I had the pleasure of learning that I was chosen as a nominee for a Blogger Recognition Award by John Poehler over at The Bipolar Battle. His blog is a poignant, cumulative resource for everything bipolar. John is also very prolific, constantly updating his site with regularity.
John had a few questions for me, which I am answering here:
How did your blog start?
I’m a recovering bipolar alcoholic. I started a music blog called Sonic Cereal back in 2012, when I first got sober. The site covered live concerts and music news. I previously wrote about music for MTV News.
But when I started writing my book, The Bipolar Addict, I launched this new blog of the same name. It is home base for all things bipolar, from celebrities and historical figures who battle bipolar to tips on coping with the disorder and bipolar in the news. I am dually diagnosed, so the blog also covers addiction, whether it’s the opioid crisis, alcoholism, or addiction to street drugs. Any foreign substance, illicit or otherwise, is fair game.
What advice would you give to new bloggers?
My best advice is to post often. You should be posting at least once a week in order to build up a fanbase. Also, Facebook is your friend. It goes without saying, you should have a FB page for your blog and invite your readers to join it. If you have the means — even as little as $10 — to boost your posts to new audiences, it’s a great way to gain new followers. Same goes for Twitter – always tweet about your posts. You can find mine at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conorbezane/
Twitter: @ConorTV
What’s next for your blog?
I am starting to have guest bloggers. The first comes from my editor, Jenna Rose Robbins. She is a Depeche Mode superfan who wrote a post on lead singer Dave Gahan, a now-sober former heroin addict. Jenna also recently published Faithful and Devoted: Confessions of a Music Addict, a book on her days as a Depeche Mode groupie in the ‘90s.
I am inviting others to share their expertise in their own posts on my site. Send me an email if you’d like to be a guest blogger: conortv@mac.com.
Name other blogs that should be nominated
The Manic Jukebox – Dubbed “The Soundtrack to Your Bipolar Life,” The Manic Jukebox is a creative look at songs from the point of view of a bipolar writer. Blogger extraordinaire Laura Bu is new to the scene, but she writes about music from a distinctive, eccentric point of view that shimmers and shakes.
International Bipolar Foundation Blog – I’m a bit biased here because I am now blogging for IBF once a month, but it’s one of the most heavy-hitting, informational bipolar blogs out there.
bpHope Blog — What I enjoy most about bpHope is that their blog posts always cover the most pressing and current issues in an insightful manner.
Bipolar Burble — This is the blog of Natasha Tracy, author of the book Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression and Bipolar. It is a deeply honest, ongoing tome that reads like a grown-up diary.
The Bipolar Lens by Terri Cheney — The New York Times bestselling author blogs for Psychology Today. I enjoy Cheney’s literary, personalized stories.
