Sam Missingham
@samatlounge
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Best connected person in book publishing. Award-winner. Founder of @empoweredauthor . Prev. @harpercollinsuk & @thebookseller . She/her.
London
Joined January 2009
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Pinned Tweet
Jeez, I really hope the
#Eurovision
&
#Eurovision2024
hashtags don’t get taken over by Palestinian flags this week.
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Hey, Dominic Cummings, I haven’t driven the 120 miles to see my Mum in 8 weeks, to even sit in her garden and have a cup of tea with her. I will be driving down next week for her funeral. I’m guessing you’ll get to see your mum again though.
#DominicCummingsMustGo
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My lovely Mum died last night. She had a heart attack, so she died quickly at home which is what she wanted. I spoke to her two hours before and we had our daily chat. Can’t imagine life without her, she was everything to me. Free from pain. ❤️
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Hey, had a rather lovely experience today. Was on the tube, and a couple sitting directly opposite and the woman smiled at me and looked like she wanted to engage with me, so I asked her if she was going somewhere nice. She made it clear that she didn't understand me, and said..
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Advice from politicans & journalists to save money this winter:
- Put a jumper on
- Eat mouldy food
- Drink sewage water
- Burn books
- Shower somewhere else
@BootstrapCook
advice
- Here is where you can buy the cheapest food and feed your family nutritional meals + free recipes
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Welcome to another day where the world pretends that a teenager wearing a water melon on their T-shirt, or a person with a placard calling for a ceasefire is somehow worse than the unrelenting slaughter of child after child in the most brutal and painful ways.
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Lovely friends of Twitter, would any of you happen to have one or two or your books in Ukrainian (uplifting, if possible) and do any of you happen to know anyone who is looking for a cleaner in the Palmers Green or surrounding area? Please let Twitter work its magic.
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I will very proudly be taking my 18 year old to vote in her first general election today, and as an "ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate child' of a single mother, she'll be telling Boris Johnson to go fuck himself. Labour all the way here.
#GeneralElection2019
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Hey chaps, I have been sober for 5 years today. Yay me.
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@washingtonpost
Can you imagine being given the gig to review Debbie Harry’s memoir and opening with this -
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Morning. My mum’s funeral yesterday was perfect. Her whole village lined the street holding flowers from their gardens. Little tributes to her everywhere. I think we did her proud. Rest well, lovely Mum ❤️
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Haven't talked about this yet, but my daughter is going off to university in 2 weeks. It has been just the two of us since she was four. We have had some incredibly hard times together and plenty of joy too. Anticipating a new wave of grief when she goes to be honest.
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@Sara_Rose_G
@JohannaTC
related - my sister went to school with a girl called Susan Flay - Sue Flay, for reals.
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And oh goodness, she told me what her situation was in very slow Russian, I understood 1 in 10 words. And I used Google Translate in the stations when the wifi worked. The man was her sponsor, she was out looking for work as a cleaner, and her daughter was still in Ukraine.
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I saw Mum for the last time 3 years ago today. She came to London to see me. On her last day with me I took her to Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath which she loved. Can't think of a more perfect last photo I could have taken of her, amongst the flowers.
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We showed each other photos of our daughters, roughly the same age. Luckily I had remembered the word for beautiful. I couldn't work out why her daughter was still there, but the man told me that she is obviously very worried for her. Anyway, she asked me to take a photo of her
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Thought to myself, maybe hearing someone speak very bad Russian would not be a very positive thing, but we kept smiling at each other. Anyway, I thought fuck it, and said, I speak Russian (in Russian) and honestly, she shrieked, and jumped out of her seat and sat next to me...
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Facebook page and connect with her there, which I will. Anyway, she had to get off the tube before me so I told her sponsor to ask her later if she would like some Ukrainian books and tell her I will try to help her find cleaning work. So....
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Seeing murdered white westerners make it onto the front pages on newspapers is a stark reminder that Palestinian lives have zero value to our media. Not one of the 15,000 murdered babies made a front page.
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Ukraine, whilst pointing at herself. So, I acknowledged that I understood and smiled some more. The man she was with was using Google translate to communicate with her. She kept smiling at me, so I kept smiling at her. So, I studied Russian many, many years ago, but thought...
