BLOG 1: YOUR STORIES

People tell me I'm a mom on a mission. I am on a mission. We have to make the case for effective, compassionate care for those with medical brain disorders and to do that we have to tell our stories. Stories about tragedies that could have been prevented. Stories about the need for beds and housing. Stories about outrageous HIPAA laws that prevent us from helping those we love. Stories about our missing and homeless children and mothers and fathers. Stories about our sons and daughters in jails and prisons and solitary confinement without treatment. And on and on...

We have to do this. Nothing else is working. Not healthcare. Not government. Not prisons. Everything's fraught with hidden agendas, bureaucratic incompetence, and self-interest. Or lack of interest.

I hear many of you in the medical brain disorder community say, "So much has happened I could write a book." I believe you could write a book. Why not warm up here? Let's move our stories out of closed Facebook groups and anonymous support groups into mainstream discourse. Let's bombard the public/legislators with accounts they won't be able to ignore. Let's make change happen. Sooner than tomorrow...

Mary Sheldon, a member of IHHS (in-home supportive service workers), spoke to CBS-San Diego on 4/22/20 about COVID-19 PPE needs. She writes: “Media scares me silly! Important work needed to happen. When the news station got a hold of me, I saw your book on my shelf. Shaking, I grabbed it and thought of everything written inside. You are brave with a deep heart and genuine kind soul. I am not a fighter and my fear shuts me up mostly. It is hard to find words to convey need with dignity and grace. Your book and website have given me such insight and shown we can speak up in a caring way. Truly, could not have done this without knowing you.”

Send me your stories. Subscribe to the blog (Click on Your Stories). Spread the word.

Winner: 2019 Nautilus Book Awards — Gold

Click here to watch my Nautilus Book Awards Author Spotlight Video

Click here to see Sooner Than Tomorrow on Amazon

BLOG 2: MY DIARY

SOONER THAN TOMORROW
A MOTHER’S DIARY ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS,
FAMILY and EVERYDAY LIFE

"I've read Sooner Than Tomorrow twice. Thank you. I'm enlightened and now know that I don't need to accept blame or blame anyone at all anymore. Mental illness just is. It's not my son's fault or mine or his doctor’s or anything. It just is. I pray that God hears me when I sometimes cry out overwhelmed. That's when I remember you and your son and your words of wisdom through experiences so similar to mine. I'm thankful for the many ways your book has changed me and the way I think and manage my life. Dede, I can't begin to thank you enough.” Francie VanZandt — A Mother

Winner: 2019 Nautilus Book Awards - Gold
Finalist: 2019 Book Excellence Awards
Finalist: 2017 New Millennium Writings 43rd literary Awards
Finalist: 2016 San Francisco Writer's Conference Memoir Contest
Finalist: 2016 Writer's Digest Writing Competition

To read the Introduction, click on "My Diary" in the Navigation bar above. 

From the back cover:
I had no idea, as I was writing my diary (June 15, 2013 — June 15, 2014) that I was capturing the last year of my son’s life. Pat died, unexpectedly, on July 23, 2014, on a hospital psych ward. Suddenly, my diary morphed into a more poignant record than I’d anticipated and, after he died, I discovered Pat had been making regular posts on Facebook. I decided to add his comments to my own.
One day, you know it will be your turn. Something alters your projection. There’s a major shift and then events will be referenced as “before” or “after.” Your life as it was versus the way it is now. In Sooner Than Tomorrow, I learn — right along with the reader — what will happen next. We’re all on a journey. Thank you for going on this journey with me.”
— Dede Ranahan