From a writer's perspective: What qualifies as a Christmas movie?

Well, my friends, it's that time of year again: the time when people sit around a table and bicker and argue all while stuffing their faces full of food and cookies.

I'm not talking about Christmas dinner with the extended family.

Nope, I'm talking about the eternal debate that rages every year about this time as to what is and what is NOT a Christmas Movie.

I'm not talking about the Hallmark channel here.  That's a Christmas movie industry unto itself and if you're into it, that's great.  I'm not going to lie, I've been sucked into that vortex of holiday sweetness myself.

No, what I'm addressing here are the HOLIDAY MOVIES, the movies that have actual starts and plots that are something other than "a female small business owner/career type is too busy/too poor to love. Along comes the handsome handyman/ne'er-do-well/fellow business owner who helps the woman save her business/learn to take a break OR saves her child/dog/mother/horse from certain death and then everyone sings many Christmas carols while someone decorates a perfectly lit tree."

This is a debate that stirs up a lot of shouting at my house, and I hope it does in yours, too.  At least it's a break from politics and religion and the new piercing your nephew just got.  

So, when your holiday celebration gets a little sticky, bring up this topic.

First of all, what does a movie have to have to qualify as a Christmas movie?

Well, it has to be set at Christmas time.

It has to involve Christmas décor of some kind.

It has to involve the buying and/or exchanging of gifts.

Someone, somewhere, has to wear red and/or green or both.

These are the tiniest, tiniest, bare minimum of requirements.  And because the list is so simple, the following movies fit in:

Die Hard 1 and 2

Iron Man 2

Home for the Holidays.

Diner

 Now, before you go rearranging your DVD/blu ray collection, hear me out: as a PROFESSIONAL MOVIE CRITIC  (I've made some money from selling my movie review books so yes, it counts) I do NOT consider Iron Man 2 or Home for the Holidays Christmas movies.  Iron Man 2 literally has a Christmas tree in Tony Stark's house and that's it.  Home for the Holidays is a Thanksgiving movie, with a nominal mention of Christmas, but it is NOT a Christmas movie. So no, these movies do NOT need to go on your Christmas shelf.

The Die Hard movies fit because there's holiday décor, holiday parties, holiday travel, gifts, music, and, in the case of Die Hard 2, SNOW. So let's just put all that to rest.  Put Die Hard 1 and 2 on your Christmas shelf.  

Diner fits because, again, the timeline is set around Christmas and there are decorations all over the set.  That said, the focus of the movie, time wise is on a New Year's Eve wedding.  So I file Diner in my Christmas movies, but if you don't, don't sweat it.  That one can go either way.

There are movies that are NO DOUBT HARDCORE Christmas movies and they are REQUIRED VIEWING every year:

Elf, Miracle on 34th St., White Christmas,  A Christmas Story, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, Christmas with the Kranks, all the Home Alone movies  (but why are you watching any of them other than 1 and 2?)  all the Santa Clause flicks with Tim Allen and any incarnation of A Christmas Carol. All of these films are Christmas centric, with various Christmas themes and experiences related good or bad.  The funniest, cheeriest is Elf, the darkest is definitely the George C. Scott version of "A Christmas Carol."  (The ghost of Christmas Future FREAKS ME OUT!)  

(Also, a movie that is a Christmas film but is NOT on my list for the freak out factor: Polar Express. The animation in that movie is creepy.  Just...creepy.)

There are those of you who are going to debate "Love Actually" on that list. Peaches and Skippy yell at me every time I turn it on, which is roughly 57 times between Thanksgiving and New Years.  My children both maintain, loudly, that not only is Love, Actually NOT a Christmas movie, it's a very terrible movie! My friend Joellen spent a big part of yesterday telling me the same thing...that it's not an appropriate Christmas movie.  I disagree. (Not with the appropriateness of the movie, the unedited version is NOT for kids.)  Love, Actually is not only a Christmas movie it is, quite possibly, the BEST Christmas movie EVER MADE.  I don't generally enjoy the multi-story-mega-cast holiday films (Valentine's Day...New Year's Eve...) but this one has so many AWWWWWWWWWW moments, it's totally worth it.  It's sweet, it's funny, and there's Christmas in every single shot.  Love at the holidays is weird and stressful, and every age group and every stage of a relationship is captured in this most Christmasy of Christmas movies.

