Shauna Richmond (28) originally from Cushlawn in Tallaght has recently had her first book published. Shauna who now lives in Laois with her husband, has suffered from depression and anxiety for quite a long time. She added “Ive suffered from depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember. I went to the doctors multiple times about it from the age of 16. They kept telling me it was hormonal.” Shauna suffered a breakdown in November 2016 and then was finally diagnosed at the age of 26. While Shauna was out of work and trying to recover from the breakdown, her husband found a notebook she had been scribbling in since April that same year, and he encouraged Shauna to turn it into a short story or book while she was at home to help distract her.
Once she started writing the book, her husband encouraged Shauna to seek a publisher, Shauna commented “I found two publishers who took on new authors without a literary agent and one panic attack later I sent in what I had so far. A few weeks later the letters came in I hid from them under the blankets as I was convinced they were rejections. My husband read them both to tell me both publishers loved it and sent me out a contract.” The book, The Wrath of Raghnall was published on the 31st of January 2019. Shauna concluded “I want to show people who like me suffer from their mental health that they can do whatever they set their mind to doing in spite of their illness.”
