About This Project

Hello. My name is Leah A. and I am an undergraduate at South Dakota State University pursuing a degree in English education. I hope to graduate with honors distinction. At SDSU, all students enrolled in the honors college are required to complete an independent study course of their own design.

I have Chronic Migraine Syndrome. For those of you who do not know, Chronic Migraine Syndrome is a condition in which the patient has a headache for fifteen or more days a month, with eight or more of these headaches classifying as migraines. In my case, I have had a migraine or headache all of the time for the majority of my life.

As a chronic pain patient myself, I am interested in learning more about the ways in which other people with chronic pain live and cope with their condition. I have noticed that, historically, many people have written about their physical pain. Because of this observation, as well as my own experiences writing about my pain, I designed my honors independent study to explore the possible connection between reading and writing literature and coping with chronic pain.

As part of my independent study, I have designed this blog to provide an online community where people with chronic pain can submit and share any writing about their pain. This could include poetry, creative nonfiction, or any other relevant kind of writing. I will post the submissions, which I will receive through e-mail, on this blog. For those interested in submitting their writing, please see the submission guidelines. I greatly appreciate any submissions I receive, as they will help me with my project.

I hope to build a friendly online community where people in chronic pain can share their own writing and read writing by others. Please feel free to leave respectful comments on any blog posts.
Finally, as another part of my independent study, I am conducting a survey asking chronic pain patients about their experiences with writing and reading literature. Any adult chronic pain patient is invited to take this survey. Participation is voluntary. For a link to this survey and for full information about this survey, including the potential benefits and risks to you as a participant, please see the survey page.

Feel free to e-mail any comments and questions you have concerning this blog to 

creativecopingblog@yahoo.com

I will make my best efforts to check this e-mail regularly.

Thank you very much!

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