About Topazadine

Thank you for checking out my blog.

I’m so happy to have you here! You found me in the vastness of the digital cosmos. Fate brought us together. Or maybe it was just a URL on another site.

Regardless of the reason, I appreciate you taking the time to peruse my thoughts. I hope you’ll enjoy your time scrolling through my ridiculously long posts and that I can make your day a little better. Whether you need some advice or simple commiseration, I aim to please.

Okay, so what in the world is a Topazadine?

The term comes from a fun game I played five years ago where I combined mineral prefixes with pharmaceutical suffixes. “-Dine” is a suffix for antihistamines, and I put an “a” in there, just for fun. So “topazadine,” if we lived in a more exciting universe, would be a medication for gemstone allergies. Feel free to steal that idea.

But, more concerningly, who in the world is Topazadine?

I’m Cameron (she/her pronouns), a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. Some of my favorite things, other than the obvious, are my dogs, horseback riding, knitting, true crime documentaries, and dollhouses. I am a Nichiren Buddhist and a lesbian.

Now, let me brag for a while because I’m a special snowflake, just like everyone else.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Illinois-Chicago and a Master of Arts in Global Interactions from Cleveland State University.

During my undergraduate studies, I completed the rigorous two-year Chicago Civic Leadership Program, where I worked at two internships. The first was for a homeless resource nonprofit, the other was for a sexual assault counseling center.

My training materials were used for victim sensitivity training in a local police force, and I revitalized the nonprofit’s outreach materials to help bring more attention to their services.

I also earned a Gilman Scholarship for the UK, one of the most competitive locations in the program. I spent three magical months in Scotland at the University of Stirling, where I received all A’s in my courses – no mean feat.

That Scottish History course damn near killed me, I’m telling you.

After returning from Scotland, I received a $2,500 grant for an autoethnography on the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse. My poetry won the Paul Caroll Award for Creative Writing two years in a row.

That part is for any literary agents who are reading this. Hello!

Additionally, I graduated cum laude from the Honors College and was accepted into two honors societies, including Eta Sigma Rho and Phi Kappa Phi.

After a gap year taking undergraduate biology courses, I chose to pursue a political science degree. I wrote my Master’s thesis on international human trafficking and completed an internship with a refugee nonprofit.

While interning, I had the immense privilege of meeting individuals from Afghanistan, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nepal, helping them acclimate to the United States.

This was while fighting to get justice for a sexual assault that occurred during my first semester at CSU. I won the court case.

These achievements are made more significant by the fact that I am bipolar.

Only 16% of bipolar patients earn their Bachelor’s degree, and there are, to my knowledge, no statistics about how many bipolar patients have a graduate education.

I took a semester off from the University of Illinois-Chicago due to a psychotic episode, but I returned with a vengeance and worked even harder. Thankfully, I have been stable for ten years due to the incredible support of my family and a marvelous psychiatric care team.

Throughout this all, I stayed in a fiery, committed relationship with my true love: writing.

My entire professional career has revolved, in some way or another, around writing.

I have served as a communications specialist for the CEO of a major Chicago nonprofit since 2016. During this time, I also tutored students at both the K-12 and college levels, and I am currently a freelance SEO writer.

In the past ten years, I have written 1.6 million (and then some) of fiction, and substantially more nonfiction. My professional writing runs the gamut from literary analysis, academic articles, journalism, business communications, and sales copy.

Beyond all that, though, I have two immense blessings.

Here is Clark (left) and Wendy (right).

Clark is an American Pit Bull Terrier; Wendy is an American Bully. Both are rescues from Cleveland City Dogs and, perhaps, the most spoiled animals you will ever meet.

I hope you’ll enjoying reading my perspective on the craft I love.

My sincerest wish is that my blog encourages, inspires, and uplifts you so that you can be the best writer you can be. We are all in this together, and if I can provide you with even one iota of support with my articles, I will consider this a success.

Please never hesitate to leave your thoughts, your opinions, and your feedback; I love an open, friendly dialogue. You’re never bothering me, and if you need an extra push or kind word, don’t hesitate to ask.