Two things:
1) I've started to get some amazing submissions for a possible depression-GAF anthology (including from our shadow community of lurkers whose GAF accounts have not been approved yet). I've received two different descriptions of what depression is like - a poem and an extended metaphor in prose. I'm really blown away!
I'd love to see more submissions! I haven't established any kind of deadline yet, as I'd still like to hear people commit to the idea and see if we reach some kind of critical mass for putting something together. Anything that will fit on a page is welcome - poems, drawings, comics, essays, reviews of books, movies, games (I'd love to hear about the treatment of mental illness in games - just a few lines about a specific game or character is fine. We could collect a whole bunch of these), some thoughts about this thread (I'd love to put together some kind of history of this thread with you guys), a specific post, or a specific member (I'll be writing some little micro-tributes to many of you, describing what some of your posts have meant to me), interviews (I might try to put the relationship roundtable [still working on making that happen] in here), short stories, and on and on.
And PLEASE do not pass on this opportunity because English is not your first language (looking at you, RionnaM!). I'm not sure I've read a post in here yet that made me go, "Man, this dude's English is really bad!" And we can totally work together to edit your submissions and iron out any little tricky stupid English stuff.
2) I just got a letter back after the unnamed depression-GAFfer (dammit, Pau!) gave me the wrong address. I really love writing letters, and I'd love to have more penpals from the thread. People have been lamenting their lack of IRL friends. The friends I've made in here aren't really any different from my IRL friends, in my mind, but I get how it can somehow feel like a lesser thing. I feel like writing letters back and forth makes that friendship much more real. I treat letters very differently from posts or chat or skype. Letters are just very intimate.
If we've already chatted a bunch, just PM me and I'd love to write to you! If we don't already know each other too well, PM me and you can write to me first. I'll answer any questions, read your story, whatever you'd like to write. I promise to write back! That could be the start of a beautiful friendship!