Dear Wags,

Anastasia Zadeik’s new novel, The Other Side of Nothing, is a powerful evocation of how dangerous mental illness can be, even when an individual has access to good treatment and support. It’s a topic she first explored in her acclaimed debut, Blurred Fates. As communications director for the San Diego Writers Festival, a board member of the International Memoir Writers Association, and a mentor for the nonprofit So Say We All, Zadeik has become an influential voice on mental health and creativity. The publication of her new book gave us an opportunity to catch up on those topics and so much more. Here are some of her words of wisdom. —BKP

On Stigma:

“I want to get across that you can manage depression and anxiety and live a life that's absolutely full. You can have joy and fun. It's just that when you're in the middle of it, it's hard. It sometimes takes a while to get to managing, and then, managing can sometimes blow up in your face. And you have to do it all over again.

This book doesn't purport to represent all people who have bipolar syndrome. These are just a sampling of fictional people based on real people. Not everything works for everybody. All I'm suggesting is, let's talk about it, so that people can find what works for them and they can live productive lives where they feel a sense of fulfillment and some contentment.”

On Her Title:

“The original meaning [has to do with] the fact that when you are depressed, there's this feeling of nothingness. There's this feeling that nothing matters, nobody cares. I'm not important. There's just nothing. And you get to the point where that fills you, so you're literally filled with nothingness. I wanted to try to get to the idea of how you can get to the other side of that. Is there an ‘other side’ to nothing? Can you divide zero? You can't.

But the other side could be everything. I changed the title to Capture the Light, and it was all about darkness and light and photography from that standpoint. My publisher said, ‘this title sounds too much like a photography book.’ So we came up with another title, and she loved The Other Side of Nothing.

One of the reasons that works so well is because one of the characters, Sam, is obsessed with Ansel Adams’ famous photo of the Half Dome at Yosemite. Half Dome is unique because of what's missing—there's this huge beautiful half of something and the other side is gone.”

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Wags, ye Mighty, and rejoice! Won’t you Shelley out some dough and become a V.I.P. member? We promise to charm your socks off.