Mental illness writers: want to be a guest blogger and have me share your blog too?

Posted on February 2, 2016 by luckyotter

This is a great opportunity for new bloggers looking to increase their views, but you don’t have to be new to participate!

Until now, almost all the posts on Lucky Otter’s Haven have been written solely by me (I’m not counting reblogged articles by others, who wrote them for their own sites). But I feel like this blog is in need of some fresh material. I know there are lots of mental illness bloggers on WordPress sharing their own personal stories and struggles, and so many of you are such great writers too, with your own unique style and voice. So I want to extend an invitation to anyone interested in writing for this blog about their own personal experiences in living with a mental illness. I’m especially interested in people suffering from disorders caused by abuse and trauma: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), covert narcissism (C-NPD), narcissistic abuse syndrome (NAS), complex PTSD (C-PTSD), Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD), Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and other dissociative disorders like Psychogenic Fugue syndrome. I’m also interested in mental illness stigma and how that might have affected you, or how you cope with that, if it applies.

wanted

What I’m looking for:

Well written, informative, personal posts describing what it’s like to live with your mental illness, what you do to cope, whether or not you are in treatment or therapy, what works for you, how others react to your disorder, and anything else you think is important about your disorder.

I’m flexible. Your post can be prose, poetry, in essay form, or in list form. No matter what style you submit your post in, however, it must be your own original work! If you talk about new research or quote others in your post, make sure they are credited!

What I expect:

When your post is featured on this site, you may not post the same article you write for this blog on your own blog. However, I do HIGHLY encourage you to reblog it to your own blog, and also share it to your social media if applicable.

To show my appreciation for your hard work, I will also share your guest post to all my social media as well (I have accounts on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bloglovin’, Reddit, and Google Plus.) Since your post will include a link to your own blog and your Gravatar bio, a lot of people who never heard of your blog before may decide to follow your blog. So if you’re looking for more traffic, more hits, or more followers, this is a good opportunity!

If I get enough interested people, what I will do is feature a new guest blogger every week, that way everyone has a chance to be featured on this blog. You might have to wait, but eventually you’ll have your post featured. I’ll probably be featuring one guest blogger once a week, probably over the weekend, because that’s when I have the most time.

I do reserve the right to edit your submitted post, but only for grammar, spelling and general readability. I won’t be doing much more than proofreading and very light editing, if any at all. If I have to edit for length, I will discuss with you first what can be taken out to make it shorter. If it needs beefing up, I’ll let you know that too.

If you change your mind later and decide you don’t want to guest-blog, no problem! I understand life sometimes just happens. All I ask is that you let me know, so I’m not waiting on a post that isn’t coming.

Before I get busy reading your posts, first I need to get a list of the bloggers who are interested. If this sounds like something you want to do, please post a link to your blog in the comments, along with a short description of what you will be writing about when you do your guest post. Then I’ll look at each one of your blogs, and then write up a new post featuring all interested bloggers in a list, announcing you as my guest bloggers (similar to Dream Big’s Featured Bloggers Lists). This post will include each blog’s name (with a link to it), and a short description of what your blog is about.

After the list is posted, I’ll be contacting each of you one at a time to write up your guest post. I’ll probably have you email those to me, but that’s a bit later on.

After all the participating blogs are posted, I’ll share your blog to all my social media. So you get to be shared twice–first your blog, then your guest post!

For now, if you think you’d like to write a post for this blog, please link your blog in the comments along with a short description and what you want to write about. In return, all I ask is that you reblog this post and share it to your social media (if applicable)! Spread the word! I’d like to get as many interested people as possible to participate!

I’ll probably design some kind of badge or logo you can post on your site to show my appreciation.

UPDATE: The turnout was better than I expected. Comments have been disabled. Thanks everyone!

Mental Health Writer’s Guild

Posted on January 30, 2016 by luckyotter

I’m proud to announce that both this blog and my other blog, Down The Rabbit Hole, have been accepted into the Mental Health Writer’s Guild, an organization for bloggers who focus on mental health issues including mental illness stigma.

From their About page:

The Mental Health Writers’ Guild exists to encourage: positive, informative, inspirational writing in respect of Mental Health. Doing so in the hope of ..

a) furthering a greater understanding of the issues and challenges relating to Mental Health and Mental Well-being.

b) addressing and working towards the reduction and removal of the stigma often attached to poor mental health and/or mental illness.

c) keeping people advised of any progress, research, developments or discoveries within the field of Mental Health and Mental Well-being.

Likewise, The Mental Health Writers’ Guild seeks to encourage support and unity between all those writing about Mental Health and especially within Guild members.

Any blogger who writes about mental illness is welcome to join. You may request membership on this page, or recommend another blogger for membership.

“Crazy” blogs help reduce stigma against mental illness.

Posted on January 17, 2016 by luckyotter

Through our “self indulgence” and “shameless” willingness to publicly talk about personal struggles and issues most people wouldn’t even tell their second best friend, we forge communities where we can offer strength and comfort to others–and receive it in return.

Do you, like me, administer a “crazy” blog?

I was thinking about how in the past few years, “crazy” blogs like mine (highly confessional blogs that document an individual’s mental illness and their journey to wellness, or an abuse victim’s struggles to find peace of mind and emotional freedom) have proliferated like mushrooms after a rain storm.

Is this a blessing or is it the Internet version of the worst kind of TV reality shows?

Those who don’t understand, many of them older people who aren’t used to such public candor on or off the web, like to pass judgment and accuse us “crazy” bloggers pf being self-indulgent, narcissistic, exhibitionistic, shameless, or just plain, well, batshit crazy. They can’t understand why people with such delicate and personal…issues…would want to blab about them all over the web to strangers all over the world. They think that by us doing so, we just prove we’re as insane as whatever mental illness we are struggling with. They think that abuse stories belong behind closed doors and the only public place where they should be discussed is in the courts.

Highly subjective, confessional stories of mental illness and abuse didn’t start on the web, though the web makes it possible for the average non-celebrity type of person to make their story known through blogging and forum posts, and in the process, enlighten, warn, or provide hope and support to others in the same boat. Through our “self indulgence” and “shameless” willingness to publicly talk about personal struggles and issues most people wouldn’t even tell their second best friend, we forge communities where we can offer strength and comfort to others–and receive it in return. Back in the days before the Internet was available, we so often had to struggle alone without any support–or never be able to use what we learned to lift up someone else.

I think “crazy” blogs in particular help reduce stigma against mental illness by describing what it’s like to actually live with one, rather than just listing a bunch of criteria in a psychiatric textbook, which tends to increase stigma. Instead of being reduced to “Exhibit A-104.3G, our stories and struggles show our humanity.

Further reading: Why Crazy People Make Better Bloggers.