Now, here's where I get into serious trouble.  

The following movies are considered to be Christmas movies, BUT THEY ARE NOT.

It's a Wonderful Life

Holiday Inn

Nightmare Before Christmas

Let's start with the easy one:  "Nightmare Before Christmas" is a Halloween movie.  Period.  You can watch it at Christmas if you wish, I'm not going to tell you how to live  (unless you are my friend Joellen in which case you need to be schooled on WHY "Citizen Kane" is a great film.) but don't fool yourself. It's not a Christmas movie.

Holiday Inn doesn't make the cut because yes, while there is Christmas in it, so are all the other holidays.  It's a holiday movie that's perfectly fine for the 4th of July, Valentine's Day, and Thanksgiving. Don't believe me?  Watch it sometime.  It's silly with holidays.

And now we turn to my annual rant about that most horrible of movies, that thing everyone has been brainwashed into loving for reasons I cannot comprehend, that total and complete DOWNER of a film, "It's A Wonderful Life."

This is my father's favorite film, which is weird because he doesn't generally love movies and also he's a really intelligent guy.

The first part of my rant is that this is not a Christmas movie.  That annoying kid banging Jingle bells on the piano and the singing at the end aside, this movie has nothing to do with Christmas. It's the story about a guy who thinks his life blows chunks because he never got to live his dream of leaving his hometown.  Like...ever.  Then he tries to kill himself and some dude in long underwear informs him that if he was never born, everyone close to him will live lives that really do blow chunks so he'd better get out of his pity party, buck up, and live (and maybe take a vacation for even day.  Geez, I mean, self centered much?  Really, the town can't do without you for a week?)  But my point is, this is not a Christmas movie and just because they sing a Christmas carol at the end and some super homely kid squawks about angels and bells, that doesn't make it a Christmas movie.

Now we get to the meat of this blog.  The real reason I decided to write a blog about Christmas movies is because I'm tired of people telling me how inappropriate "Love Actually" is and yet how wonderful and wholesome "It's a Wonderful Life" is.

Love Actually vs. It's a Wonderful Life

I will concede the nudity point.  There is no nudity in It's a Wonderful Life and there is in Love, Actually.

But let's get down to it, shall we?

Nudity aside, (and the edited for television version has no nudity at all) Love Actually is a movie about hope.  The young man hopes he can find love in the US.  A young woman hopes the prime minister knows she loves him. A young boy hopes if he learns to play the drums the girl he loves will notice him.  A widower hopes to find love again. A divorced man hopes the learn to speak the language of a new love.  And a married woman hopes her husband realizes that having an affair is stupid before he actually has one. A young art dealer watches his best friend marry the woman he loves, and hopes that maybe some day he'll find someone just as good.  A couple lonely actors hope to find a mental and emotional connection with each other. And aging rock star hopes for one more shot at glory.  An office worker hopes the office hot guy will notice her, in spite of her family responsibilities.

All hope, all good stuff. And guess what?  All happy endings!  And there are carols and bells and decorated trees and holiday parties and gifts and beautiful, beautiful moments.  Take out the nudity in one of the story lines and it's perfectly harmless family fun.

Now let's look at "It's a Wonderful Life."

A man grows up in a tiny town, hoping to leave it some day.  (Good start.) When he's a kid, his brother falls through the ice and he saves his brother, but loses hearing on ear.  (His brother apparently has no permanent damage even though he was in the water way longer.)  Flash forward, he's an older boy, working a job in a pharmacy. The pharmacist gets a letter saying his son has been killed in the war.  The pharmacist then loads up a bunch of pills with poison and sends our young hero with the bad ear off to deliver the death pills to a sick family. The boy refuses and gets pounded on by his employer for his efforts.  (ummmmmm attempted murder and assault of a minor anyone?)

