Why? Why Mental Health Disorders and Love?

 I set out to write about hunger; starving children soldiers expanding the globe. I set out to weave political statements through the minds of my readers. To inspire change and set scenes in the thick of wars past and present. I set out to paint portraits of beautiful, strong women and men that never gave up. To break down walls of taboo subjects and be a muse for seeing the world with no limits; seeing a world filled with satiated hunger, happy humans, and no war. 

I set the bar high, okay. It's a habit of mine that I have no intention of breaking anytime soon. I thought I would be doing myself, and you, a disservice to write about something so trivial as love. 

You see, because people are starving everywhere. Innocent people are getting murdered globally. Racism is real and present and ongoing. Children are losing mommies and daddies every day in war. The gap is widening between the rich and poor and not discriminating who it takes down with it. And to make matters worse- global warming. Period. Wait, don't forget the ever looming presence of the threat of nuclear war. 

So who am I to use the power of words to fill your mind with... Well, love? When there are so many real, excruciating things to be said.

I don't know about you, but I've never been moved to do anything I didn't love. Sure, I've DONE things I didn't particularly love. Punch that time clock, folks. But I've never been moved to do something I didn't love. 

So if I'm being honest here, I'm looking for movement. Not the position you're in on the sofa reading this book, I mean in your thoughts. I'm not going to tell you to feed the starving children.

I'm asking you to love and be loved in return. 

Find your way to just that, and you will move mountains. Love creates a butterfly effect of change, of happiness, and yes, of a heart that does beautiful, bring-a-man-to-his-knees work in this world. We do more through love on accident than kindness on purpose.

So this isn't going to be a tale of a wounded soldier returning home, or an orphan being adopted, hungry people being fed, or any other noble cause in the world. It's a story of what makes those things happen.

It's a story of love. 

Ideas Unraveling

I've dreamt about publishing a book for as many years as I can remember; being able to call myself an, "author," would be among my favorite title.

I've pictured every aspect of publishing, of the writing process, and I've had ideas ricochet in my head for years. I haven't, however, ever thought of where my book would be in the bookstore. What a simple, yet entirely too complex thing! 

The idea of where to put my book allows me to push an idea in one direction. Instead of focusing on multiple aspects of an issue, make sure I am writing towards a specifically tailored audience. Thinking of your audience while writing will be the most important for me this term. 

With blog writing, I try to be inclusive of wide collective audience, publishing a book is different, you want to target a specific audience. 

Writer's Block

Nailing down an idea for a book is like catching a greased pig; for lack of a better metaphor. Writing serious nonfiction seems like a daunting task, but I have always believed in the cliche, "Truth is stranger than fiction," so, let's give this a whirl; shall we?!

I would like my book to circle around the notion of mental health disorders, and how they affect our relationships and ripple through to all areas of our life. My Dad has a seizure disorder and other mental health problems, so I am finding this cause close to home, and can't wait to do more research.

I want my book to appeal to a wide array of people, but more specifically, to adults. I want to approach the subject from a very real and raw perspective, and not have it be sugar coated in any manner.

Mental health disorders affect so many (insert statistic here, once I have done some more concrete research) and I want the day-to-day life to be reflected.

What I find to be most attractive in any book is the first sentence; I'm one of those. If the first couple sentences or paragraph are not well-written and captivating, I will most likely put the book down. I've studied first sentences to countless novels, they are pretty telling. I hope to one day afford my own book the classic first sentence where someone won't want to put it down. It could be the most simplistic sentence, maybe a fragmented sentence, maybe a capitalized word that isnt usually, but is due to stylistic choice. It doesn't have to be anything marvelous, it just has to have some glimmering something, to get me wanting to read more.

I hope this, "writer's block," as us writer's tend to call it when we can't think, goes away soon! For now, I'll be dreaming and researching up a serious non-fiction idea that is more concrete! ;)