Literary Las Vegas: Susan Johnson

Author Susan Johnson takes readers through her sheltered California childhood and then inside a mind out of balance in “Some Dreams Are Worth Keeping: A Memoir of My Bipolar Journey.” Though in retrospect the author’s episodes began in her teens with thoughts racing and moods elevating and then crashing, it wasn’t until a graduation cruise to Mexico that she veered out of control.

Now stable, living in Las Vegas and working as a special education instructional assistant, Johnson wrote that she wishes she could say she’s cured and no longer has to live with mental illness, “but that would be a big lie. I will have my challenges in the future, but I know that there is nothing God will bring me to that he will not bring me through.”

Johnson and fellow author Vicki-Ann Bush are scheduled to chat with readers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 5 at The Mothership Coffee Roasters, 2708 N. Green Valley Parkway.

Visit sjohnsonauthor.com.

Excerpt:

I decided that I was an expert dancer and that I should teach a guy how to dance one night under the sparkling disco ball. I requested the song “Red Red Wine” by UB40 to be played by banging hard on the Plexiglas and trying to open the door to the DJ’s both. I got no reaction from him so I kept banging harder and even tried to open the door to the booth. The DJ just ignored me and dismissed me as some drunken girl. The thing was, I had not taken a sip of alcohol in hours.

I experienced a severe case of insomnia the entire weekend. I tried to lie down to sleep, but sleep never came. My thoughts were racing a million miles a minute. My brain was telling me to write my thoughts down.