Monday, October 31, 2011

Bipolar NDB Media Blog Talk Radio

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ndbmedia/2011/10/28/bipolar-maggie-reese-author-of-runaway-mind Hey check out my interview next week with Host Cliff of NDB Media Blog Talk Radio. He has over 100,000 listeners world wide...tune in next Thursday at 6pmPST or (9pmEST)

www.blogtalkradio.com
Maggie Reese wrote a book about her life dealing with the manic part of bipolar disorder. She started out a success as a runner but then it all fell apart. Ho Oct 27

So the story  behind my first radio interview!  I sent off a book to a Blog Radio guy named Cliff who showed interest in my book and said he might be able to give me an interview if it turned out he liked it!  He read it and loved it.  I didn't hear back for a while which is very typical in all of this kind of work.  It takes time for people to get back....they are busy with life and business!  Anyway I got an e-mail from him and he wanted to do the show.  It was so much fun and not nerve racking at all.  We did a two hour program that included my mom and dad calling in and two close friends.  It was funny my husband Matt was so nervous he had to take Allie to Walmart to go buy an Angry Bird stuffed animal!  Funny!  He then had the World Series game 6 on while the program started.   At the end he gave me tons of hugs and said how proud he was.  My mom and dad called and were all excited too.  FUN!  Cliff or should I say Zeke...radio name) was fantastic.  He also has Bipolar and it was great to connect with him.  He understood me as all fellow bipolar people do.  They just get it.  Which is comforting.  Zeke does mostly baseball type shows so it was really cool that he wanted to do a program on my book.  I hope to fly out to New York to meet him on Tri-City field where he is trying to get an event there for a mental health day.  New York I am there any day of the week.  I like to see what goes on there in my weekly Wall Street Journal.  Fantastic City + Baseball what is not to like!  This may lead to more radio interviews in the future!  Thanks to Zeke for taking that chance on me to tell my story!!  To listen to the show press on the link above.  Maggie

Monday, October 24, 2011

NAMI San Diego Event

I got to the NAMI San Diego group early so I could talk with a few of the members and maybe learn something from ask the doctor.  It was nice to meet some new people.  I didn't gain any new insight from ask the Dr. but I saw how much it helped others so that was a huge plus.  The speech went really well, the Q&A was great, and people got their book at the end.  I even had a girl sing to me at the end of the event which made a couple of tears come out.  Her father had bipolar and she was so touched by my story.  I also had a lady come up to me with an already signed copy of my book.  "Maggie I can't thank you enough for this book.  It has helped me have hope to cling too.  You gave this to my brother when you bought your piano!"  A few weeks ago I had bought a piano from this cool guy named Damion at the Salvation Army.  He and I had gone back and forth on the price of the piano and I got it for half price.  He wanted to know about my background with music.  I told him how I grew up playing and now I needed one in my home to help with a way to release stress because of my bipolar.  Damion said, "Wow that is crazy, my sis has bipolar!"  I told him I would drop off a book for him and I did. It was so amazing that weeks later here was Damion's sister with tears and her hands clutching hard to the book.  Later that month I got the Young Advocate of the Year Award for NAMI San Diego!  Maggie

Kaplan College

I found my way into Kaplan College because my friend Tara knew a friend of hers that went there and really enjoyed my book. Tiffiny gave the book to her instructor who then got in touch with me to come speak to her Psych Nursing students.  They were just about ready to graduate and looked at me with board stares as I began my talk.  I immediately knew if I was going to get the students off their iphones and laptops I had to throw in some crazy stuff to gain their attention.  I first started out with my adventures through Yosemite at 3am rollerblading around the valley floor.  A few heads popped up with curiosity.  Then I threw in the dr. threats, the horse ride in the middle of the night, and the body guard factor from my book.  With that I got the class....even the sleeping guy in the back opened his eyes.  It was fun to make eye contact with each student.  Giving them the insight about what they might see on the job and how my story just may help them out their in the real world.  At the end I had 13 of the 20 students buy a copy.  The teacher said she had never had such a great speaker!  Yes I had won the respect of a bunch of college students and the teacher!  Afterward Tara and I went out for some yummy baked potatoes.  We love to eat out.  It gave us time to recharge, laugh about the guy sleeping in the back that liked me by the end, and then go about our fun San Diego life.  Maggie

Friday, October 21, 2011

Rancho Bernardo Rotary Speech

My mom told me over a year ago that I needed to start speaking!  She said, "Margaret you need to speak for the Rotary Clubs, Lions, ect..."  I was at that point thinking well I would just sell a few books on line and call it a day.  Well mom was right speaking for these groups and it has been such a joy to me.  I love meeting all the members, eating a yummy lunch, and then getting to educate the public on being aware of mental illness.  That it is everywhere and most of the time you can't see it.  Maybe you might see the poor soul lost on the streets but so many of us are just like that person yet we have a home to live in and someone to take care of us.  Yet our minds are the same.  It is been a blessing to speak for these groups....to learn their stories of life, their backgrounds, and some really good advice usually gets tossed out there with a lot of laughs!  Maggie

National Alliance of Mentally Ill San Diego Walk May

This was the first time I had ever been apart of a NAMI Walk.  It was a huge turn out.  About 2 thousands people plus showed up to walk the event.  It was such a neat experience to be able to have a booth there.  It was uplifting but yet sad all at the same time.  I would hear a great story of hope from a parent and then a sad one from someone else who had lost a loved one to mental illness.  I was not feeling well this day physically but I pushed through the event anyway.  I probably shouldn't have done the event with how sick I was.  I ended up getting bronchitis and laying in bed for 6 weeks to get well.  This showed me that while I would like to conquer everything I need to still take care of myself.  I have never  in my life been that sick.  This event led Tara and I to many contacts along with again helping so many families.   If you ever can be apart of a NAMI Walk do it once for everyone knows someone suffering with some kind of mental illness.  Do your part!  Maggie

