About ClareHill

Clare Hill

Background

I’m 28 years old, a single mom, on medication for mental health problems, in therapy, see a shrink, etc.

I started writing in primary school, where I achieved my proudest accomplishment to date - my poem was picked out in foot-high letters on the walls of the hall for parents’ evening.

I started writing in adult life as therapy for myself. I was diagnosed with mental health problems in 2003, and shortly after, my mother killed herself. We were estranged, I hadn’t seen her for 7 years, and I had to deal with the guilt. I was stuck on Prozac, which gave me side-effects like manic episodes, and on a looong waiting list. I did my own research into mental health, and wrote poetry about my feelings. Then I had the idea to stick it all together, and make a guidebook. I had given up on it, as I’d been turned down by a few publishers. Then Chipmunka Publishing accepted it - they had been the first I’d sent it to.

‘Living Without Marbles’ was published as an e-book by them. It deals with my feelings on my mother’s suicide and trying to come to terms with my own mental health problems. Happily, Chipmunka have now received funding to publish Living Without Marbles as a paperback.

The follow-up, ‘Crazy Lady (Without The Cats)’ in paperback and e-book format (www.lulu.com/clarehill) deals with being a long-term mental health service user. Both are guidebooks with a twist, with my own personal narrative/rants/poems/stories adding spice and humour to the useful information and advice.

I am currently writing a romantic comedy and working on several other projects, including editing a mental health and creativity book for a community forum I belongs to, the proceeds of which will go to Survivors Poetry. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried editing work for others, it was hard making changes to what people had written. It’s given me a new appreciation for editors - or maybe I’m just being a brown nose!

I get e-mails from people who have read my work, and they tell me about their experiences. They read something on one of my websites, or another site I’ve contributed to, and contact me. I find it very touching that people feel they can talk to me, that they have gotten something from my work that has affected them to the extent that they feel they have to contact me. I’ve even had fan e-mail!

Things that annoy me -
signs on shops that are spelt wrong ( do sign writers not own dictionaries?)
portrayal of mental health service users as maniacal murderers on telly,
the assumption that depressives don’t laugh,
celebrity “writers” who get million pound deals yet don’t write a word themselves (bitter, moi?)
shops that change all the shelves around just as I’ve figured out where everything is,
medication side effects, like twitching muscles,
having my best ideas just before I fall asleep - and then forgetting everything except that it was the best idea I’ve ever had, and would have been a sure fire bestseller.

You have to be able to network, and websites are especially important for me, as I suffer bouts of agoraphobia, and find it difficult to go out alone. I was lucky enough to be offered a place on the Equal 2 New Writers Development Course in Birmingham, which I managed to attend - I had to have an escort to the door, and to pick me up from the door, afterwards. I enjoyed being with other writers, and found the whole thing really exciting, even if I found it difficult, sometimes. My crowning moment was when I managed to perform two of my poems at a performance evening. I still can’t believe I managed to do it!

Published Work

I’ve had articles published on Writelink website - which I got paid for! - and one in Twisted Tongue magazine, which they asked me to write about myself. I’ve written several articles for websites on mental health issues, and on domestic violence. I’ve achieved runner-up status in a competition with a spoof newspaper article.
I’ve published stories in The Any Dream Will Do Review (an American literary magazine for “raw” creative non-fiction), Gold Dust Magazine, on Writelink (I got paid for that, too!), Twisted Tongue magazine, I’ve had a piece of flash fiction highly commended in a competition and another commended.
As far as poetry, the New Writers course really helped me develop a voice. I’ve since published poetry in Twisted Tongue magazine, had poetry accepted for Multicultural magazine, Delivered magazine and Raw Edge magazine special edition.
I was commissinoed by Brook Advisory Service in Birmingham to write a poem to mark their 40th anniversary, which I performed in Borders bookshop in the Bullring, Birmingham.
Crazy Lady (Without the Cats) has been accepted by Chipmunka for publication as an e-book, and I will still be producing the paperback version on Lulu myself.
I’ve got an editorial and some work in the MadnotBad anthology,A short story has been accepted for the BHF Horror anthology, I was second in a recent flash fiction competition, which chuffed me, and I was the subject of the Saturday Interview with Jo Ind in the Birmingham Post in May 2006 - which had a fantastic photo with it.

Location:: United Kingdom