So I failed NaNoWriMo (again).
I didn’t make it anywhere near the 50,000 words needed to ‘win’, but I don’t feel like I lost. Over November I’ve managed to write the book’s introduction chapters, and to further solidify what the other chapters will include.
Here are the chapters I’ll be working on for the next few months!
Self-Care – including an exploration of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; the basics of self-care for when you can’t even get out of bed; what gives you energy and comfort during your transition and in every day life; and how to healthily deal with the changes that come with transition, both fast and slow.
Depression – including how learned helplessness can add to feelings of depression at the beginning of your transition; how exhaustion due to social stigma and the effects of isolation can be countered later in transition; tips for increasing your self-esteem and finding new ‘conditions of worth’ when old ones don’t fit the ‘new you’; and an exploration of the effects of dysphoria on mood.
Anxiety – including a look at how visibility and invisibility affect trans people in a dangerous world; how to keep yourself safe while reducing your hyper-vigilance; how imposter syndrome affects anxiety when you feel like you’re not ‘trans enough’; and how mindfulness (not just a buzz word!) might help.
Self-Harm – including a look at how binding and tucking can be a balance between euphoria, when done healthily, and self-harm, when done too tightly or for too long; a look at substance abuse and how it helps with dysphoria in the short-term but can increase it in the long-term; and an exploration of self-sabotage and how it’s ok to be afraid of big moments in transition, and how to move through this fear to the other side.
Body Image – including how seeking control of an unruly body can lead to disordered eating; how to nourish yourself emotionally and physically; and radical self-acceptance as a way to love yourself enough to change and still be true to yourself.
Dissociation – including how dissociating does not mean someone is not trans; how having different identities of different genders might look and feel; and whether you can love your life as a transgender system or if you should seek help to integrate your different selves.
Trauma – including how transphobic abuse can affect you in different ways; dealing with transphobic abuse as a non-passing or outed trans person; dealing with transphobic abuse online and in the media; transphobic red flags in romantic relationships; getting through the trauma of coming out (again and again); and the concept of post-traumatic growth.
For When You Can’t Go On – including a gentle exploration of why a trans life is definitely worth living; how anything that keeps you here is worth it; tips on emergency care that you can use for yourself or ask other people to help with; and how to chase your future euphoria as a way of staying here.
There’s Help Out There – including a whistle-stop tour of your choices in professional mental healthcare, such as long-term therapy, short-term therapy, and medications; how anti-depressants may or may not affect HRT: and how to find a trans-friendly therapist.
What do you think? Is this what you want to see on your bookshelf, or are there other kinds of information you want? Let me know!
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Katy Lees - Therapist & Author 