The Lost Language of Crazy

I am writing a new book, THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRAZY. I am loving writing this book, and it is an easy story to write, in many ways, since it is a story I know-it is mine. While I am writing this, I am aware the country feels "crazy" now. The weather is "crazy" (global warming) and the office of the presidency is "crazy" (and who will be fired today? What "crazy" tweet will emerge?). What I have discovered in the process of writing this is that it is joyful (the engagement), but also painful, since when I grew up with mental illness in my home, revisiting it in such a primal way brings me back to those basic fears, anxieties and depressions I can pretty much keep under lock and key. As I write this book I am back in that world, and it is not an easy one; in fact, it is painful. It is part of the reason when people joke that the president is "mentally ill" I think, he probably is; he displays all the signs of someone who is, and this is terrifying to a person who grew up in this world. The upshot? Every day I write ad I write passionately, though sometimes I am fatigued at the end of the day, since I am now back in that deeply traumatic time-never easy!