Tag: mental illness

Inspirational Mental Health Talks Series #2 Eleanor Longden – Hearing Voices

Dr.Eleanor Longden started hearing voices when she was a student. At first they were harmless and narrated whatever she did. But they became increasingly antagonistic and dictatorial, and made her life a nightmare. She was hospitalised, drugged and labelled schizophrenic. Eleanor went on to earn a master’s in psychology and demonstrate that the voices in her head were “a sane… Read more →

My Beautiful Psychosis Book Cover

My Beautiful Psychosis Book CoverAfter 6 months of sending out proposals to agents, looking for someone else to believe in me, and receiving either rejections or worse still, no response at all, I’m feeling despair.

I sent a total of 34 proposals out: 18 of which received rejections and 16 I never heard back from. The standard response went something like this:

“Thank you for sending us this material, but I’m afraid it isn’t suitable for us. I’m sorry to disappoint, and wish you luck with your future writing.”

Only one agent gave me feedback as to why they didn’t go for it:

“Thanks so much for contacting us. I’ve read the sample material with interest. While I liked the chapters I wasn’t sufficiently swept along by the narrative to know that I’d be the best advocate for the book.  Sorry!  Best of luck elsewhere.”

The email I cherished the most, which I devoured like a drop of rain in the desert, came from Cara at the HHB Agency:

“Dear Emma, Thank you for your submission to HHB. I enjoyed reading your work, you write well, with intensity and style. However, as a small agency we are only ever able to take on a limited number of authors and I am afraid in this instance, we were not able to take you work further. I wish you all the best.   All best, Cara”

One of the reasons I wanted to find a publisher was because I felt I wanted support to get the book out into the world. It is an entirely different process from writing the actual thing and requires very different skills. I’ve come to accept that I’m going to have to climb that particular mountain alone.

Thankfully there is help online at every step of the way.

The first thing I’ve done is to learn about cover design. I had a meeting with a graphic designer friend who very humbly said she wasn’t up for the job. I found a designer online, called Derek Murphy, who shared the secrets to designing a bestselling book cover. I’ve talked with bookshop assistants to find out what they think. I’ve played with different ideas and now, with a drum roll, I unveil the cover of my first book.

A huge thanks goes to artist Adriane Vinter from Norway for permission to use her image ‘Straight Jacket’.

breakdown

A Breakdown May Hold The Potential For Healing

If you’ve had a breakdown and were treated like there was something wrong with you then you probably feel a sense of shame. But you might be missing the purpose of the breakdown and the potential it holds to transform your life. I recommend reading Servants of the Sacred Dream, by Linda Hartley, which validates the experience of breakdown, helping… Read more →

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