I figure that if I have to endure the worst parts of bipolar disorder, like psychosis, I get to laugh as much as possible along the way. Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I've Lost My Damn Mind: A Manic's Mood Chart is the story of one Millennial's bipolar life, with moments ranging from the ridiculous to the terrifying to the hilarious. Blending pop culture references and cyberspeak with psychiatric terms, it combines the funny, conversational tone of Sh*t My Dad Says with a nonlinear narrative structure similar to that of Manic. The book began as a blog: if you had a delusional relationship with Britney Spears, wouldn't you brag about it to the entire world? To create the book, I organized the blog entries like a mood chart, a therapeutic tool which assigns colors of the rainbow to states of mind. The entries are divided into three sections, Depressed, Normal and Elevated, and cover the past three years: my psych ward getaways, my vision of fighting alongside Jesus at Armageddon, my attempts to find a woman who accepts that I sometimes lose my mind. Therapy "sessions" with a fictional psychiatrist provide my present-day reflections on each entry. (I had to create my ideal shrink because I tend to fight with the real ones.) Somewhere Over the Rainbow will be the first humorous memoir about bipolar by a member of the Millennial Generation-today's young adults. Because it doesn't follow the usual narrative format, the reader can flip through at random or take the traditional cover-to-cover route. My book's humor, pop culture references and Internet origins will appeal to Millennials, now entering their twenties and thirties, as well as younger Gen Xers. More than an account of coming to terms with a mental health condition, it's a story of being young and feeling lost, dealing with heartbreak and still finding plenty to laugh about, no matter what happens.
About the Author: Derek Thompson grew up in South Charleston, Ohio, where he earned the nickname "Butter" by his middle school crush. He basked in the glory of girls finally talking to him but unfortunately after graduation the true meaning of the nickname was revealed and attributed to some poorly timed bad dental hygiene practice in junior high. Putting this social disaster behind him he went on to receive a BA in communication in 2005 at Wittenberg University. He then pursued a corporate sales career at AT&T where he excelled in the high paced sales environment up until 2008. It was at this time he was unexpectedly and rudely interrupted by his first manic episode which changed everything; they tend to be real bitches like that. The BMD took him back home where he struggled to understand what his new diagnosis of bipolar disorder type I was and meant. To cope with this confusion he began writing a blog, which eventually became his humorous memoir, as a therapeutic process to deal with his new crazy life and have some fun along the way. Derek currently resides on one of his family's farms in rural Ohio where he wrote Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I've Lost My Damn Mind: A Manic's Mood Chart.