Meet my guest, Tara Meissner, author of Stress Fracture

My son, a talented jazz composer and musician, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age twenty-one. As I got more and more informed about the disorder I heard that studies linked creativity with bipolar disorder, and my son's behavior seemed to indicate the studies were true. He refused to take his medications because they evened him out too much and hindered his ability to create his music. He, and I imagine others with bipolar disorder, very much liked their manic highs. However, I, like my guest today, Tara Meissner, author of Stress Fracture: A Memoir of Psychosis, never believed that all people with bipolar disorder are creative. It is also not true that all people with mental illness are violent, as so many people believe. Thank you Tara Meissner for being at Choices while on your WOW! Women on Writing book tour. I'm so glad you are here to share your views and bipolar experience with us. Being open about this disorder will go a long way to help erase stigma. Bipolar and … [Read more...]

Welcome Ace Antonio Hall

I met Ace Antonio Hall when I first joined the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. He was Vice Chairman then, and he generously took me under his wing until I got to know more about what the group and what it has to offer great writing programs and conferences and great folks to network with. Maybe he took to me because I, like some of the influential women in his life, have gray hair. Whatever the reason, I am proud to know Ace and share him with you. I asked him why I should read his zombie novel. Here's his answer.     Shades of Gray: Why I Honor, Love and Owe My Life to Women Over 60 by Ace Antonio Hall Truly, I would've never published my young adult zombie novel, Confessions of Sylva Slasher, if it weren't for women over sixty. I was five years old when I left my parents in New York to live with my Grandmother in Jacksonville, Florida. My grandmother, who told me to just call her Nana, was 70. Strangely, it didn't dawn on me until I reached my … [Read more...]