Dear Daniel

Dear Daniel,

You may notice some changes happening to my blog. What started out as a simple gratitude blog and grew into a memoir, and ultimately as an outlet for my frustrations as I coped with my bipolar disorder, has grown into something of an outreach campaign.

You may notice two new tabs at the top. So far the pages are empty. The team of Healing Hands Entertainment is coming together nicely. But I don’t have the pictures and bios of everyone just yet, so I don’t want to unveil it until I am ready. And the documentary won’t show until it is completed. So far it will be carried by HULU and will be available for viewing online at NAMI of Louisville for free. There’s also a possibility of That Book Place and Karen’s Book Barn carrying a few copies a piece. I will be selling the dvds at Film Festivals and Conventions.

I want people to know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. That finding support in friends and family is a needed component, but when all else fails treatment with psychiatrists, therapists, support groups with other people who are traveling the same path is key to recovery. My lifeline was lithium in the beginning. But not everyone reacts to the medications in the same way. I want people to know that the road may be dark and  rocky in the beginning, but that there is hope to be  had and that as they feel their way in the dark to that pinpoint of light.

It takes work to recover. But hope is there. And sometimes you find it in the strangest of places. I found it in books, music, television, and film. I found it in your work.

In September of 2009 I saw Casino Royale on dvd and changed my career. I found a hero prototype. Here was an a hero who was strong, with something of a death wish, not caring whether he lived or died and only answered to M. James Bond has always been a bad ass. But your James Bond is the baddest ass of them all. Yet, he is not invulnerable. He falls in love. He is always driven by duty, but also by how he feels for a woman. He does everything he can to save her, even when it’s been revealed it is she who betrayed him. What a character, what performance.

I wanted to write something that would leave me as exhilarated as the Casino had. It took me awhile to summon that character and story. But in May of 2010 I wrote Another Way to Die. It became the first of 28 publication contracts I would sign between February of 2011 and this year. The next one was No Ordinary Love, a scifi romance, signed in April of 2011 and the third contract was for GLADIATOR:The Gladiator Chronicles, signed in December of 2011. All of them went on to become award winners, and GLADIATOR went on to become an Amazon bestseller.

In 2012 I wrote Bounty Hunter, which would become my first print book, it hit #9 on the Amazon Bestsellers chart, and a screenplay Missy and I adapted from it went on to win Best SciFi Screenplay at the 2013 Fright Night Film Festival. I also wrote ORACLE:The Gladiator Chronicles, Set Fire To The Rain, Gunpowder and Lead, and Gemini’s War:Gemini Rising. The latter winning two awards and going on to be an Amazon Bestseller.

2013 was even more insane. In February I wrote City of the Damned, March through April I penned Gemini’s Legacy:Gemini Rising, and co-wrote with Missy When Doves Cry, and screenplay adaptation of City of the Damned. And the original screenplay You’re the Reason.

After Fandom Fest/Fright Night I wrote CORNBREAD, October Missy and I penned the pilot Bella Morte, adapted from the contracted series for publication of the same name. That fall I also penned Bella Morte:Beginnings and Bella Morte:Devil’s Backbone.

And in May of 2013 I started this blog. In September it ran as book that went on to become a #2 bestseller on Amazon. And in May of 2013 I graduated the therapy portion of my treatment of the bipolar disorder and have been asked to participate in the Moth style story slam by Seven Counties and to be a part of their Night of Celebration and Recovery.

2009 marked a real turning point in my recovery and my life. And I have your work to thank for that in a way. So I know if I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again at some point. Thank you, Daniel Craig. My professional life wouldn’t be what it is if today if I had never seen Casino Royale.

Sincerely

Amy McCorkle