Love can drive us all a little crazy sometimes. But if you already have an issue with your mental health, the stress of dating/relationships/break-ups can be particularly hard. Add in panic attacks or spells of depression on top of all that?? Yeah, it can be tough.
When I’m not writing books, I work as a journalist and relationship advisor for thesite.org – an advice and information website for young people.
Some of our most popular articles focus on how mental health impacts your relationships. And, what you can do to help navigate both. Today I’m sharing one that I wish Evie could’ve read –‘Is Anxiety Affecting Your Relationship?’
Today sees the start of our #100DaysofNormal YA Blogger series and we are SUPER excited about it. We’ve talked to some brilliant YA book bloggers and asked them 5 BIG questions inspired by some of the themes in Am I Normal Yet?
What is ‘normal’? I’ve always thought ‘normal’ to be a lie. Everyone is different, and it’s not like we’re given a manual at birth on how to be normal. No, we’re left to be our own person and to develop our own tastes. Everyone is so different that I don’t think ‘normal’ can even exist.
What message did you take away from Am I Normal Yet? So many! This book really is a goldmine. I think the main message I took away from the book is that the more open we are about things seen as ‘taboo’, the better. It’s okay to talk about your problems, whether the problem is that you’re seriously falling behind at school or you’re struggling with your mental health. Anyone who mocks you for it isn’t really your friend. And it’s okay to be open about feminism. If you’re given the opportunity to dent a stigma, throw massive rocks at it until the stigma has become a heap of junk on the floor.
What does feminism mean to you? Equality for all genders, always.
What other YA novels about mental health would you recommend? Am I Normal Yet? is the best book I’ve read about mental health. The next one on my list is Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella. It’s about a fourteen-year-old girl who has social anxiety, like me, and whilst it gives a really good glimpse into that life and how it’s dealt with, it’s also really funny – much like this book!
And finally, what’s your go-to cheesy snack? Pizza dotted with juicy tomatoes and dripping with cheese. Is that a snack or a meal? Pizza is life, that’s what it is. (I also like cheesy Doritos.)
Thanks SO much for taking part in our #100DayofNormal blogger series, Amber!
Make sure you head over to Amber’s blog, The Mile Long Bookshelf for fantastic features and reviews. We especially love her ‘How I Deal with Anxiety and Panic Attacks’ post (which we featured for #100DaysofNormal earlier this week!).
The #100DaysofNormal Blogger series will be back on Saturday 15th August when we’ll hear from the brilliant Jo at Once Upon a Bookcase. Don’t miss it!
I want teen readers to be able to go into a bookstore and pick up
something that reflects their experience. Considering one in ten young
people experience mental health issues before the age of 15, books
discussing these issues need to be on the shelves. But, if you’re going
to ‘go there’ as an author, it’s vital you get it right.
When I started writingAm I Normal Yet?
it was essential to me to ensure I was covering OCD and Generalised
Anxiety Disorder as sensitively as possible. Striking a balance between
realism, and protecting potentially-vulnerable readers. Here’s what I
learned along the way…
At the YALC Mental Health panel this weekend, I was talking about how we ALL have mental health. Just like we all have physical health. And, if we started to see it more like that, it could help break down the stigma and misunderstanding around mental illness.
To me (and to my MC Evie) one of the biggest problems people with mental illness come across is the idea that they can “pull themselves together”. Like someone would CHOOSE to live in a brain that bullies them and bombards them with unhelpful thoughts.
This cartoon to me sums up perfectly the complete disconnect we have between the sympathy we give people with physical health problems, compared to the sympathy we give people with problems like anxiety and depression.
1) Being sexually harassed by Spiderman This is the only bad thing that happened! But, yes, while I was outside Kensington Olympia, trying to find the right entrance, I was accosted by a man in full-on Spidy get-up.
If I’m going to victim-blame myself, I did maybe initially catch his attention with my inability to not look at the…umm…bulginess of his skin-tight costume. However, this is no excuse for him then grabbing said-bulge and then proceeded to tell me just how very big his bulge was and what he wanted to do with his bulge…before high-fiving the dude next to him, who was dressed as an American Cop.
