Dissociation and ACEs

The link for the leaflet does not work Bonnie. Could you please share it again? Also, I'm not sure about publishers, but I hope you find the answer you are looking for on here!

Thanks Andrea -- Perhaps the better way to access the article is to go to the leaflet website.  http://leaflet.thepermanentepress.org and look in the archives for Volume One, Issue One.  Sorry about the link.

And thanks for the good wishes.

Disassociation definitely helped me in the Army.  Wish I could help you.  Good luck.

Bonnie Armstrong posted:

Several years ago, Dr. Felitti asked me to write an article for the first issue of Kaiser's on-line journal leaflet.  It's about my adolescent suicide attempt and how the body remembers old trauma.  Available here:   http://leaflet.thepermanentepr...om-a-complex-illness.

After spending many years as a professional in the child welfare world, I have now written a first-person story about how my system used dissociation to survive and even thrive after ACEs.  Does anyone have any ideas about publishers or literary agents who might want to help me get this book published?  Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi Bonnie:

Have you tried any memoir writing groups or online forums? There are some great resources out there and there's an entire industry for getting published. Do you know who your main audience, budget,  timeline, etc? Those things can determine a lot. It can be hard to get published but it's not impossible. Many choose to blog or self-publish or write articles because often one can reach others directly that way. It depends on your goals. There is still the traditional pathway of getting an agent or editor from writing a book proposal. But for a lot of us, introverts by nature, the trend towards endless self-promotion and marketing and having to build a platform can go against our natural

Many choose to blog or self-publish or write articles because often one can reach others directly that way. It depends on your goals and energy level. There is still the traditional pathway of getting an agent or editor from writing a book proposal. But for a lot of us, introverts by nature, the trend towards endless self-promotion and marketing and having to build a platform can go against our natural tendencies but these things are pretty much requirements now whether we self-publish or get an agent/editor.

There are places like Grub Street Writing (Boston area) and others where you shop around ideas.

I think the world needs more memoirs like yours and I hope to read more of your words.

Good luck. Cissy

Thanks Cissy -- Those are all good ideas.  I do belong to a writers group and they have been very supportive and helpful to be sure that a person without MH expertise can understand what I'm writing about the mystery of dissociation.   Based on the feedback I've gotten so far, I'm going to work on getting it published in the traditional way because I want to reach the broadest possible audience - with the goal of helping people understand this amazing so-called disorder.  I'm convinced that there are lots of us out there in the world, living productive lives because we developed this way of dealing with our ACEs.  We need to counter the awful images movies like "Split" offer of people with DID. The draft manuscript of my journey is written -- now we just need to find someone who can get excited about helping it move forward.   I appreciate your support and will follow up your suggestions.

Bonnie

Robert McCloy posted:

Disassociation definitely helped me in the Army.  Wish I could help you.  Good luck.

I'm so glad it helped you, too, Robert.  It is an amazing survival tool, which is in part the story I want to tell.  

Bonnie, I was earlier reading "HHS Public Access/Author Manuscript; The Polyvagal Perspective-Steven W. Porges" and had earlier seen a number of Collaborative [professional associations] Journals cited. Now I can't seem to retrace my path, but it may have been the Wikipedia item on Steven Porges also noting his wife's professional associations, too--that I had read earlier. I wish you the best in finding a suitable publisher.....or literary agent....

Thanks Robert -- I'll follow up on your suggestions.  There is so much new and exciting neuroscience research going on.  Each piece moves us all forward.