Flash forward. Our hero is an adult ready to go to college since he had to work to put his brother through first. (Why?)  He attends a dance where some ne'er do wells force him and a young lady into the pool.  (Harrassament, assault) He and said young lady walk home in odd clothing (because walking home in wet clothes is forbidden?) and he steps on the belt of her oversized robe, and the

robe falls off. She's forced to hide in the bushes (public nudity) and he refuses to give her back her robe (sexual harassment, possibly assault.)

He is told his father died.  He's forced to stay home and run the family business because his brother got married and got a job from his father in law and went back on his promise to runt he business while our hero was in college.  (Family death, squabbles.)

Flash forward again.  He's married.  About to go on his honeymoon when the town banks founder and he has to give up his honeymoon money to keep the bank open.

Flash forward again. His dimwitted uncle loses a vast amount of money (recovered by the evil banker guy who didn't tell anyone he found the money, so...stealing...and abuse of the elderly) and this is where the story gets dark.  Our hero wishes he'd never been born and jumps off a bridge to kill himself.

GOOD FAMILY FUN!

He doesn't die, but the weird guy in long johns (so many things wrong with that) shows him life if he hadn't been born.  And we see bar fights and alcoholism and abuse of the homeless and stalking and abuse of teachers, child abuse, a sick child (whom they named ZUZU which is abuse in and of itself.) and racism.

GOOD FAMILY FUN!

The movie resolves with the worst, laziest thing ever:  (IT WAS ALL A DREAM) and everyone piles money on a table and sings a Christmas Carol while those of us watching this hot mess are left shell shocked and wishing we'd chosen "Jingle All the Way" or something, anything else.

Agree with me, don't agree with me, whatever.  But keep "It's a Wonderful Life" out of the hands of the children. It will scar them for life!  Meanwhile, there's always the Hallmark Channel!

Writer's Block is Real and there is Only One Cure.

Good morning!

Anyone who sets out to write a story longer than fifty words is going to run into an ailment authors and writers know all too well: Writer's Block.

Whether you stare at the screen and nothing comes to mind, or you just can't seem to sit down to actually write, it doesn't matter.  The inability to move forward with your story is simply a case of writer's block.

I am currently suffering from an odd strain of the illness myself:  It's not that I don't know what to write, and it's not that I can't find the time. Quite simply, I don't want to write because I don't want to do to my characters what I have to do to move the plot along.  It's a rare strain of writer's block, but still, there it is.  I am blocked. I am physically not moving forward with my writing.

So what is the cure?

Some will say to change your location.  If you write at home, go to a coffee shop, a 24 hour diner, someplace where the people and noise are different. Also...coffee.

Some will say get physical. Go for a walk, a swim, a run (if that's your thing, I don't personally run. I will be the first person eaten in a zombie apocalypse.)

Some will say take a break from writing and come back when the spirit moves you. I did that. I was gone from writing for more than ten years.  I do not recommend taking that long of a break.

One writer friend of mine suggested writing at a different time of day. I tend to be more productive late at night. However, the older I get the harder that is.  So, my writer friend said, try writing early in the morning...like at 4 AM.

Ummm, yeah. Thanks, but...no.  As my many, many, many aerobics instructors will tell you, Sarah is NOT at her best at 4 AM.  (or 4 PM, come to think of it. I'm really a night owl who functions okay between 7 AM and noon, just enough to hold down a job as long as my work hours don't go too far past noon. Which is a problem for my boss, who expects me to work until at least 3PM.)

So what's the cure?

Well, there really isn't a cure. Sorry.

Any one of those suggestions above can, and have, worked for me in the past.  Again, I do not recommend taking ten years off. That's not the way to get things done.

Now that I've gotten a couple novels under my belt, I realize that there's really only one way to get past writer's block.


It's actually sort of a simple thing, but it's the solution we forget as writers. We ignore what is staring straight in our over-caffeinated (or wine-soaked, depending on the time of day you write) faces.

We must write.

We must write ourselves out of the block.

Even if it's crap, and believe me, I've thrown away more pages than I care to count in the name of writer's block, we need to continue the act of writing.

If we aren't, we are rusting.  The brain's creative faucet slows to a stop, and we become just one more person who "would write a novel if I just had the time."

