comforting, or even something you’ve been burying deep down for a while now. Or you may find nothing at all because you’re a perfectly stable and put-together human being and always have been, who will simply enjoy these little stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398423329

B. E. Bradshaw-Baird

B. E. Bradshaw-Baird graduated with a joint honour’s degree in English Literature and Film and Television Studies from Nottingham Trent University. She now works and lives in her hometown in Northamptonshire with her family, where she spends her spare time writing, reading her way through her ever-growing shelves of books, painting with no concern of quality, and procrastinating anything important.

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About the Author

B. E. Bradshaw-Baird graduated with a joint honour’s degree in English Literature and Film and Television Studies from Nottingham Trent University. She now works and lives in her hometown in Northamptonshire with her family, where she spends her spare time writing, reading her way through her ever-growing shelves of books, painting with no concern of quality, and procrastinating anything important.

Dedication

For my mum, who gave me her fire and showed me why it was important to be brave, and protected me so well that I never had to be. For my dad, who helped me see everything good and wonderful in my life, and helped me make peace with the parts of it I could not control.

Copyright Information ©

B. E. Bradshaw-Baird 2022

Illustrated by: Daniel J. Pouncey

The right of B. E. Bradshaw-Baird and Daniel J. Pouncey to be identified as author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398423312 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398423329 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

To start with the obvious and the most important, thank you to my mum and dad for raising me with a deep sense of appreciation for everything I have, but also in an environment where I felt safe and protected, as well as free to go as far as I dared. I would never have found the courage to try without your support and unconditional love. Thank you to my brothers Ashley, Brett, and Caleb for letting me rant and worry about my ideas I feared would never get out of my head, and always being excited for even the smallest breakthrough. Thank you to my best friends Daniel and Alex for being creative geniuses and working with me on everything we do together with such passion and diplomacy, we’re just getting started. Thank you to my teachers, in which I include my amazing aunts and uncles for always helping me move forward when I was falling behind and didn’t want to try anymore. And of course, thank you to Austin Macauley Publishers for giving my work a second glance.

Introduction

Everyone knows this.

You’re young, you grow, you learn, repeat.

No one is an exception and it never stops.

And it shouldn’t.

But at some point along the way, sometimes several points, you forget and you think you’ve evolved to the ultimate version of yourself, you’ve got it all figured out and nothing can surprise you anymore.

Sometimes this is an encouraging thought, sometimes a terrifying one.

But it doesn’t matter because it’s bullshit anyway.

No one stops, and if you have and think it’s just age, it’s not, you’ve just decided to close your mind to new experiences and outlooks.

Maybe this is for self-preservation or protection, or maybe you enjoy feeling like the smart one who’s all grown up.

Please don’t do this to yourself.

Learn.

Unlearn.

Relearn.

Change.

Grow.

Evolve.

Fuck up.

Fix it.

Move on.

Live.

I can help if you like, just give you a little example of how I think I’ve grown.

Ever since I was little, if I was upset or worrying about something, or I just felt strongly enough about something that it was getting distracting, I would write it down.

Just how it was, exactly as I felt at that moment, no editing, just venting.

And it always helped, like a weight off my back so I could deal with it, or move on.

I found these notes a little while ago, and was surprised at how much I disagreed with myself.

Not to say I think I was wrong necessarily; I just think differently