Things will be a riot at the Smithers Public Library tomorrow (Saturday) as Chelsea Rae Smith, aka Riot, releases her new book ‘I went psychotic. Then I wrote this book.’
She said it took about six years to complete the book which is based on her struggles with mental health.
“It started out as a cathartic process just to try and understand and remember what I had gone through,” said Smith.
The book starts around the time she was 28 years old and the beginnings of her journey into learning she is bi-polar.
While Smith and her family live in Smithers, she also lived on Vancouver Island for the time where she wrote most of her book.
“The hardest part of writing a book is not writing the book. The hardest part is deciding all the things that you want to go from there,” she said.
Her name “Riot” came from her time playing roller derby, which she mentions in her book.
“I’ve never really done many riot worthy things; I’ve been a really good girl.”
The launch is partly being funded by the BC Schizophrenia Society and starts at 6:00 p.m.
She also hopes to tour with her book to various libraries in the future.