Maybe shake up your characters. Make them take a trip, put them on a bus with strangers.  Give them a disease.  Burn down a building.  Kill someone (but only in your story, killing in real life is wrong).  Hey, it works for soap operas and prime time dramas.  Why can't it work for you?

So yeah, I'm stuck on my fourth Nora Hill novel. I'm stuck mostly because I don't want to end it.  But I'm also stuck because I'm not sitting down and doing it.  And even if I write nonsense that I would never use in a book, I save it to my files because you just never know when what you thought was stupid winds up being the thing that makes your book.   But a story won't get told, a scene won't be seen, a character will not speak until you write it down.

Even if just to delete it all tomorrow.

 

Once upon a time: How important is that first line?

Good afternoon!

Monday, September 17, 2018 at Martha Merrell's Books and Toys in Historic Downtown Waukesha, WI., at 6:30, Chapter One will be conducting its first ever in person meeting for writers of all levels.

The topic?

How important is that first line?

My goal with this group is to wake the author in anyone who ever thought they had a story to tell.  We'll start at the beginning...which would be the first line.

The first line of any story is vital.  Gone are the days when, as my mother, who served as a school librarian for many years, you had to give a book 30 pages to really get into it.  Readers don't have that kind of patience anymore (if we ever did!) and writers shouldn't make their readers wait 30 pages for something interesting.

The first line is the first impression an author makes.

As authors, you may not have control over the cover. You may not have control over the blurb on the back cover.  You may not even have control over the pen name.  (Some publishers have been known to assign pen names.)  What you do have control over, however, is that first line.  That line is all yours.

There are many opening lines we all know:

Once Upon a Time

It was a Dark and Stormy Night.

The Night was Humid  (My personal favorite)  

Unfortunately,  while those are fun...and funny...unless you are writing an actual fairy tale or writing your story atop a dog house, you can't use them.

There's actually an award called the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest that hands out awards to the WORST opening line of the year.  Check out the website, the 2018 winner is AWESOME in it's badness.

A number of things can contribute to a bad opening line:  It's too long; it generates zero excitement; it's lazy ("It was a dark and stormy night") or it simply makes no sense.

As a writer, you know that your writing is an extension of you.  Writing is every bit as personal as any other form of arm.  If the writing isn't personal, believe me, the reader will know it.  And if you, the author doesn't feel it, neither will the reader.  That's not to say that we must "write what we know."  (A topic I'll deal with at a later time.)  Writing isn't about our own absolute life experiences. If that were true, there would be no science fiction, very little romance, no historical fiction, and oh yeah, probably no fiction at all.  Writing is about telling a story that you know.  It's about creating characters and a world that you see as clearly as you see your own hand in front of your face.  Writing is...it should be...you.

As with anything in writing, what works and what doesn't is subjective to many things, including the ever-changing whims of society.  A good line 10 years ago is no good now.  

How can you know for sure if your first line works?

There is no hard and fast rule.  You will know it when you know it.  If you're not sure, talk to a trusted friend, a critique partner, a teacher, run it by them.  Try to avoid going up to strangers on the street, however. Believe me, you don't get great feedback that way.  LOL

So let's put this into a social construct we all understand:

Think of a book as an introduction of yourself to a stranger. The cover is your name tag.  The body of the book is the conversation you have with that stranger so they can get to know you.  Which means the opening line of that book is your handshake.  You want a strong, firm handshake. You do NOT want some soft, creepy, dead fish handshake.

We will talk more about this on Monday for those of you who are in the SE Wisconsin area and can make it to Martha Merrell's Books and Toys at 6:30. For those of you who cannot, if you have questions, please contact me through our face book page.  You can also hit me, Sarah the Author, up at my face book page. 

Meanwhile, spend some time online looking for bad first lines, see if you can improve on them, or get a real feel for what's no good, and what works. 

OUR FIRST IN PERSON MEETING IS COMING UP!

Hello Friends!

While Chapter One, the blog, is a worldwide place of information, education, and support for all writers at all stages of their careers, we are also a physical group that has a home and we are going to be starting meetings in Waukesha, WI in September!