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I had a cry today because I realised that I'd never fill my Mum's hot water bottle up again for her. And that's how grief is coming and going for me.
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She has given me her email address and I am pulling together all your kind offers and will send them to her. Lots of offers of work, Ukrainian support groups, books and advice. THANK YOU SO MUCH x
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Damn, it’s raining cats and dogs. Just went outside and stepped in a poodle.
#NationalTellAJokeDay
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Find a suitable photo on your phone and add, ‘Do you work in finance?’ Let’s share
@rishisunak
’s Christmas cheer
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I'm going to set up a £30k GoFundMe page for my wedding. If you lot can give generously that would be lovely. I will try to find a potential husband in the meantime and if I don't I'll go on a lovely holiday on my own. You're the best. x
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Morning all. I know it's the most Monday of Mondays but if you're looking for a little bit of positive news.
I am six years sober today. SIX YEARS. Boom.
#RecoveryPosse
#ODAAT
#SoberLife
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Woke up with such deep longing for my Mum. I'm driving down to the West Country later for her funeral tomorrow. Full of anxiety about the drive, staying in her cottage without her, what tomorrow is going to be like. Fuck.
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Hey lovelies, today is my 4 years sober anniversary. That's alright, innit?
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Right, ignoring all the big stuff, what are the very small things you'd like to see changed this year.
I'll get you started. People stop using gift as a verb. You weren't gifted a book, you were given a book.
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Morning chaps, would have been my lovely Mum’s 80th birthday today. Still can’t believe she’s gone. Here she is surrounded by flowers, as always. Love you Mum. ❤️
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Reminder: people who are suicidal tend not to contact friends & say hey, I’m suicidal, can you help me? They are more likely to be sullen or angry or incredibly negative or silent for months/years.
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And today I will be trying to write my Mum's eulogy. Apparently this moment does arrive in everyone's life however much you wish it wouldn't.
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My girl’s last day of school today. She is a glorious, resilient young woman who makes me laugh every day. It’s always been just the two of us. And tbh, I’d like to shout from the roof top ‘see that amazing girl - I brought her up on my own’. I FUCKING ROCK.
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I have said this before, but worth repeating - the thing that irritates me most about privileged people is that all of the doors in front of them are open and they don't even know those doors exist. They think they've been successful purely based on hard work.
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I have ZERO sympathy for Allegra Stratton. ZERO. Less than ZERO.
But if a woman is the only one who loses their job over this, let's agree the patriarchy is still firmly in place.
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Update: have become Facebook friends with Ukrainian woman I met on tube. She immediately liked all photos of my Mum and daughter. ❤️ I have sent her a link to this thread & hope she can translate it & your lovely replies.
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I'm sure I'm not alone in being completely bewildered at what has happened to a woman I used to massively respect for her kind words about living in poverty, the welfare safety net, being a single Mum - so many things I identified with. Has been an extraordinary thing to watch.
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Good news of the day - 4 months after a stroke, my mum has done a sudoku. No mean achievement. Go Mum. 👊
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You know when artists get so famous their work isn't edited properly - Tarantino films, Scorsese's The Irishman, Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, 900 page crime novels. I feel like this must have a name.
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I dream of a day when the ‘Smart Thinking’ bookcase isn’t entirely dominated by male authors.
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Right women of publishing, especially you young uns, if you are asked to speak at anything, please say yes. I spoke at my first event less than 10 years ago (I’m 47) & was terrified. Today, I will be representing in the House of Lords. Anything is possible if you say YES.
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Describe yourself using an adjective usually used for books.
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I saw a journalist ask if anyone had done any due diligence on
@BootstrapCook
to check if they were actually poor. Who fucking cares? Why not ask, can we use our papers to amplify all of your brilliant advice, because MPs are ignoring the plight of millions of people in the UK?
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I have made my account private for the first time in 10 years because I really can't cope with that level of crazy. And that's saying something after 10 years on Twitter. (Can you see this tweet?)
