I feel the need to apologise for my disappearance. It isn't that I don't love you. And I do feel guilty about not checking in. But the cold, hard fact is that I've been busy. Really busy. Too busy to post important blog updates and keep my two followers entertained.
What have I been up to?
I've been working hard with the girls over at Pankhearst to turn out some quality writing. I'm part of a collaborative effort to deliver punchy stories to an eager public. That's you!
Hopefully I will have something to show you soon. You can read a bit of my story on the website linked above and I highly encourage you to take a gander. I imagine this is going to be hugely successful and you will all want to be on board from the word go.
Also, please take a look at my friend Zoe's blog. She is far lovelier than I will ever be and blogs more often as well.
May 29, 2012
May 3, 2012
Mental Illness
Yesterday I participated in a discussion on Twitter for LitChat. This was the first time I'd ever done something like this. It was, to say the least, interesting. The subject was mental illness in literature. I wasn't sure the protocol for interacting, so I started out by simply mentioning books I knew that had main characters who were affected by mental illness, or books which were centralised around it.
After several suggestions, the conversation turned to why characters with these disorders are so engaging and memorable.
I ventured a guess that it is because all of us have been touched by mental illness. Meaning, we all know someone who has battled these diseases, if not ourselves. Whether they are trying to battle through depression, struggling with an eating disorder, or working to come to terms with schizophrenia. We have been witnesses to how close minded society is when it comes to these sorts of illnesses.
If we don't see a wound it's hard to come to terms with the sickness.
The books which touch on or centralise around mental health interest us because it is exploring an area so many of us live, but which society treats as taboo.
This is just a fleeting blog post on what was discussed, but I would like to see a light shone on mental illness. So people can understand it and realise how numbing and life changing it is. Not to mention how rampant.
Here are ten books and their links which touch on mental illness:
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
I Know This Much Is True
Hamlet
Girl, Interrupted
Fight Club
Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time
She's Come Undone
The Gargoyle
The Bell Jar
Prozac Nation
After several suggestions, the conversation turned to why characters with these disorders are so engaging and memorable.
I ventured a guess that it is because all of us have been touched by mental illness. Meaning, we all know someone who has battled these diseases, if not ourselves. Whether they are trying to battle through depression, struggling with an eating disorder, or working to come to terms with schizophrenia. We have been witnesses to how close minded society is when it comes to these sorts of illnesses.
If we don't see a wound it's hard to come to terms with the sickness.
The books which touch on or centralise around mental health interest us because it is exploring an area so many of us live, but which society treats as taboo.
This is just a fleeting blog post on what was discussed, but I would like to see a light shone on mental illness. So people can understand it and realise how numbing and life changing it is. Not to mention how rampant.
Here are ten books and their links which touch on mental illness:
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
I Know This Much Is True
Hamlet
Girl, Interrupted
Fight Club
Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time
She's Come Undone
The Gargoyle
The Bell Jar
Prozac Nation
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