And The Winners Are ...

Thank you to all who entered to win a copy of "Stress Fracture: A Memoir of Psychosis." 

Congratulations to:

• Brittany from Illinois
• Melissa from Nevada
• Sandra from North Carolina. 

Thank you to Goodreads for hosting the giveaway.

A Word on Wednesday: Suffer

Using the verb suffer with an object is one of my word choice pet peeves. The culprit is the acceptable definition  No. 5: "to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, or anything unpleasantness).

Consider when the object of the sentence is an illness:

She suffers from diabetes.

He suffers from cancer. 

I suffer from bipolar disorder.

Now consider the same idea told with a different action verb. The subject of the sentence sounds stronger in every instance.

She manages her diabetes. 

He lives with cancer.

I treat my bipolar disorder. 

I blame well-meaning writing coaches for campaigning against the use of passive language. We are taught the following statements are weak.

She has diabetes.

He has cancer.

I have bipolar disorder. 

So rather than clearly and objectively stating a condition, writers are supposed to replace the passive "has" with an active verb. Suffer, then, does the trick; it is dramatic.  

The word itself is pronounced with a softness, a weakness, a helplessness: [suhf-er]. It does not sound tough. When one defines her reality as suffering, it reinforces a victim mentality. Perhaps a person faces disease, compensates for disability, accepts illness, embraces challenge. Perhaps the pain associated with the disease is manageable.





Recently, I read "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," by Haruki Murakami and the following line gave me pause. I tossed it back and forth in my mind.

"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional."

I find Murakami's observation logical and true. I also find it comforting. It encourages one to accept the pain and face it.

When we talk about having an illness "suffering is optional."

The word I would use instead of suffer is one of graceful strength.

Endure.

One can endure the pain, weather the storm, and carry on.

 

Thank you for your letters and cards!

Getting an email from the Website or a Facebook message via my author page, and especially the hand-written cards found in the PO Box truly make my day. 

I'm so glad to hear readers are enjoying the book. Putting it out there has alreadyled to more than I could hope for. People are talking, to me anyway, about their
families' experiences with mental illness. They share they believe in wellness despite the diagnoses they or their family members have. 

I do hope these conversations spread. One reviewer on Amazon wrote, "... my view of mental illness has forever changed."  

I am fortunate to live in a time when people are becoming more comfortable with
discussing mental health. 

It is funny, however, because I am both proud of my accomplishment of having published a
well-written book; at the same time I am embarrassed. The embarrassment comes from the stigma, which is still attached to mental illness. Some days it feels as if I admitted some crime that I have committed rather than revealing a story of an illness I survived and am successfully managing.

Thank you again for your notes affirming the book is contributing to the national conversation on mental wellness. 

Live Well, 
Tara 

Creative Genius

Writers are an arrogant sort. There are many times I finished a book only to think I have more talent and could have written it better. I do not have sour grapes when I read author’s whose amateur drafts are printed. In fact these inspire me and make me continue to write. I tell myself, if some of these weaker works get published, certainly, I too can break through.  

However, when I read a masterpiece, I’m in awe and stalled.

There is no way I could have masterfully crafted anything so fine as Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel A Signature of All Things. http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/ I can’t even write a review that does the work justice. Her ease with language, her discipline to research, her patience to tell a story revealing its intricacies slowly without bogging down pace is admirable.

I was a fan of Gilbert’s memoir Eat, Pray, Love. (In my opinion, the movie fell apart, because Gilbert’s use of language was lost on screen and Julia Roberts was poorly cast.) I remember seeing a Ted Talk of Gilbert’s in 2012, where she spoke of the creative process and the freakish nature of success. See her talk on the creative genius here:  http://www.npr.org/2012/06/01/153700920/do-all-of-us-possess-genius. She was concerned that her biggest success was behind her. I am grateful it was in fact yet to come.

Today I shall leave you with a recommendation to watch the video and read the novel. Meanwhile, I will sign off and attempt to create genius.