Mental Health & Coping

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

So why do I seemingly so often write about mental health? About characters struggling with mental health?

Because I'm human.

In fact, when IN SIGHT OF STARS, my first book that really centered around one boy's struggle with his mental health/state, got classified (by a publishing INDUSTRY needing to label how to shelve things in a bookstore) as a book about mental illness, it surprised me a little.

I hadn't written a story about a kid with mental illness (nor had I NOT written that story. . . ).  I simply wrote a story about a boy -- this boy, Klee -- who had one-too-many hard things pile on him and felt like he couldn't cope anymore.

Who fell apart.

Who broke temporarily.

And who, then, found a way -- WITH HELP -- to pull himself back together for the time being.

All things I had experienced or witnessed as part of my journey as a human.

In my newest book, JACK KEROUAC IS DEAD TO ME, my main character's mother, most visibly, struggles with her own mental health. Her diagnosis would likely skew toward more definitive mental illness, but she has not yet been fully diagnosed.

In that story, I try to show how hard it can be to get a grasp on some struggles, and how it might affect the child of a parent struggling. But it is without judgment.

My goal is always to give my characters room to suffer, and even to break, and the hope -- and room -- to heal again.

The world is harder than ever (ya think!?!)

Even without a country divided and a pandemic, I believe we all have, or will, face mental health challenges in our lives at one point or another, and the more we talk about our struggles, the more connected we are, and the more able we will be to reach out for help and heal.

That's why my friend, and world's best virtual co-hugger, Cheryl Rainfield, is asking us all to band together tomorrow, Thursday April 23rd, to let others know there is #NoShameInCoping, that it's okay to #ShieldYourMentalHealth, and to #ReachOutToConnect. 

Learn more about Cheryl HERE.

You can find more information here: http://cherylrainfield.com/blog/index.php/2020/04/21/the-pandemic-is-traumatizing-join-me-thursday-april-23-in-letting-others-know-there-is-noshameincoping-and-that-its-okay-to-shieldyourmentalhealth-and-to-reachouttoconnect/

So, let's all #ReachOutToConnect !!!

There is no shame in needing help. There is no stigma in falling apart. There is #NoShameInCoping

And you have every right to #ShieldYourMentalHealth 

Please know there are good and skilled people out there who care and want to help. They can and they will.

I know. I've met them.

xox gae

IN SIGHT OF STARS Cover Reveal, courtesy of the Nerdy Book Club

Many of you know my love for the Nerdy Book Club, not just the incredible co-founders, but the teachers, librarians, educators and authors who keep Nerdy book love and book awareness circulating every day through their blogs, posts, tweets, #nErDCamps (look for one popping up near you!) and other Nerdy endeavors.

I wish I had more time today -- I don't!! -- to write a long post about WHY I love the Nerdy Book Club (it wouldn't be the first time) or how, without them, and particularly without Paul W. Hankins, Donalyn Miller, Cindy Minnich and Colby Sharp, I might not have ever had a second book on the horizon, let alone my fourth, because, ultimately, sales matter.

Suffice it to say, THE PULL OF GRAVITY was a quiet little title that Paul Hankins refused to keep quiet on, and for that, I am forever grateful.

I am also the proud recipient of THREE Nerdy Book Club Awards for YA Fiction, and a Crane Award from Mr. Hankins and Room #407, and fight to believe with all my heart that these have been bestowed on me, not only because the NBC loves me as a human (But, I do feel that love and appreciate it!), but also because they truly love -- and get -- my often quiet, always literary books.

At any rate, a HUGE thank you for the Nerdy Book Club sharing the excitement of my IN SIGHT OF STARS cover reveal. And thank you to my extraordinary editor, Vicki Lame, who entertains (and weathers!) my very strong aesthetic for color and tiny details.

Enjoy:

https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2017/06/02/cover-reveal-of-in-sight-of-stars-by-gae-polisner/


p.s. It's #wearorange for #gunsense day today, and, man-oh-man (and woman!) we need some. So, if you're headed out into the world today or tonight, don orange, even if *someone* has ruined that color for many of us! ;)