Running From Crazy - Paperback

by Pat Shrader (Illustrator), Kacper Lengiewicz (Illustrator), Chrissie Anderson Peters (Photographer)

A collection of stories/essays/poems centered around the general theme of "crazy," which may range from the clinical definition to various social contexts. Crazy is so many different things to so many different people. Say the word crazy to one person and you may see a smile pass her lips; say it to someone else and you may see him cry. It's a tough subject to address. Yet I've tackled it here, in several graces and guises. From a child who screams all the way to the operating room because she has changed her mind to a town made famous because it murdered innocent people; from an old man haunted by his life's bad deeds as he nears his end to a young mom pushed too far in defending her only child from another bullying child; from one who realizes she has to learn to forgive or be driven to a dark place to a delusional homeless man who may be more together than anyone realizes; from a high school girl determined to stick out a miserable basketball season to a college freshman who must decide whether she will remain the victim of date rape or become a survivor or maybe even something else by the time all is said and done. Other characters and their maladies to watch for include a 16-year-old girl who issues a warning because she feels like she's losing her grip and isn't sure what to do; someone who cries for something she can't name; a child who hates coloring; a 95-year-old woman on her birthday; a man apparently unsatisfied enough with his family life that he pulls up stakes and starts a second family in another state; a woodpecker that annoys a writer to no end (not exactly); a doe and buck singled out "in season;" an immobile would-be swimmer who cannot make it out of the murky waters. Some "characters" in these pages are inanimate objects - mountaintops explored and exploited; back roads that seem to come to life; a house folding under foreclosure; the feeling of shutting down annually when summer has gone. There is life; there is death. There is hatred and love. One love poem speaks of the shyness of feelings, that exuberance of love but being afraid to tell, being afraid of knowing, yet wanting fulfillment thereof. Three sets of song lyrics proclaim the beautiful insanity of a lifetime together in love, the pathways we may take in this world, and the lonely crowd (those who stand by and remember what happens in life, the storytellers and carriers, if you will). In the end, though, there is always hope. If there wasn't hope, I wouldn't be here to write these pieces; I wouldn't be here to tell these stories. I am living proof of other people's hope, as well as of my own. Running From Crazy. Mental illness. It's a concept that I spent a great portion of my life denying and pretending did not exist. Until I saw the incredibly real damage that such actions could cause to the person suffering from the "craziness," as well as those around him/her. I still run on occasion. But eventually, I stop, turn myself around, close my eyes, and embrace it. After all, we have to love ourselves before we can love anyone else.

Author Biography

Born and raised in Southwestern Virginia, Chrissie Anderson Peters received stories from those around her from a young age. Many of those stories serve as the frames or foundations of what she writes today. A 1989 graduate of Tazewell High School, she received her BA from Emory & Henry College (1993) and her Masters of Science in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee (2002). Always an avid reader, Chrissie began writing in fourth grade. After college she continued collecting writing ideas, although she did not write much for several years. Her dedication to writing rekindled in 2005 when she took a Creative Writing course at Northeast State Community College, where she worked as a librarian. Since then, her work has been published in Echoes & Images, Clinch Mountain Review, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, The Howl, and in the acclaimed online publication Still: The Journal. She has received accolades in several contests, as well as being accepted at the Hindman Settlement School's Appalachian Writers Workshop (2010-2013). She currently serves as President of the Poetry Society of Tennessee's Northeast Chapter and is also a member of the Appalachian Authors Guild, Boone Tree Library Association, Tennessee Library Association, Tazewell County Historical Society, and Grayson County (Virginia) Heritage Foundation (of which she is a Board Member). In addition to writing, Chrissie loves to travel and meet people; she loves getting to know places and people, and their stories. She returned to the US at the end of Summer 2013 from a four-week jaunt through the UK and parts of Europe, a trip that will serve as the backdrop for her third book, Chasing After Rainbows, a collection of essays: part travelogue, part planning guide, part adventure tale, part cultural frustration, part social commentary, and part Duran-Duran-fan dream-come-true. Chrissie and her husband Russ reside in Bristol, Tennessee, with their feline children. Dog Days and Dragonflies is her first full-length publication; Running From Crazy is her second collection of stories/essays/poems. For more information, check out her website, www.CAPWrites.com, or email her at TheWriteWayToGo@gmail.com. Chrissie is available to speak on a variety of topics, ranging from writing to self-publishing and beyond.