This page is dedicated to tracking coverage of my writing and milestones, whether it is a piece I have written, a direct story about myself or a piece about someone or something else in which any of my work has been quoted.
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The First Blog Piece I Had Written That Was Republished By A Larger Site – 8/6/16
When I began writing, it was for healing, self-preservation and survival. I honestly never dreamed others would want to read my words, let alone that they would be able to relate. When The Mighty picked up my first piece and readers began to respond with overwhelming support, I was honored and humbled beyond belief.
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The First Time A Website Requested I Write A Piece Exclusively For Them – 8/22/16
Everyday Health liked my story and wanted to share it but wanted a version exclusive to their site, requesting that I write another similar piece that would only be published by them.
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The First Time One of My Republished Pieces Was The Lead Piece on a Much Larger Site – 8/23/16
At this point, I was still unaccustomed to having any of my writing republished. Every single time felt surreal. When The Mighty chose this piece of mine to be their feature article for their entire site that day, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and honored beyond words.
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The First Time an Advocacy Group Reached Out to Me Asking to Share My Writing In Their Newsletter – 8/30/16
The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network emailed me via my blog to request permission to republish one of the mental health pieces I had written in one of their upcoming newsletters. My piece was the opening story in their December 2016 newsletter.
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The First Time A Fellow Author Contacted Me, Asking for Me to Contribute to Their Book – 9/2/16
I had honestly never dreamed another author would ever reach out to me, asking me to contribute to their book. I happily obliged. The Recovery Letters was published in 2017.
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When Barnes&Noble.com Picked Up My First Book – 9/7/16
My book had previously been listed on Amazon.com and the Kindle Store, as well as various small, online, independent bookstores. Seeing it listed for sale on Barnes & Noble’s site, though, took my writing to a whole other level for me.
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The First Time I Saw My Writing Republished on an Official Therapy Page – 9/14/16
Periodically, I would do web searches of my name to see if anything new would come up in relation to my writing. On one of these searches, I discovered that The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s official counseling services page had a piece of mine on their page. This piece had previously been republished on The Mighty
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The First Time I Was Cold Contacted by Someone Wanting to Tell My Story – 10/28/16
When Antonio from Inspirational Souls first reached out to me asking to tell my story, I was at a loss for words. I had never previously heard of his site but I was moved by his mission to share the stories of people he believed were making an impact and changing the world. To this day, I am still truly honored that he believed my story was inspirational and worth sharing.
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My Television Interview Discussing My First Book – 11/12/16
On 11/12/16, I appeared on Elaine Houston’s “Today’s Women” segment on my local NBC affiliate, WNYT Albany. Though the video itself is no longer on their website, their original blurb about my appearance can still be found on their Facebook page here.
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The First Time The Mighty Shared A Piece of Mine That Had Been Republished Elsewhere – 5/15/17
Having The Mighty republish pieces of mine directly is one thing. But to have them find and share a piece of mine republished on another site is another thing altogether.
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The First Time An Advocacy Group Contacted Me, Asking Me to Share My Story to Encourage Others to Advocate for Themselves -11/3/17
For almost a year, I fought my insurance company to cover a medication I needed due to a genetic mutation that severely affected my mental health, documenting my journey along the way in my blog. After winning my battle, a legal advocacy group called My Patient Rights contacted me, asking me to share my story so that others knew winning was possible.
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The First Time One of My Pieces Was Featured on a State-Wide Health Site – 12/3/17
According to their website, “Delaware Health Information Network’s roots reach back to 1997 when the Delaware General Assembly enacted the organization as a public/private partnership. The objective was, and remains today, to advance the creation of a statewide health information network that addresses our state’s needs for timely, reliable and relevant health care information.” To have a state-wide network dedicate a page on their website to a piece I had written was mind-boggling for me.
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The First Time One of My Pieces Was Shared on Yahoo – 2/7/18
Doing my periodic searches looking for where my writing has been shared and republished, I stumbled onto this piece on Yahoo’s Lifestyle page. It was then that I realized it was becoming harder and harder to track where my work was showing up – not that I’m complaining in the least.
