Back in 1973 I started writing a story abut a troubled teenager. Marriage and kids happened and I stopped writing. Decades later when cleaning out my storage unit I came across that story along with some poetry that I’d written. I saved the poetry but trashed the story.

A few years ago I took a memoir writing course when I was living in Leavenworth. At that time my goal was to write memoirs for my granddaughter Madeline. However it hasn’t turned out that way. There are a lot of stories I don’t want her to even know about. And then there are the stories that remind me that my childhood was not that idyllic after all and were too depressing to write about. One thing about therapy is that it awakens you to the fact that your childhood was not really a happy one and it opens the door to recognize just how dysfunctional a family you come from. So Madeline, for now my claim to fame is that I sought asylum in two foreign countries during a pandemic. Perhaps when you are older there may be more stories.

After being unable to write memoirs, I turned to writing fiction. Just as Covid hit, I found myself thinking about that story I’d begun several decades ago. Of course I’ve completely changed it around and it in no way resembles what I first started writing all those years ago. This time, the story follows my protagonist from the time he is ten years old through his teen years to adulthood. And he is bipolar. He struggles with substance abuse. He struggles with a number of failed relationships. He struggles with life.

I have three friends who are bipolar. They live in three different countries and range in age from forty to eighty. And they are all female. Thankfully they are all receiving professional help and are thriving. But this isn’t always the case.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to diagnosing bipolar disorder, and there is more than one type of this disorder that can be diagnosed. There are the psychiatrists who overzealously label their patients and at the other end of the spectrum there are the psychiatrists who are reluctant to diagnosis their patients as being bipolar. But one thing all psychiatrists agree on is that in order to lead a rewarding and productive life, patients with bipolar disorder must take their prescribed medication responsibly and attend regular therapy sessions. That way it is the professional who adjusts the medication when necessary and hopefully prevents the patient from self-medicating which leads to other problems.

Back to my protagonist. I’ve had to to do research. I have a friend in Calgary who is a doctor and has been advising me about pharmacology as well as other medical issues. But I thought I’d like to touch base with a psychiatrist as well. And I am here in Mexico now. I asked around and got a recommendation for a psychiatrist in my neighborhood who speaks English. I tentatively sent him a message on What’s App telling him that I’m a writer and my protagonist is bipolar and I’d like some input as to pharmacology and therapy. I received a reply back immediately. “Please come see me. We can talk. I can give you pills. You will feel better.” Okay, I’ll try again. I translated my request into Spanish and sent it to him. Once again, he replied with the same message as before in English. I sent another message thanking him for his time but I really didn’t feel that he’d be able to help me. In the next three days he bombarded me with more messages identical to the original one. I finally blocked him on What’s App.

Back to my protagonist. He’s had all kinds of issues going on in his childhood. These issues are an interesting prelude as to what is to come later in his life and that is why I made the decision to begin the story with his childhood years although bipolar disorder is not usually diagnosed until late teens or adulthood.

I have a great title in mind for this novel. But I’m not quite ready to share that with you. Another time perhaps. Right now, it’s write, edit, rewrite, repeat. So please don’t ask me when I will be done and when it will be published. The plan is that it will be in this lifetime. 😊