#MHYALit: Author Tamara Ireland Stone Interviews a Teen Called C about OCD

Today as part of the #MHYALIt Discussion author Tamara Ireland Stone presents an inteview with C, the teenage inspiration for the book Every Last Word. Yesterday, C shared with us 10 Things I Wish You Knew About OCD. Thank you to Tamara and especially to C for sharing her experiences.

My newest novel, Every Last Word, is about a girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who discovers a secret poetry club that changes her life in unexpected ways. It was inspired by a family friend who was diagnosed with OCD when she was 12-years-old. I call her C.

I wrote this book for her, and with a great deal of help from her along the way.

C has learned a lot about managing her mental health over the last five years. She’s eager to share her experience in hopes of helping those who are struggling with mental illness feel less alone, and to encourage others to see the people around them through a kinder, more compassionate lens.

About Every Last Word

If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she’d be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear. (Disney-Hyperion, 2015)

Meet Author Tamara Ireland Stone

TAMARA IRELAND STONE is the author of the New York Times bestseller, EVERY LAST WORD, a story about a teen with OCD who discovers a secret poetry club that changes her life in unexpected ways. Stone is also the author of TIME BETWEEN US, which has been published in over twenty countries, and its companion novel, TIME AFTER TIME. The series follows a teen time traveler from present day and a girl in 1995 he can’t seem to leave in his past. Listen to playlists and learn more about her books at www.tamarairelandstone.com.

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