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The First Time I Was Quoted in a Piece on Various News Sources That Had Nothing To Do With Me Because My Writing Was Relevant To The Topic At Hand – 2/20/18
Chris Cornell’s suicide shocked the world. When his widow came forward a year later to do her first interview since his passing, it was headline news covered by many sources. Though I knew neither the author of this particular piece nor the person she was writing about, the writer covering her interview with ‘Good Morning America’ chose to reference a piece of mine about suicide and quote me directly. The article appeared on numerous news sources, including MSN and Yahoo.
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The First Time My Writing Was Shared by Huffington Post – 3/27/18
Though I have become accustomed to various pieces of mine being shared around the web, this piece marked the first time a large media outlet such as Huffington Post shared a piece of my writing with their readers.
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The First Time My Writing Appeared as the Featured article for a Site’s Weekly Newsletter – 4/7/18
There’s nothing quite like seeing one of my pieces as the featured article in the email newsletter sent out by The Mighty to all their readers.
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The First time I discovered My Writing Was a Topic of Discussion on Radio Stations – 4/7/18
Following MamaMia republishing my anxiety chart on their site, I discovered that the piece was picked up on the websites of a series of local radio stations throughout Australia. MamaMia republishing my anxiety chart on their site played a large part in my writing going viral on a global scale.
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The First Time I Discovered My Writing Was a Topic of Discussion on a Television Station – 4/7/18
Following MamaMia republishing my anxiety chart on their site, I discovered that the piece was picked up on the websites on a local television station in Australia. Shortly after discovering that radio stations in Australia were discussing my anxiety chart thanks to MamaMia, I discovered that television stations in Australia apparently were, as well. While it is admittedly an incredible feeling whenever any of my writing has been republished, MamaMia opened up multiple new doors I never imagined were possible and made my writing more visible over multiple platforms. I will forever be grateful to them for the opportunity and the exposure they have given me.
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The First Time I Saw a Video of a Piece of Mine Being Discussed and Reviewed as the Main Topic of Discussion by Someone Doing a Show About Mental Health and Other Important Issues of the Day – 4/26/18
Hannah Cranston, the host of a weekly YouTube show called ThinkTank, and her guest Brooke Thomas, did an entire segment centered around my Anxiety Chart piece that had been republished by The Mighty. I had no clue about this segment until months after it had aired and was admittedly blown away by all the kind and positive words they had to say about my piece.
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The First Time I saw a Mental Health Advocacy Group I Was Not Affiliated With Sharing My Work Directly From My Personal Blog Instead Of From Another Site That Had Republished It – 4/10/18
This tweet honestly made me cry. Every writer wants their work to be seen. Every advocate wants their words to be heard. If you’re both lucky and blessed as I have been, a mental health advocate will find a larger site or two willing to take a chance on them and give them a platform to put their writing out there. Sometimes other sites take notice of the work you’ve had republished and will republish it again via that larger site. But rarely, at least in my experiences, do mental health advocacy groups seek out your pieces directly from their origin without any contact between you. Knowing time-to-change.org-uk took the time to visit my personal blog on their own and share a piece of mine without any outside promotion for that piece was huge for me.
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The First Time I Saw Something I Had Written Used as The Inspiration for Another Author’s Piece – 4/10/18
It is honestly surreal to me how much the piece about my anxiety chart has blown up. I consider it a tremendous honor that another writer used my writing as inspiration to write a piece herself, especially a compilation piece asking others about their own anxiety.
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The First Time I Had Seen A Piece Of Mine Republished On A Site In Another Language – 5/7/18
There was something tragically beautiful about seeing this for the first time. Even though I could not read it beyond my own name without the assistance of a translation program, seeing my words out there in another language was particularly moving for me. It was a harsh reminder that mental illness does not discriminate. It connects us all, no matter where we live, what we look like and what language we speak. Perhaps in these divisive times when so many people are looking to separate, segregate and discriminate, mental illness may be one of the core issues that helps bring us all together again.
