British Youtuber Dodie Clark is primarily renowned for her main channel, “doddleoddle”, where she showcases her musical expertise through covers and songwriting. This channel hosts some of her most popular and meaningful original songs, such as “Absolutely Smitten”, “She”, and “Sick of Losing Soulmates”. Although Dodie Clark is usually clad with a vivid outfit, a ukulele, and a smile, backed by fairy lights and gorgeous harmonies; she is also not afraid to show her viewers what lies beneath her sunny disposition. Her second channel, “doddlevloggle”, is more of a vlog channel where she posts anything from rejected music to routines, and some of the videos that fall in between include videos about her lengthy struggles with her mental health.

While Dodie alluded to having depression and general insecurities on her second channel from videos as far back as three years ago; her video about specifically having depression, anxiety, and depersonalization was only introduced to her audience last year. Ever since that video was released, Dodie has been bravely and candidly sharing her mental health stories on social media through lengthy posts on Twitter, Instagram, and of course YouTube. These feelings even manifested themselves into original songs that were scattered throughout both “doddleoddle” and “doddlevloggle”. One of the songs was the popular “Secret for the Mad”, which Dodie posted on Instagram and captioned “I wrote it for a friend who I heard was going through a rough time. Today, though, I sang it for myself”. The song’s lyrics provide a message of hope to its listener, saying that even though mental illnesses are incredibly overwhelming, frightening, and even painful, you ultimately have the power to make it through one more night and you will feel better in the future.

Today, almost six months after the release of "Secret for the Mad", the song and its message have both been recycled in more ways than one. On June 15th, 2017, Dodie released a video of an original, intimate song called "Party Tattoos". At the end of the video, she also announced that she was writing a book titled “Secrets for the Mad: Obsessions, Confessions, and Life Lessons”, which is a quirky little nod to her aforementioned popular song. She mentioned that the book includes some of her old diary entries and regular entries about her brain, her heart, and how she generally views the world when she suffers from mental illnesses. Dodie is no stranger to being vulnerable on social media, which is shown in multiple videos where she speaks about her internal and external struggles. However, Dodie mentioned in her announcement video that the book delves deeper into her mind and it addresses what she is unable to write in a quick tweet or video.

Dodie has cathartically released her turbulent feelings through songs such as “One for the Road”, “Intertwined”, and “Down”, but fans and strangers alike are going to be getting a completely revamped introduction to the mind of this singer. Full details of the book have not been disclosed yet, but if you are interested in reading the painfully raw details of a celebrity who is strikingly similar to us, I would highly suggest pre ordering it. Dodie’s attempt at breaking the sturdy barrier between a YouTuber and a novelist is something to be admired, and although she is certainly not the first person to do so, I believe that her current recounts about mental health and growing up will lend themselves to an inspiring, heartbreaking book. This book is targeted at people who are suffering with mental health issues as a symbol of solidarity, but there are plenty of lessons in it for anyone who is willing to learn. As Dodie wrote in the song that inspired this entire literary journey, “I’ve got a secret for the mad/ In a little bit of time, it won’t hurt so bad... There will be a day when you can say you’re okay and mean it”, and this sense of reassurance is certainly something that will be communicated through pages as well.

The book is available for preorder on Amazon and other online stores, and it will officially be released in the United Kingdom on November 2nd and in the United States on November 7th.