After a year of only posting to Instagram, I’ve turned my fascination with the age 7 into a Substack. I consider this my soft launch as I learn Substack’s various tools and how to crosspost on social media. I do this project as a fun mental break from the emotional intensity of writing memoir and personal essays. From this link https://open.substack.com/pub/whenwewereseven

Hi folks, I'm happy to announce that my debut novel Dear Haider is scheduled for publication on June 1, 2024, by Baraka Books! https://www.barakabooks.com/catalogue/dear-haider/ It's one of those stories that came to me fully formed in a flash, as I was recovering from a severe mental health crisis. I was at the time in school, but had a break between undergrad and grad school, and wrote most of the first draft in that two month period. I wasn't fully satisfied with my draft however, and due to the demands of grad school, left the manuscript alone for almost 5 years. Then, a close friend of mine, who works as a medical copywriter, generously offered to edit my manuscript with me. It was the pandemic, so we went on Zoom every Sunday and worked on 2-3 chapters for a few hours at a time, for a period of four months. I will be forever indebted to her. Then, I think I did things quite backwards. Instead of trying agents and big publishers first, which I didn't have confidence to shoot for, I submitted to two small presses. One of them, whose founder happened to be my parents' friend and neighbour, immediately made an offer. And the rest is history. I'm happy to share more about my writing/publishing journey, so if you're interested, let me know and feel free to ask questions!

Hi friends. One of the reasons I started my epilepsy writing group was to create prompts to challenge myself. To finally write up some of the stories I had been wanting to tell. I created a prompt specifically with this story in mind. Tell a story about when something funny, or joyous or ironic happened because of a seizure or your epilepsy. I guess it could also be considered a silver lining story. https://www.youngadultswithepilepsy.org/post/my-pre-wedding-seizure-was-the-best-thing-ever

I use my experiences of depression, anxiety, and other life challenges and share info and resources that help me. See my https://mymentalhealthguide.com website for more details and links to my mental health newsletter, online bookstore, Depression and Anxiety Survival Kit. You can also schedule a free 30 minute call there to discuss whether my 1:1 peer support via phone is right for you.

New post on my Substack: the case for prioritizing writing at a time when there's so much pressure to center branding and marketing. "This is why most of us became writers in the first place — we need to write. And we write to be read. So yes, our readers are on top of our minds each time we publish. But they read us and not primarily because we engage with them. They read what resonates, what moves, what feels true."