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Today is the 4 year anniversary of my massive mental health breakdown. Probably the most life altering thing that has ever happened to me. I did my usual train journey from Bath to London, spoke at an event, then should have gone on to work at HarperCollins. I knew I wasn't well
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@fintanbear
it really was a lovely connection, especially when we shared photos of our daughters. Made my day tbh
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I’m assuming it’s normal to have headaches when you first start wearing glasses? Look how lush I look though. 🤓
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Shout-out here for a new(ish) company
@thestorygraph
which is an alternative to Goodreads. You can add your libraries and get book recommendations. And you support a start-up in the process.
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I know we are quick to forget, but we have just watched while politicians allowed 10s of thousands of our most vulnerable die of Covid because they'd rather 'let the bodies pile high' than make any tough calls. You think they're stepping up this winter?
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Hard to believe, but today is the one year anniversary of Mum dying. Can't really describe how awful it is not to have her. But there really isn't a day goes by that I'm not grateful for having her generous, compassionate, and loving presence in my life.
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This makes me furious. Men behaving badly while women forced to behave with dignity for fear that we’re perceived as the hysterical ones. Fuck that shit.
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Idea:
@asda
pays
@BootstrapCook
to create ‘how to eat healthily on £30/£40/£50 per week’ and embed this on their website and in-store. And pay for Jack’s recipes & turn into a free mini-book to hand out at the tills.
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In the face of a coordinated attack by the media of three women of colour,
@OwenJones84
was the only journalist who gave them a platform and a right to reply. And he is one of a very small number of journalists who publicly supports the trans community.
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Feel it is my duty to share a photo of Master Wu aged 9 weeks that his owners just sent me. Sharing the joy.
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Finding the hardest thing about losing my Mum is not having her to talk to every day. What do you do when almost every thought is - I'll tell Mum about this, Mum will like this, I'll send a photo of that to Mum, this will make Mum laugh. What do you with these thoughts?
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Out of interest, Eleanor Oliphant came out 5 years ago. Since then which books would you say had this sort of impact on you? Characters REALLY stayed with you. Stand-out book. You recommend it to everyone etc.
Any genre.
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Parenting: trying to encourage your child to put their coat on, for 18 years.
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As a child who grew up with an abusive father, let me explain something to you Fiona Bruce - IT IS NEVER A ONE-OFF. Shame on you
@bbcquestiontime
On
#bbcqt
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown points out “Stanley Johnson was a wife beater”
Fiona Bruce helpfully explains “he broke his wife’s nose, she was hospitalised”
“ it did happen, BUT it was a one off”
What a defence - only occasional domestic violence 🤔
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Wrote her first book age 46, still writing books age 95. No such thing as too old.
Winner of Children's Illustrator of the Year is the wonderful Judith Kerr OBE who has played an integral part of children's bedtime reading for over 50 years 🐅
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Ex-Sun managing editor who gave KT Hopkins a platform & published her ‘cockroaches piece’. Ok then. Welcomed by literary world with open arms. 🤷♀️
"He’s a hugely talented writer and I know this is the start of a long and successful career in crime fiction",
@HarperCollinsUK
signs three titles from
@StigAbell
, including his crime fiction debut Death Under a Little Sky, and a non-fiction title:
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Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
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By the way folks, here's a list of literary agents on Twitter that I've been adding to for over 10 years. If you're at that stage of your writing career.
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Morning lovelies. I so rarely like photos of myself. But a golden sunset last night did me a huge favour.
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Also, a UK tabloid journalist asking about due diligence!!
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Seriously, fuck you Boris Johnson and every
#absentfather
who makes the choices you’ve made. How dare you come after us and our kids. You try this life for a fucking week and it’ll break you.
#singlemothers
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TERFS tweet about nothing else. It is an absolute obsession. So weird watching this radicalisation happen in real time, especially to very well known people you once admired.
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You know I am on a mini quest to try new things. I did a pottery introduction class last night and not even kidding, I think I’m a natural 🤣
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If you don't understand that life costs more when you don't have money then here are a few examples:-
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My news is out. Woohoo. Thank you
@saltounite
,
@philipdsjones
&
@thebookseller
for the write up. >> Missingham launches directory matching publishing professionals with authors via
@thebookseller
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Dear
@BBCNews
If you’re asking female Olympians for a message to their children, please ask men to do the same. (Or don’t at all) 🙏👍
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I beg you authors (& publishers), please don't tweet that the world is awful and there's a war happening so why not read this light-hearted book. War is not a marketing hook.
