by Linda Phillips | Sep 23, 2013 | Blog, Mental health, Writing
I recently came home from a training session in the Stephen Ministry with an amazing self-revelation. My book, CRAZY, is really a piece of grief work. I’ve already acknowledged that writing this book was cathartic and that it is certainly autobiographical, but never...
by Linda Phillips | Sep 16, 2013 | Blog
Forty-three years ago my best friend from college and I sank a hundred dollars into a limping used car, packed a few essentials like our journals, hand-made flannel nightgowns, and our recent college degrees, and set out for NYC. We were small-town girls from Oregon...
by Linda Phillips | Sep 9, 2013 | Blog, Mental health, Writing
I recently happened onto a tiny YA book (only 119 pages) called So Much to Tell You by an Australian author named John Marsden, and I’m absolutely blown away by this author’s personal journey and this, his debut book. Marsden dropped out of law school and spent his...
by Linda Phillips | Sep 3, 2013 | Blog, Mental health, Writing
If you’ve been following my blog you know that my book, CRAZY, is about a teen dealing with her mother’s bipolar disorder in the sixties. That’s why I tend to read books like MEMORIES OF SUMMER, which is a different twist on the same theme. Newbery Honor...
by Linda Phillips | Aug 26, 2013 | Blog, Mental health, Writing
Bet you can’t guess what we writers do in our spare time, so I’ll save you the trouble and tell you what this writer is doing. I’m learning to listen, and pun intended, it’s a novel idea! Honestly, here’s the usual scenario. We...
by Linda Phillips | Aug 21, 2013 | Blog, Mental health, Writing
Shortly after I reviewed The Way I See It, by Temple Grandin, I received an email from Lyn Miller-Lachmann, whose recently released book, Rogue, is based on her own experience with Asperger’s Syndrome. I am thrilled that she has agreed to be a guest on my...
by Linda Phillips | Aug 12, 2013 | Blog, Mental health, Writing
I just finished reading Madness, Marya Hornbacher’s account of her life leading up to and after the diagnosis of Type I rapid-cycle bipolar disorder, the most severe form of bipolar there is. All I can say is Hornbacher’s first-hand experience made my own circumstance...
by Linda Phillips | Aug 5, 2013 | Blog, Mental health
The most famous spokesperson for autism and Asperger’s that I know of is Dr. Temple Grandin, a high-functioning adult on the autism spectrum who has written many books on the subject, including The Way I See It. I was spellbound as she shared in some detail the...
by Linda Phillips | Jul 29, 2013 | Blog, Writing
I am about half way through the first draft of my WIP, a Middle Grade adventure about a boy with learning disabilities who has left a science project until the last minute, the last minute being a family reunion during Spring Break at a castle in Switzerland. I...
by Linda Phillips | Jul 22, 2013 | Blog, Mental health
When I was finishing my forthcoming novel, CRAZY, someone suggested that I should read STOP PRETENDING….what happened when my big sister went crazy. I did read it with interest, and as my own book marches its way to publication, I recently reread it with even more...