This is a very exciting step for Chapter One, and for me, Sarah the Author.  I've never lead a group before!  But I feel that all of the experience and knowledge I've gained in the last decade of writing and publishing is something I now need to share.  I didn't just KNOW what I know. I gathered everything I know about writing and publishing from other authors and other groups. It's time to pay it forward.

If you are in the SE Wisconsin area, I hope you will think about checking us out. All of the information you'll need is below.  We are so grateful to Norm and the gang at Martha Merrell's Books and Toys for giving Chapter One a physical home!

I would explain basic anatomy to you, gentlemen...but we're in church.

Good afternoon everyone!

I know...it's Monday. What am I doing blogging?

Well, I'm sort of avoiding actual writing.  I'm stuck on my 4th and final Nora Hill novel. Not stuck so much as I don't want to do what I have to do to move the story along.  When you read it, you'll understand.

Anyway, yesterday I went to church at my home church, which I haven't done much this summer because we've been out of town (don't tell anyone! LOL).  So of course after services there was a certain amount of catching up we (and by we I mean Hubby who is far more social than I am) needed to do.

After several minutes of chit chat with friends I caught up to Hubby who was talking about cars with two gents who happen to be brothers. Let's call them Joe and Marvin.  They know who they are.

So Hubby, Joe, and Marvin are standing in sort of a circle and talking and it's quite clear to me, and to Hubby, that Joe and Marvin, being brothers, have certain similarities in their manners.  Case in point, the two of them cross their arms the same way when they are talking.

Like this but with more chins.

Now, I don't cross my arms often for three reasons:  1) as a fluffy girl, it's not all the comfortable crossing my arms over my upper body because, well, my arms didn't get longer as I got wider, so it's not a comfortable reach. 2) if I cross my arms under my upper body (read here, in the wedge between my girls and my gut) I look like I'm resting my arms on a pregnant belly.  Not a good look.  3) When
I cross my arms ever, my upper arms widen out and I look like an East German swimmer from the 70's.  REALLY not a good look.

So I generally stand with my arms at my side or I move them around if I happen to be talking.

So we're standing in a small circle, the brothers, Hubby, and I.  Hubby points out that the brothers cross their arms the same way.  He tries to imitate them, which he does well. I focus on how they position their hands when they cross their arms. 

I should take a moment note that "catching up" for men and women is really different. Whereas I was checking in on how the kids were, how's the job, how's every one's health, Hubby was discussing car repair and how people cross their arms.

One could point out that I, in turn, then took said conversation about the crossed arms and turned it into a blog, but one would have to be patient until I get to the point of the blog to understand why I'm writing about this at all.

So let's get to the point.

So anyway, I'm looking at how Joe and Marvin position their hands. And I attempt it, but, because of the reasons I mentioned before, I'm not able to copy them.

This is where it gets blog-able.

Jesus knows blog-able when He sees it.

Hubby looks at me, then looks at the brothers, then looks at me again. He says something to the effect of, "Well if you do this," whereupon he tries to push my arms into position the way Joe and Marvin have their arms. That would be pretty much across their chests.  

That so does not work for me.  Because, see...the aforementioned female stuff.  Which I point out by saying, "That does not work FOR ME."  I'd go into more detail, but we are in the HOUSE OF THE LORD.  (We were in the church entry way which still counts as God's House.  I checked.)

They got the point.  Of course they did.  But that didn't detract from the moment when three men over the height of six feet stared downward at my...upper Victoria's Secret area. IN CHURCH. (Kind of.)

That's when I turned and walked away. Hubby said, "Well, on that note," which is sort of our funny way of leaving an awkward conversation, he followed me.  I gave him three steps before I said, "That's blog-able."

We saw Joe later, and Hubby warned him about the blog.  Joe protested asking what he could have POSSIBLY DONE to deserve being put in the blog.

Don't worry, Marvin and Joe's wives will explain it to them. If not, someone at church will.  I won't have to say one more word about it.

And that, my friends, is how blogs work.

It's about the reader. Or at least, it should be.

Good afternoon!

Once again, I'm going to rant for a bit about self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and this time I'm going to focus on the whole point of the writing world:

The readers.

