Any artists in here?

[Tobin S.]

3. I'm a self-taught writer

I ran across the proper term for people like me today in a book that I'm reading: autodidact.

I don't have anything published, but I do have a manuscript sitting next to me that I'm working on.

I really don't know if there is a real correlation between mental illness and creativity, but I have heard that a lot of people who are very creative and successful have suffered or do suffer from a mental illness- anything from depression to schizophrenia.

I've heard it said that emotional turmoil and tension can often be a driving factor in the creation of art. If that is the case then people who suffer from mental illnesses have a lot more of that driving factor.