But it’s OK (well it’s not OK, but it’s just about cope-able with) because…
2) The #BeingAGirl panel talk trending on Twitter I was, unfortunately, too busy getting lost and sexually-harassed to get to this panel on time. HOWEVER lots of favourite authors/people (including Holly Smale, CJ Daugherty and Anna James) were on it, chatting all things feminism. And, it was so popular, it trended on Twitter! It’s so inspiring and reassuring to know there are so many YA authors, using their platform to fight for gender equality – especially if you’ve just been objectified by Spiderman.
It made me feel super excited about all the upcoming feminism in Am I Normal Yet? and the rest of the trilogy.
3) How big my signing queue was going to be I was completely and utterly blown away by how many of you queued to meet me. Honestly, one of the bestest most-humbling moments of my life. You don’t get much opportunity to touch-in with your readers when you’re an author, and you sometimes wonder if your stories are reaching people and touching people. To hear so many of you talk to me about Bree, and Poppy and Noah (and even Evie, for those of you had bought Am I Normal Yet? on the Saturday and had READ IT ALREADY!) made my heart melt. I love you all.
4) The very wise wisdom of my Mental Health in YA panel I’m not going to lie. I was very, very nervous about being on the Mental Health in YA panel. It’s such a sensitive issue and I knew I had a lot to say. But I also know everyone has their own experiences of mental health, and you can easily upset people without meaning to. But I shouldn’t have worried. My fellow panellists, Matt Whyman, Annabelle Pitcher, Brian Conaghan and our chair, Imogen Russell Williams, were insightful and nuanced and just all-round fab.
I feel reassured there’s such a great gang of authors tackling such important stuff…and also pretty proud of myself to be included with them. The one thing I said that seemed to get a lot of resonance, was this quote I found about hope during my research for Am I Normal Yet? Here’s a pic for those of you who weren’t there…
5) Judy Blume tap-dancing whilst yelling expletives The definite highlight of YALC had to be seeing the GODDESS that is Judy Blume talking about her career. Like me, I don’t think many of the other authors at YALC would be writing if it wasn’t for Judy. So many of us were inspired by her in our own childhoods. And we all piled in to her event with Patrick Ness like excitable fans. She did not let us down. When discussing swearing in YA books, Judy admitted she loved using dirty language. “It’s very satisfying, a bit like tap-dancing,” she said. Before TAPPING HER TOES ON THE FLOOR AND REPEATEDLY SAYING F*CK F*CK F*CK.
…and ½ I didn’t expect these people to wander around the place, chanting ‘SHAME SHAME SHAME’ all day. But they did. And, to be honest. I was at ComicCon – WHY didn’t I expect such a thing?
Can I please come back next year, please?
Thank you SO much to everyone who came, everyone who organised, and everyone who made YALC such an unforgettable weekend.
We’re super excited about it all, especially about Holly’s event. She’s appearing on a panel chatting about mental health in YA. So this afternoon, when we saw a feature by YA book blogger Jess Heart Books called ‘YALC Tips for Coping with Anxiety’ pop up on our Twitter feed we just HAD to share it with you.
The official YALC 2015 schedule has arrived at the usbornepublishing office and not only is the lineup AMAZE but it also includes our very own Holly Bourne!
YALC is a celebration of young adult books managed by reading charity Book Trust. It’s an interactive event
where YA fans meet their favourite authors, listen to panel discussions
and take part in workshops. It is taking place on 17th-19th July at London Film and Comic Con at Olympia (Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX).
Holly is going to be at YALC on Sunday 19th July at 10:30am chatting all things Mental Health in YA alongside Brian Conaghan, Annabel Pitcher and Matt Whyman. After the event, Holly will be signing copies of her books.
Here are Holly’s full event details:
Sunday 19th July 2015 Main stage Mental Health in YA 10.30-11.15am As part our our ‘What is Normal?’ strand, we’ll be speaking out about mental health in books for young adults. Authors Holly Bourne, Brian Conaghan, Annabel Pitcher and Matt Whyman will be exploring the representation of mental health issues in YA today.
We all ask ourselves that – at least once a day. THRICE a day if we were going through the hell that is puberty. Luckily for you, Usborne have made a TOTALLY SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE GIF to help you work out if you’re normal or not.
