Angela Grey's Blog - Posts Tagged "journaling"
Who is Angela Grey?
I'm an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. Thanks in part to fantastic foster parents, sassy social workers, and outstanding teachers, I'm a family-focused parent of four wonderful young adults. I've self-published four fiction novels under a pseudonym, Peyton Mathie. Those accounts were based on my life stories. Although I'm a native of the Lake Traverse reservation in South Dakota, I lived in Brooklyn, New York off and on throughout my childhood. Currently, I reside in Eden Prairie, Minnesota with my family. My hobbies include yoga, MBSR, camping, budget travel, and painting.
Note: The pseudonym was derived from the first name of my daughter’s childhood friend and the surname of a coworker at approximately the same time frame. In one I saw signs of my past and the latter, hopefully, my future.
Note: The pseudonym was derived from the first name of my daughter’s childhood friend and the surname of a coworker at approximately the same time frame. In one I saw signs of my past and the latter, hopefully, my future.
Author Interview Questions
1. Q: Tell the world who you are and why you wrote a book. A: My name is Angela Grey and I published through CreateSpace to tell my life story.
2. Q: Give us an insider’s look at how your book came to be. Give us a deeper understanding of your creative process. A: I was journaling about my schizophrenia diagnosis and wanted to put it in book format for my family. Through writing I gain insight into the parts of my life I think that are important. When I read about a subject, I also get a better understanding into myself. I hope that I inspire others with schizophrenia that way as well.
3. Q: What’s important about your book and why should we buy it? A: I think with the recent negative media portrayals that people with mental illnesses are hiding in the background and possibly not accomplishing all that life has to offer them, including participating in their hobbies. For me that it writing, and I want others to see that it is possible to tell their life story, even if only a handful of others read it. At least they accomplished what they set out to do plus it combats the stigma related to schizophrenia and other delusional disorders. We need to strive to overcome our setbacks on any given day. This book reveals that resiliency.
4. Q: Will your book benefit your readers’ lives? Why or why not? A: Yes, because it gives hope to those diagnosed with a delusional disorder (schizophrenia) and lets them know that it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. There is still so much possible despite the diagnosis.
5.Q: Give us a brief history about you, the connection to your book, if any, and why you write. A: I write to release the voices in my mind. If I put words on paper, then I’m free from the mental messages.
6.Q: What have been some barriers to achieving your goals of writing and or becoming published? A: Social anxiety and withdrawal are components of my illness. That has kept me from contacting bookstores to set up events in the hopes of making my writing a little more mainstream.
7.Q: What do you hope to achieve from your writing career? A: To tell my story and I’ve done that, so I’m content.
8.Q: Do you have a strong support system and or dream team backing you? If not, why not?, If so, tell us more. A: My family encourages me to write because they see that it calms me and makes me a more satisfied person. They see that it gets the chaotic energy out of my mind and onto paper.
9.Q: What has been the highlight of your writing career so far? A: The highlight is getting feedback, whatever it is. I like to know if I achieved what I wanted to tell.
10.Q: What’s next for you? What does your future hold? What are you currently working on? A: I'm a residential drafter full-time but in my spare time, I’m currently working on two fiction mysteries where a main character has been tangential in my own life.
2. Q: Give us an insider’s look at how your book came to be. Give us a deeper understanding of your creative process. A: I was journaling about my schizophrenia diagnosis and wanted to put it in book format for my family. Through writing I gain insight into the parts of my life I think that are important. When I read about a subject, I also get a better understanding into myself. I hope that I inspire others with schizophrenia that way as well.
3. Q: What’s important about your book and why should we buy it? A: I think with the recent negative media portrayals that people with mental illnesses are hiding in the background and possibly not accomplishing all that life has to offer them, including participating in their hobbies. For me that it writing, and I want others to see that it is possible to tell their life story, even if only a handful of others read it. At least they accomplished what they set out to do plus it combats the stigma related to schizophrenia and other delusional disorders. We need to strive to overcome our setbacks on any given day. This book reveals that resiliency.
4. Q: Will your book benefit your readers’ lives? Why or why not? A: Yes, because it gives hope to those diagnosed with a delusional disorder (schizophrenia) and lets them know that it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. There is still so much possible despite the diagnosis.
5.Q: Give us a brief history about you, the connection to your book, if any, and why you write. A: I write to release the voices in my mind. If I put words on paper, then I’m free from the mental messages.
6.Q: What have been some barriers to achieving your goals of writing and or becoming published? A: Social anxiety and withdrawal are components of my illness. That has kept me from contacting bookstores to set up events in the hopes of making my writing a little more mainstream.
7.Q: What do you hope to achieve from your writing career? A: To tell my story and I’ve done that, so I’m content.
8.Q: Do you have a strong support system and or dream team backing you? If not, why not?, If so, tell us more. A: My family encourages me to write because they see that it calms me and makes me a more satisfied person. They see that it gets the chaotic energy out of my mind and onto paper.
9.Q: What has been the highlight of your writing career so far? A: The highlight is getting feedback, whatever it is. I like to know if I achieved what I wanted to tell.
10.Q: What’s next for you? What does your future hold? What are you currently working on? A: I'm a residential drafter full-time but in my spare time, I’m currently working on two fiction mysteries where a main character has been tangential in my own life.