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Everything is shit, not like in my day, there are no great books written anymore (no, I don’t read them), young people are vacuous & don’t read, I am so much more cool. Another ‘great, white, male literary author’ furious about being past his heyday. Bored of these interviews.
“What is millennial culture? There’s no writing. None of them read books” -
@BretEastonEllis
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I know nobody wants these in their lawn, but is there anything more perfect?
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Seeing a steady flow of book bloggers being treated badly by publishers/authors. Reminder: they are doing your book marketing for free (during their evenings & weekends). Treat them with respect & don’t forget to thank them.
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Going to do another round of emails to politicians and the prime minister today, because, I simply can not accept the actions of
#DominicCummings
and
@BorisJohnson
and their rotten boys' club. You can find your MP here:
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Supermarkets spend a huge amount of £ and energy on increasing customer loyalty. Want loyalty? Help your customers when they really need it. Step up where politicians aren’t.
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You'll be SHOCKED to hear that
@worldbookdayUK
(happening tomorrow) has not made a similar statement about Palestine.
Despite the IDF killing more children in Gaza in the first 6 days than were killed in 2 years in Ukraine.
Please explain
#worldbookday
World Book Day stands in solidarity with the people and children of Ukraine. This year we hope World Book Day brings joy and hope at a time when children need it most:
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Morning lovelies. I got to lay (lie?) in the grass yesterday for 15 minutes, so I took a selfie. In the main, I hate photos of myself, but I like this one.
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And also, today seems like a good day to thank the fabulous book bloggers, bookstagrammers, booktubers who spend a huge amount of their own time reviewing books, interviewing authors, creating artwork and generally pushing books in so many creative ways FOR FREE.
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Tell me your whole team is under 30, without telling me your whole team is under 30.
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This is self-indulgent, but fuck it. Feel like I lost a lot of myself over the last few years, and honestly felt like some of old Sam came back yesterday when I buzzing around the fair.
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It’s shameful that Illustrators & cover designers are often sidelined in the industry. Their talent & knowledge is totally critical to a book’s success. Between them, they make people pick up the book. Everything else has to work, but if it’s not picked up, there’s no sale.
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You know when you see people clearly struggling with their mental health on Twitter? Don't stick the knife in. Just an idea.
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My huge love to everyone missing their Mums today. A pain that never leaves. Mum has been joined by one of her sisters who sadly died yesterday, another florist, amazing woman and mother. Love your Mums, my friends. xxx
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As someone whose Mum died during the pandemic, I can safely say it’s not fanciful, it’s ridiculously insulting. Just stop. Enough of this shit.
I watched the livestream of The Queue at Westminster Hall for five days straight, I went to Westminster Hall, I walked down The Queue, I watched the funeral on TV, and this is how it all seemed at the time:
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Everybody thinks that they are kind and nobody thinks that they are racist. Be more helpful if everyone acknowledged that they are a work in progress and most definitely can be better.
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I'm heading to the West Country today for the first time since my Mum's funeral. Feeling very apprehensive about going into my Mum's empty house. On the list of terribly painful life moments, this is pretty high up I'd say.
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In the current climate, a 70+ year old woman ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SMASHING IT should be celebrated on so many levels. *roaring from the sidelines*
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My daughter is going to be 19 this week, which means I've been a single mum for 15 years. FIFTEEN years. Imagine for a second how hard it is to raise a child on your own. It's harder than that.
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Do you all know what book publicists do? Because when I joined HarperCollins I didn't. They work their fucking asses of schlepping authors up and down the country to festivals and bookshops, they do a HUGE amount of author care (more than anyone else in publishing),...
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Here is my rather unlikely news, with huge thanks (!!!) to
@Biggreenbooks
for asking me, I will be speaking at the House of Lords on Thursday about the importance of indie bookshops. The House of Frikkin Lords!
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It is the 6th anniversary of having a mental health breakdown and I can safely say that I am still feeling the ramifications of it now. I am going to write a very short thread about it because I still think most people really don't understand how serious MH problems can be.
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