The February wet and cold of the Pacific Northwest often means a blanket of gray. This is the time of year that I miss heat, especially the real heat-and-humidity, that you can find in the Deep South.

It’s hard to believe I’m writing this, for I actually cannot, on my annual visits back to northwest Louisiana, the setting of “Light Fixtures”, take the drenching heat of summer. Yet, today, I would “pert-near”, as Aurora’s grandmother would say, like to feel the hot blanket of July and August. That’s prodded me to thinking about weather and its affect on bipolar disorder for Aurora, the main character of the book.

Of course, during those heat-intense, sweaty days, she’s also unbeknowingly dealing with the onset of bipolar disorder. But does the summertime affect her and her mood? I’ve been reading some articles on this and come early summer, I’ll address the issue. Until then, I’ll just visualize that I’m hot and sweaty for a day and deal with Aurora’s summer in June.

In Showtime’s “Homeland”, the main character, CIA Agent Carrie Mathison (actress Claire Danes), has bipolar disorder. Though not a first in TV shows, it’s a first for the disorder to be a critical part of the storyline.

In another rare occurrence, a Young Adult novel is out that features a female protoganist dealing with the onset of bipolar disorder. Of course, I’m talking about Aurora in “Light Fixtures.” Though different in background and age, both Agent Mathison and Aurora show us something vital about having the mental illness: though there must be life adjustments, just because someone is bipolar doesn’t mean they are lacking in intelligence, creativity, reliability, or social skills.

In writing “Light Fixtures”, I wanted to make sure that was clear. Danes herself said about playing the character honestly. “I find the challenge is finding a way to play the truth of her being chemically unstable and also a really proficient, highly capable CIA agent.” I think Mr. Hematite, Aurora’s guide in the book, would agree that’s a Light-Fixtures way to approach bipolar disorder.

If any of you have any comments about the show, or my novel, please post it on the Comments page. Thanks!

This week’s blog features a chat with author/bipolar expert Julie Fast. Julie read “Light Fixtures” a few months ago and, with her insights on teen bipolar disorder, she recently sat down with me to offer her take on the novel. I hope to have her back soon for another interview.

1. In “Light Fixtures”, Aurora is facing the onset of teen bipolar. How many novels are you aware of that focus on a bipolar teen?

I don’t know of any novels! The topic seems to be covered in memoir, in nonfiction, and these memoirs are often very depressing. “Light Fixtures” doesn’t work that way.

2. Aurora is an intelligent, observant, and social teen. Do you think there is a correlation or connection between a teen being bipolar and talented?

Absolutely. When I work with parents of children with bipolar we always talk about bipolar and intelligence. I believe 100% that people with bipolar disorder are different. Not better, just different. We’re more intellectual and cerebral. This is just from my experience from working with, and knowing thousands of people with bipolar disorder, and their family members. This is why it’s very upsetting for parents if their child gets really ill because so many parents say to me: “But, he’s so smart or she is so talented!”3.

3. Why would you recommend this novel?

I think it’s important for teens who’ve been diagnosed with bipolar to know they’re not
alone. I can identify with Aurora because I know that buzzing feeling of being manic,
and what it’s like to lie on the couch and have no idea why it’s all happening.

4. One reviewer who read “Light Fixtures” said she felt the descriptions of Aurora’s mania was authentic, but she disliked the mystical figures. Any comment?

The mystical figures make the book very different and I can see how they would be puzzling to a reader. It was like that for me at first because those could have been manic visions or psychotic delusions. That’s one of big discussions about seeing things when you’re ill. I don’t believe that manic or psycho delusions or visions are mystical. But it’s not a problem with having actual mystical characters in a book. They appear in tons of novels. Why not one about bipolar disorder?

Some thoughts for this new year. During the novel “Light Fixtures”, Aurora has no sense that she feels differently than most teens her age in NW Louisiana in 1963. She knows that she adores her grandparents, loves fried chicken, sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden and pecan pie. But she doesn’t know she is also feeling the onset of teen bipolar, or as it’s called at the time: teen manic depression.

All right, so she’s zipping around, feeling sure of herself and often frustrated with everyone else’s seemingly slow actions and ideas, but she has no idea that that incessant zipping is teen bipolar mania and she’s the one a bit askew. And that reminds me that sometimes friends and family don’t notice this fast side of a teen, with so much going on in one’s life, as the beginning of the teen mood disorder even today. As the sage Mr. Hematite would say to Aurora, sometimes we are not always who we think we are, for imbalance can seem so benign…and even normal!More on Aurora’s learning coming up.

By the end of “Light Fixtures”, Aurora, the novel’s protagonist, is just beginning to understand that she has teen bipolar. It’s the end of the summer, so the holiday season is nearly four months away. She has yet to walk (mania-dash) through the demands of the busy holiday time. But what will she find as teen bipolar catches up with her even more and how will she handle it?

The next installment will tap into that, but meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about this time of the year and some of the best ways for a teenager with manic depression, or teen bipolar, to be a part of these manic times without becoming manic him or herself. There are no sure solutions, but there are some methods that have worked for many:

(1.) Keep your shopping trips or visits to others to a minimum. All that speeded-up energy out there is mania itself.

(2.) No need to panic with manic thoughts or actions about getting that “perfect” gift. All gifts are perfect.

(3.) Give yourself some breathing room. Truly. Get away from the mall frenzy or even the family festivities. Go outside or even step into the bathroom/restroom for a bit of alone time to take those deep breaths.

Mr. Hematite, Aurora’s mystical guide in “Light Fixtures”, says it best in this excerpt from the book:

“What is of great relevance here is that the spiritual self be indeed connected to the other parts of you that make you human: the physical, mental, and emotional components. Together, the four shape the light emitting from your light fixture, for each one of us is a light fixture, with the potential to shine with authentic brilliance.”