I've spent the last four summers selling my books at local farmers' markets. That might seem odd...okay, it is odd...but when you're self published, you do all your own marketing and for me, renting a booth at a farmers' market makes sense. That's where the people are.  (And I've found that people who like locally grown produce also enjoy locally written fiction. Just saying...)

In those four summers (and in the subsequent book clubs, church groups, youth groups, and craft fairs I've booked off of the Farmers' Markets) I've come to realize a very important point:  Readers read books.

Duh.

Readers enjoy characters. Readers wait impatiently for the next novel involving a character (Yes, I stood in line for the newest Harry Potter novel...for my kids...right...the kids...).  My husband loves, loves, loves all the Harry Bosch novels.  We're probably getting Amazon Prime just so he can watch the novels be turned into TV.

Readers enjoy authors. My book shelf is loaded with Joyce Carol Oates. I'm waiting for something, anything, from Billie Letts. If I see that Adriana Trigianni has a new book, or Phillipa Gregory is out with a new book you can bet it's in my Amazon cart that same day.(Yes, I shop for books on Amazon.  I'll address that issue in a later blog. Let's field one rant at a time.) My dad likes Janet Oke, as did my grandmother. 

Readers enjoy time periods.  I'm drawn to novels set around the American Civil War or World War II.  Lately, I've been looking for World War I material.  I know a whole group of readers who zero in on the Tudor period.  Others prefer to read about a time in the distant future.

Readers enjoy genres. My father reads all things political. I'm not sure why...those books just make him angry, but there you have it.  I have a friend who will read any and all biographies.  I know someone who will read anything and everything regarding horror based. My daughter likes books written by comedians.

What's missing from that list?  What don't readers care about?

Readers don't care about publishers.

Here's reality:  Traditional publishers make publishing about them:  What, in their mind, sells.  That's why we had a wave of vampire books coming out after Twilight was published. Publishers said, "Hey, Vampires sell.  Let's publish."  Well, vampires got tired pretty quickly. That didn't stop publishing companies from dumping more vampires on us, though.  And, in a market already glutted with books and with publishers busy publishing vampires...what didn't break above the waters?

Indie thinkers.  Original voices. Compelling books that are entertaining even if they aren't on trend at the moment.

This is why we self publish.  We authors, we are storytellers.  We tell stories.  We need to get our stories to the audience, to the reader. But, if left to traditional publishing, anything that doesn't instantly scream "BEST SELLER" to some low level manuscript reader will never swim through the slush.  It gets dumped. And it gets dumped, hard, with a two line email...or no response at all to the author.

Readers want good stories.  Those "scandal of the moment" books will always be around, as will autobiographies of celebrities (the more readable ones are actually written by a ghost writer). But when a reader picks up a book, the first thing on his or her mind is to read something that is going to grab their interest.  And guess what?  The publisher imprint on the spine of the book is the LAST THING a reader cares about.

Sincere forever, writers write. It's what we do.  Storytellers find an audience and tell stories.  And now, thanks to the tools available to us, we as authors can go forth and get our stories out there

without the aid (or obstruction) of traditional publishing houses.

Because, in the end, it's about entertaining the reader. It's about informing the reader. It's about connecting with the reader.

At least, it should be.

One Author's Response to Anthony Bourdain's Death.

Good morning.

I know I've been MIA from this blog for some time. But today I'm beyond sad and felt the need to share with my fellow readers and writers.

Anthony Bourdain was found dead of an apparent suicide in his hotel room in France this morning.

On the heels of that and the apparent suicide earlier this week of fashion icon Kate Spade, a companion headline ran on the news outlets today:

"US suicide rates up 25% since 1999."

1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

The loss of Bourdain is significant for me.  I've been a fan for years, watching his shows "No Reservations" and "Parts Unknown" and reveling in the episodes of "Top Chef" where he was a judge.  My husband and I have enjoyed reading his books. He wrote not  only cookbooks and detailed travelogues, but he delved deeply and well into the world of fiction.  In short, this loss is personal for me.

But it's more than that.  At 61, (A young age by this era's reckoning) and on top of his profession, how does this happen?

