Maybe I should do a manual, something that was more thorough.” What bipolar patients and their allies lacked was a guide from someone who’s lived with the illness themselves, and Forney could provide that perspective. Forney realized she still had much more to share: “I have way more breathing exercises, for example, that I think are useful, and I don’t get into mindfulness meditation at all and all these other different aspects that I think are really important.” Rock Steady would pick up where Marbles left off with even more helpful advice and fill the gap in the literature.

Wouldn’t Marbles be the perfect mic drop on all things bipolar?Įllen told me about the source of inspiration behind creating a manual like Rock Steady actually arose out of readers finding Marbles to be a guide of sorts: “O ne of the pieces of reader feedback that I got a fair bit was people telling me that they used Marbles like a manual, and I felt like, well, maybe we need a manual. I saw myself in Marbles, and people who I know who had experience with mental illness and read the graphic memoir agreed. So why return to bipolar? Marbles is a comprehensive immersion into the experience of being diagnosed with a major mental illness and overcoming initial challenges to find a place of stability. Forney on the inspiration behind Rock Steady

Ellen forney books