For the Time Being

For the Time Being , by Chad W. Lutz, is a modern look at mental illness, specifically the challenges persons with Bi-Polar Disorder face. There are three clear shifts in narrative, each corresponding with various shifts in plot direction within the story. The longest of these “sections” is the first, which answers the question: what happens when a five-foot-nine, one-hundred-fifty-pound human being ingests five times the prescribed dosage of their medication and lies down for a nap? The second part takes us through the treatment the narrator receives after trying to take his own life and is a sensational and brutally honest look at life in the ER. The third lands the reader in the hospital, fully committed, a patient of the state.

Chad W. Lutz is a speedy human born in Akron, Ohio, in 1986, and raised in the neighboring suburb of Stow. Alumna of Kent State University's English program, Chad earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Mills College and currently serves as an assistant editor for Pretty Owl Poetry. Their writing has been featured in KYSO Flash, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Gold Man Review, and The Hungry Chimera, was awarded the 2017 prize in literary fiction by Bacopa Review, the 2019 award for fiction by Haunted Waters Press, and was a nominee for the 2017 Pushcart in poetry.