As a person who suffers from depression, and the mother of two adults who have mental illnesses, I think I have some perspective on this.  Mental illness in the US, and possibly other countries, but I can only speak for mine, is still looked upon as something less than a medical epidemic.  If a person has cancer or a broken bone, people talk about it, they pray for the person suffering, and the person is offered every assistance possible so that they can recover.

But mental illness is still something that's only whispered about, as if it's a shortcoming, or a crime.  While more and more celebrities and sports figures are coming forward and talking about their own struggles, there are millions in this country who suffer in silence, without proper support or medication.

I believe it starts with the US work culture.  I have worked many different jobs in different industries over my life and I have yet, in more than 30 years of employment, to work for a company who understood that "mental health days" are a real need for those with mental illness. If I had the flu, or needed physical medical care, my employers were supportive and wished me a quick recovery. But, learning through many conversations with management, I understood that any days taken because I was "blue" or couldn't get out of my bed would be counted against me and would be a black mark on my annual reviews. I was written up by one employer for missing a day of work after I'd spent the night in the ER with one of my children after they attempted suicide.  If I had to leave work an hour early to take another child, a minor at the time, to a Psych appointment, which they could not attend without  parent, my employer complained that I was shirking my duty. 

The message so many employers send to their employees is that if you miss work and it's not due to a physical illness, then you may as well not bother working at the job.  This keeps many people who are mentally ill from realizing their full potential. Many stay in jobs that are less strict about schedules, such as food service and low level unskilled jobs because even if they are fired for attendance problems, they can jump into another similar job quickly. The problem there is that they never rise much above the poverty line, the struggle to survive is continuous, and the depression increases.

US medicine is also a problem.  Mental health treatment and meds are EXPENSIVE.  Without insurance, it is impossible to get treatment for a mental illness.  But health insurance coverage is expensive and sometimes won't cover mental health issues.  Also, if the employer doesn't offer it, those who suffer from mental illness have to find their own health care, which is more expensive.

Those who are open about their illness are looked on as unstable, a liability to work.  Some are even in a strange gray area, listed as having a disability by the government, but not allotted the social

programs and support that physically disabled people are.

Here's the thing:  There is no cure for mental illness. There is treatment, but even with treatment there are going to be good days and bad days. That's just a fact. 

My grandmother was schizophrenic in an era when people simply did not admit to having "emotional issues."  Because of that she went untreated until she was well beyond middle age.  My childhood is littered with stories of her illness affecting the family negatively.  It was something that wasn't explained until I was in my 20's, so as a child I didn't understand my grandmother and I feared her because she accused me of some terrible things.  Had I know it was because she had an illness, I might have been able to relate to her better instead of resenting her.

I'm sharing this with you because I believe it's time for us to all wake up and understand that mental illness is just that: AN ILLNESS.  It is a disease that affects the sufferer their entire lives.  Rather than shunning the ill or hiding them away, we should find a way to open society up and find a place in the light for the mentally ill. 

Meanwhile, what can we, as authors, do?

We can give the world more light.  We can speak out about our own mental illnesses, if we have one, and we can support those who suffer.  We in the creative community probably have more contact with the mentally ill than any other industry simply because the creative community doesn't have set hours or rules and tends to be more inclusive.  We need to step up and speak out, we need to wake up other industries to the fact that the mentally ill have so much to offer and should be looked upon, not as a liability or as a lazy person, but as a person who is every bit as hardworking, loyal and diligent, but who has a disease and will need time for appointments and sick days. 

We as authors can, and should, create characters who suffer from mental illness but are able to function in our world. It is our responsibility to wipe the stigma of mental illness away, We need to erase misunderstanding and fear by giving readers characters who are vibrant and relevant, but who just happen to have a mental illness.  We need to create characters who are heroes and heroines who may also have an illness, but who are not defined by it.

Anthony Bourdain had everything and still felt the darkness, the hopelessness. 

Since 1999. suicide rates in 49 states have gone up by double digits, some states as high as 40%.

Mental illness does not care about age, gender, wealth, education level. It strikes where it strikes and until we as a society look at it as a medical condition rather than a weakness, it's going to continue to take our loved ones from us.

RIP, Tony.  I pray you've found peace at last.  And I pray your death will not be in vain, that we can rise up and end the stigma. 



1-800-273-8255 
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.