I wanted to share the first chapter of my Memoir. I have decided that I am going to try and go down the traditional route from now until my birthday. If by then I have not found an agent I will self-publish (my birthday is in April.) This a long chapter, so I will be dividing it up into a three part seires.
Part One – An Origins Story
I chose to focus this memoir on the last ten years of my Bipolar life starting in 2007, when, on that wet November night, my life changed forever. My diagnosis became Bipolar One. It is where my adult life with mental illness began. I was twenty-two at the time. If I am honest, I had no idea about the realities that would define the next ten years of my life. When I was twenty-two and starting this journey, I was young, naive, had little regard for my life, and the effects it would have on my relationships especially with my family.
I never thought I would see my thirtieth birthday, I was that suicidal during the first three years of this journey. I never believed that there was something wrong with me— my first mistake. It would take years to get to a point where writing this memoir was a real thing. I had to deal with the peaks and valleys of this Bipolar life to say, “hey I have something to share with the world.” It took those three very different suicide attempts over a three-year period that made me who I am today— The Bipolar Writer. A journey has a starting point, but there is always what happened before the journey that helps define the start of this mental illness journey.
Those of us in the mental illness community all have an origins story, and mine is no different. My journey began at twenty-two, but in truth, this journey starts at the beginning when my symptoms first started to take shape. It is easier to look back on it now because those early memories are hard to forget.
I was born in the small town of Salinas, California— the central coast as it often referred to by the locals. The area is where John Steinbeck lived and wrote many of his literary works. My childhood was typical. My parents were hard-working (still are), and they always instilled in me their hard work ethic. I was a horrible as a kid in my early years, and often did more bad things than good. I had this extreme need as a kid to steal anything that wasn’t tied down in my house. More often than not I would get caught, which is a good thing, I would never make it as a thief as an adult. I got disciplined the right way, and it made me a better person as I became an adult.
I am a regular guy to the outside world. I have always had an affinity for books, writing, and music. I love Japanese food and the anime culture. Korean pop music seems to be my guilty pleasure, and I am learning to speak the language. I would like to move to South Korea in the future or to Japan. It’s funny talking about the future because it wasn’t always a possibility in my life. That is the great thing about finding myself as a writer is that I have a future (more about that in the later chapters of this book.)
I am a coffee addict, and you will usually find me at a coffee house getting my coffee fix and writing. I am a fantastic role-playing game gamer. Ask anyone who has ever seen me play knows how good I am at strategy turn-based RPGs, but any role-playing game is what I have always used to combat my depression. If there is a boss that is unbeatable in the video game, I will beat it. My best boss battle ever for an “unbeatable boss” was beating Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts 2. It was amazing. My best series of games that I am proud of beating is the Dark Souls series (up to the latest.)
I am a guy who loves watching Dodgers baseball, Broncos football, and Lakers basketball. I love rooting for my teams. I love hard. I am better at helping other people with their problems before fixing any of my own issues. If we become friends in this life, you become family to me. I am also Bipolar. I am all these things, and you find that in this memoir I will explore every aspect of my life.
End of Part One. Please look for parts two and three in the series that will be going on the rest of the weekend.
Always Keep Fighting
James
GoFundMe Campaign
https://www.gofundme.com/rasing-to-upgrade-the-bipolar-writer-blog
Now, I had to use my real name for this (I write under my pseudonym James Edgar Skye) so don’t be surprised by the name–David TC. Also, this allows me to show how much has been donated (I will give the running total at the end of the post.
Donate Through PayPal
This is another excellent way to donate, and to do so just press Pay with PayPal and you can choose to give a minimum of $5.00 (you can decide how much based on the number so2 times would be 2 x 5 and you would donate ten dollars.)
Venmo – 831-287-4369
I don’t mind sharing my number (I have before several times in the past.)
That is it. I am hoping to raise enough money by this weekend.
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This is not a gardening blog. Just as well because I am not a gardener. But which of us is not encouraged by Spring? It’s a cold one here in the UK. The January gloom that descends every year, swiftly followed by feverish February, has finally departed. Snowdrops and winter aconite have made their appearance and those that know about gardens are starting to head out there and mull over the tasks to be done. Soon bluebells will be covering the woods and it is time to feel hopeful again.
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