Warwicks Book Signing in La Jolla

Trying to get in a bookstore is not fun let me tell you!
I found out that if you are a self-published author things look a little bleak....but there are always exceptions to the rules right!  They say to never march into a bookstore with your book.  Well to make a long story short....I did, Warwicks loved it, and they even let me do a book signing there.  I was even able to sell my books out of their bookstore because I sold enough books on the day of my signing.  My big goal is to of coarse get it published by a huge publisher and then go to the New York Best Seller list.  I have always been a big dreamer.  I can't help it.  It is in my blood to go until I cannot go any more.   For a self-published author the average total sales for a book is 150 books then the book dies out.  So far I have crushed that record which remember I like to break records!  I have sold now close to 2000 books since December of 2010 with just in the past 9 months starting to get the word out there!  Warwicks was fun and fancy.  Afterward my assistant/friend Tara and I went out to a cute restaurant named Cody's which overlooks the La Jolla cove.  It was fun to celebrate and smell the salty sea air.  We had got in!  Maggie

National Alliance of Mentally Ill North Coastal Speech

This was a fun speech for NAMI North Coastal in San Diego.  Over 100 people attended that night, a lot of laughs, hugs, tears, and books were sold.  It was one of those nights where we just didn't know what to expect and how my story would touch so many lives.  My assistant Tara got this speech for me by sending out tons of e-mails and staying on top of it.  I have found out that it not only takes e-mails, but sending out books to the proper places, calling, and even hand written letters to get events booked.  Different ways work for all kinds of different people right!  It was mid-July at this time and the weather was hot.  I had a house full of relatives which was a great distraction from being nervous.  I swam all day with the kids and then slicked my hair back for this event.  I call it the swim do!  Do you like it?  I had met Kathy and Bob the Presidents of this chapter from an earlier NAMI Walk that I had done in San Diego.  It was great to see them again and then be talking for their group.  A great night for all!  Maggie

Voice Award - Hollywood Baby

Okay so I have never been to Hollywood.  I like to think of myself there in maybe in a different life but I think...you know if I was there right now it probably wouldn't be a good one.  I did have the opportunity to go to the Voice Awards this past August.  I dressed up in a beautiful dress that my mom had bought me from Neiman Marcus about 10 years ago.  I was overjoyed that it still fit even after having my baby girl Allison.  My good friend Tara found my shoes...Good old Steve Madden did the trick there.  My two good friends Carrie and Kathy rode into Hollywood in style in a stretch limo.  I thought well I better show up to Paramount Pictures in a decent vehicle.  So in we road laughing and drinking water!  We listened to incredible people who had recovered from addiction and mental health problems.  They had been to the depths of hell and had made it back and big!  That is the kind of people that inspire me.  The after party was fun and it was neat to see all kinds of famous people.  I did do one crazy thing....I ran after the producer of my favorite movie The Fighter.  I gave him my card in front of the fountain of Paramount Pictures.  He laughed when I told him to make my movie.  He was kind.  I don't know if he tossed my card but it is always worth a shot.  I never let an opportunity pass me by!  Well off to pick up my little one from school.  She is more important than anything I might ever get in Hollywood.  Maggie

International Bipolar Foundation Speech

So here is the story behind my speaking career....My 94 year old Grandma Virginia goes to a luncheon in Fresno, Ca about mental health.  She gives my book to somebody in the International Bipolar Foundation....which gets to the President Muffy Walker.  She loves it and asks me to be a speaker for their monthly meeting where they have usually about 65 or more.  My Pastor gives me 15 minutes to talk in front of my church....a good practice.  Then last march I did my first professional speech for The International Bipolar Foundation which went off well.  I give the credit to God, my Grandma, Muffy for that chance, and my Pastor for believing that I could be a speaker and a good one!  This picture was taken in La Jolla right before I went in!  I wore my Italian Boots from my Florence trip in Italy and the rest of my clothes I got the idea for my outfit from Gwyneth Paltrow from her music video Glee.  I believe that you mix fashion with what ever you are doing and my goodness you just might feel a bit better!  At least that works for me.  I eventually went on to be asked on the Executive Board of Directors for the International Bipolar Foundation.  Funny how life has a thread and where that thread leads if you keep following it.  You have to never quit but keeping digging where that next opportunity will come from.  Maggie

Tri-City Medical Center Mental Expo Fair

This event was such a neat event for me to do.  First and foremost because my sister Amy (left in pic...yes we look like twins) has never seen me speak.  I was the Keynote Speaker which was such an honor.  When I first started speaking I had just a few people in the audience and then people started to tickle in and fill the seats.  By the end the room was full and I felt like my heart went out to the people in that room and I gave them everything I had about how to live with bipolar disorder and how to win at this awful illness.  To have my sister there was such a blessing.  For q&a she even answered a couple of great questions that the audience had it was a hard day but so worth it.  It makes me so happy to give back, to give hope, and to beat the stigma of mental illness!
  

National Alliance of Mentally Ill San Diego Awards Banquet

I am not going to lie!  I like to get awards.  It has been inside of me since I was a little girl.  I loved getting the first place ribbons in running, then medals in high school, then getting a full-ride scholarship in college because I won so much.  I must say that winning the glass award for The Young Advocate of NAMI San Diego was probably the best one I have ever received.  To have my entire life messed up at 19, my scholarship taken away, my life gone, it was truly a blessing to have this award given to me 15 years later.  It was so awesome to have my family and friends there to support me on this special night.  My husband Matt has been incredible through this wild life of mine and to have him by my side that night meant the world to me.  Isn't it funny how life throws you these wild curve balls and then it is up to you on how to adjust and make the best of it.