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The First Time A Piece I Had Written Was Not Only Republished By A Larger News Site But Also Appeared Prominently On Their Home Page – 6/8/18
Following The Mighty’s republishing of a piece I had written about needing to talk about suicide all the time and not just when a celebrity dies, the statistics page of my blog kept showing referrals from Yahoo.com. Yahoo had previously republished a few of my pieces on their Lifestyles and News subpages, so I figured they must have picked up this piece, as well. I popped over to their site, prepared to start digging, looking for which section my latest piece had been republished on. However, as Yahoo.com’s homepage opened, I saw my piece on suicide was listed directly on their main Yahoo.com homepage, 5th article from the top below the featured story block. To have something I had written featured so prominently on the homepage of such a large and well-known site was mind-boggling beyond words.
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The First Time A Piece I Had Written Was Not Only Republished By A Larger News Site But Also Appeared Across Their Site On Multiple Pages – 6/17/18
Not only did my piece begin 3rd from the top story hub on the main Yahoo homepage..
…but it was republished on the Yahoo Lifestyle, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Sports pages, as well. Though admittedly, I am not entirely sure why it was republished on the finance and sports pages, I am truly honored and thrilled to see it on so many pages throughout Yahoo’s site and could not be more grateful for their continued support of my writing. I am truly blessed to have my writing reach so many.
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The First Time I Saw Something I Had Written Shared By WebMD – 9/27/18
This piece has taken on a life of its own. Every time I think it has run its course, it pops up anew. However, I still was not prepared to see something I had written shared on WebMD’s Facebook page. WebMD is the first site many people think of whenever they need to look up anything medically-related. To see something I had written shared by them is humbling beyond words.
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The First Time I Discovered My Writing Was Being Used As An Example of a Blogging Prompt to Help Other Writers Looking for Tips on a Prominent Site That Takes Open Submissions – 10/2/18
I am honestly not sure when this writing prompt went live on The Mighty, but seeing one of my pieces being cited as one of two examples for other writers to use as inspiration, I was honestly blown away. There is no date on the prompt itself, only a vague “updated over a week ago”, so I shall be dating this milestone by the date I discovered it.
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The First Time I Saw Myself Quoted in a Piece by Another Author on a Private Counseling Center Page – 10/16/18
Though something similar had occurred in February 2018 when I was cited in an article written by someone else that had appeared on both Yahoo and MSN about Chris Cornell’s widow discussing his suicide, the fact that I was cited in this article about Tina Turner’s reaction to her son’s suicide feels even more incredulous to me. It is one thing to have various websites republish my writing. It is another to have other writers use my writing as a source when talking about mental health issues. It is yet another to have a news source see someone else’s story where they have cited me and believe that piece that has cited me is worth sharing on their site. And it is yet another, even more mind-boggling thing to have another writer choose to quote my work, to have a news source then choose to share their piece where they quote me as a source AND to have a private entity such as a counseling center see that piece that cited me on a news source and choose to republish it on their site, as well. I am beyond flattered and humbled that my words have become so widely used and shared like this. My mind is officially blown.
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The First Time I Discovered an Article Written About One of My Pieces on Diply – 2/19/19.
When The Mighty republished my depression chart, I honestly did not expect it to blow up as much as it has in the last twenty four hours. Perhaps the biggest surprise was seeing that there was an article about my chart and me (it even mentions my blog and my first book that started it all!) on Diply, a social media site that highlights everything trendy and viral.
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My 50th Piece Was Republished on The Mighty – 5/27/19.
This is a screen grab of my author portal through The Mighty, showing I have 50 stories live and 3 more pending publication. I was thrilled beyond belief when The Mighty picked up my first piece for republication on 8/6/16, almost three years ago. In less than three years time, The Mighty has republished 49 more pieces, with three more flagged as approved, pending going live. It is amazing to me that such a huge and influential site has stood so firmly behind me for so long, sharing my words again and again. They have also sent my pieces out to other sites like Yahoo and MSN for republication. Because of their tireless support, I have seen and heard my writing being discussed on numerous websites, television and radio stations world wide, and even as the subject of a podcast by a reporter from The Young Turks. I will be forever grateful to The Mighty for all their support.
Unlovable 