Writerland is a newsletter from The Delacorte Review whose mission is to help writers tell the stories they need to tell. * * *Thanks for reading Writerland! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The memoir did not begin with Covid, but the past two-and-a-half years have felt like a time when people needed to find a way to tell the stories of what was happening to them.
I think about people with OCD or people on the spectrum that long ago would've been dismissed as weird or stupid or less than. How many people must've grappled privately with issues that were overlooked or not understood. Even mental health issues, which affects so many people -- probably everyone, really -- is only very recently starting to shed its stigma. I'm glad writers like Emily are expressing themselves and giving everyone an insight into what it's like to have OCD. I'm glad there are more spaces for that. Thanks for sharing, Michael.
Does she name the medication in the memoir? I find it personally annoying when writers talk about meds but don’t name them. Why? Are they afraid of being sued? Are they ashamed? Why not share these pertinent details that may help someone else with the same problem?
I think about people with OCD or people on the spectrum that long ago would've been dismissed as weird or stupid or less than. How many people must've grappled privately with issues that were overlooked or not understood. Even mental health issues, which affects so many people -- probably everyone, really -- is only very recently starting to shed its stigma. I'm glad writers like Emily are expressing themselves and giving everyone an insight into what it's like to have OCD. I'm glad there are more spaces for that. Thanks for sharing, Michael.
Does she name the medication in the memoir? I find it personally annoying when writers talk about meds but don’t name them. Why? Are they afraid of being sued? Are they ashamed? Why not share these pertinent details that may help someone else with the same problem?