The Big Announcement

Despite having a cold drastically lower my energy levels, I started work on a long-term project a few days ago. The rate at which I've completed the first part of it has astounded me, and I still can't believe I've managed to do so much in three days. Often when I get excited about a project, I'll get a massive burst of motivation and work harder in a few hours or days than I normally do in months. I usually end up working so hard and refusing to stop that I end up burning out before it has finished. This time however, I have successfully completed it, or at least the first part anyway!

So without further ado, here it is, my big announcement.

I'm starting an online magazine.

The first 'part' I was on about before, the part I have completed, is the first issue. Or rather, I've almost completed the first issue. There's just one thing it's missing. One thing that's kinda important. A title. It's got a working title, 'Schizophrenia Magazine' but that's definitely not going to be the final title! I do have a title I want to use, but I'm not committing to it just yet as I'm going to create a website and have the magazine's title as the website's domain name. I can't commit to the title of the magazine yet because I don't know if the domain name will be available!

I'll be linking the website to this blog post when it's finally up and creating a second twitter account to hear the response of my adoring fans (thanks Mum and Dad). When the magazine is finalised, it will be available completely free on the website, without having to sign up to it. I'll also be putting it on Smashwords and Lulu to get it out to a wider audience and it will be free there too. The magazine will only be available online, but should anyone want a hard copy, feel free to print it off.

The magazine is currently 24 pages, which includes real life stories from contributors, an interview with the author Louise Gillett, and a few articles around mental health, such as how to get doctors to take you seriously with physical health problems when you have a mental illness.

The aim of the magazine is to raise awareness of, and educate people about schizophrenia, psychosis and other mental illnesses. It is also there to help sufferers feel less isolated and hopefully play a part in the battle against stigma. I'm intending for the magazine to be published monthly, and it is open for all to contribute to. I will set up a specialist email address for any who wish to contribute and I'll link that to this blog post too whenever I have it. Whenever the magazine has been up and running for about a year, I'll be analysing its popularity to see if it's worth continuing or stopping it all together.

So that's it, that my big announcement! Please can you spread the word about this, as I am hoping for this to do really well! Watch for the big edit below for the web address!

THE BIG EDIT: I'm proud to officially announce the name of my magazine, Still Here Magazine! As I write this, the website is still very basic but hopefully in time I will be able to make it more professional looking! The web address is stillheremagazine.com, the email address to send contributions to is katy@stillheremagazine.com and there is also a Twitter account to follow: @StillHereMag

Hopefully the magazine will be available in the very near future so keep checking the website!