{"id":2375,"date":"2015-11-26T05:27:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T13:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=2375"},"modified":"2019-04-17T08:54:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T15:54:30","slug":"cover-reveal-for-the-rubber-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/therapy-2\/cover-reveal-for-the-rubber-fence\/","title":{"rendered":"Cover Reveal for THE RUBBER FENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"coverI’m very excited to announce the cover reveal for The Rubber Fence<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, <\/strong>my second novel.\u00a0The cover was designed by Ares Jun.<\/p>\n

The story, which largely takes place on a psychiatric ward in 1972, was inspired by my work<\/strong> on such a hospital ward in Winnipeg, Manitoba.<\/p>\n

I had just graduated with a Master of Social Work and\u00a0was anxious to employ some of the techniques I had learned\u00a0in my field placement at the University of Manitoba. My mentor was\u00a0Professor Gerald Erickson, who had come to the Faculty of Social Work\u00a0after\u00a0spending ten years doing\u00a0family therapy at a Wisconsin mental health centre.<\/p>\n

I was a very enthusiastic student. Gung-ho to learn all that I could about family dynamics. It was a time when families were blamed for everything and I was anxious to not only examine my own but others as well.<\/p>\n

What I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that electric shock treatment was still going strong on the ward where I worked as a psychiatric social worker. The ward had patients of all stripes: the psychotic, the depressed, and the alcoholic. They also ranged in age from their teens to their golden years.<\/p>\n

At the time, family therapy was coming into its own and psychiatric interns were experimenting with the new techniques. I\u00a0was fortunate enough as a psychiatric social worker to work alongside interns as a co-therapist. I also witnessed the top experts in the field demonstrating their theories and therapeutic strategies.<\/p>\n

THE RUBBER FENCE was a labour of love.<\/h3>\n

Though THE RUBBER FENCE is fiction, I poured my heart and also my frustration over what I saw into this story. It was originally a screenplay, named Shrinkproof<\/strong><\/em>. I had agents in both Toronto and Vancouver who showed it to a number of Hollywood stars. Jody Foster’s agent loved it but Ms. Foster eventually passed on it. I suspect she did so because of what happens in this story. She was a new mother at the time, and there’s a new mother in my story, one who goes through her own private hell.<\/p>\n

The novel is set in 1972.<\/h3>\n

It was a time when women were breaking out, families were breaking down, and men were trying to hold on for the ride.<\/p>\n

Dr. Joanna Bereza<\/strong> is a psychiatric intern who wants to have it all: a career, a loving marriage, and a family, but her passion to do what’s right sets her against a system that’s as stuck as the people it treats.<\/p>\n

On ward 2B, Joanna becomes obsessed with the treatment of two women\u2015a mute young mother suspected of trying to kill her baby and a feisty old woman who’s been through the mill one too many times. Blinded by her obsession, Joanna not only neglects her own husband, but in trying to stop her patients from getting shock treatment, she also puts her career in jeopardy. Further complicating matters is the seductive senior resident who looks more like a hip rock star than an aspiring shrink.<\/p>\n

Shadowing Joanna’s work is her own unresolved grief over something that happened when she was a child.<\/p>\n

THE RUBBER FENCE<\/strong>, general fiction, 328 pages, will be released on March 3, 2016<\/strong> as a paperback and e-book. Pre-orders for the e-book are available now on Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m very excited to announce the cover reveal for The Rubber Fence, my second novel.\u00a0The cover was designed by Ares Jun. The story, which largely takes place on a psychiatric… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Cover Reveal for THE RUBBER FENCE #fiction #mentalhealth #indiebook #1970s","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[744,88,86],"tags":[809,604,78,811,810,815,813,9,814,7,812,816],"class_list":["post-2375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-life","category-therapy-2","tag-ares-jun","tag-book-cover","tag-diana-stevan","tag-electric-shock-treatment","tag-family-therapy","tag-general-fiction","tag-jody-foster","tag-novel","tag-psychiatric-ward","tag-story","tag-the-rubber-fence","tag-winnipeg"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Rubber-Fence-The-Diana-Stevan-2-e1449863267828.jpg?fit=300%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-Cj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2481,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/writing\/2481\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":0},"title":"My Novel’s Labour Pains","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"15 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My second novel, THE RUBBER FENCE,\u00a0general fiction, will be published on March 3rd.\u00a0 It\u2019s the baby who didn\u2019t want to come out for the longest time. My novel's labour pains were hard and went on too long. I initially wrote the story as a screenplay back in the 1990s, had\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"my novel's labour pains","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Rubber-Fence-The-Diana-Stevan-2-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2597,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/writing\/book-cover-wins-gold-star\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":1},"title":"Book Cover Wins Gold Star","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"23 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Winning Cover I'm thrilled that the book\u00a0cover for THE RUBBER FENCE has won a\u00a0\u00a0Gold Star from Joel Friedlander of the BOOK DESIGNER. When I submitted the cover for their monthly contest, I wrote, \u00a0\u201cAs this story takes place largely on a psychiatric ward, I thought that Jun Ares\u2019s book\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"writing world","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/TRF-OLD-POSTER.jpg?fit=417%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2519,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/therapy-2\/book-launch-of-the-rubber-fence\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":2},"title":"Book Launch of THE RUBBER FENCE","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"3 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's official! The day has arrived for my book launch of \u00a0THE RUBBER FENCE\u00a0online. It's\u00a0now on sale on Amazon and will be available at other booksellers in time.\u00a0 Inspired by my work on a psychiatric ward in 1972, it covers a time when feminism was being born, shock treatment was\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/therapy-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book Launch THE RUBBER FENCE","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/150-rubber-fence-ebook-cover.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4806,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2020\/writing\/crazy-covid-dreams\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":3},"title":"Crazy Covid Dreams","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"3 \u0416\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019ve been having crazy covid dreams. But before I get into them, I just want to say, I can't believe I haven't blogged since June. My head has been occupied with my latest manuscript (more about that soon). And Robert and I celebrated another\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"covid dreams","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dreams-e1601734268349.jpg?fit=500%2C281&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6847,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/writing\/folding-memories-into-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":4},"title":"Folding Memories into Story","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"12 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing What You Know Ernest Hemingway, the wonderful author of great works such as\u00a0The Sun Also Rises\u00a0and\u00a0For Whom the Bell Tolls,\u00a0was a master of folding memories into story. After he had received another bout of shock treatments, he said to a friend, \u201cWhat is the sense of ruining my head\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Folding memories into story","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4474,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2023\/writing\/the-mad-among-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":5},"title":"The Mad Among Us","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"12 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"For my first blog post of 2023, I thought I'd write about the mad among us. It seems fitting when I think about all the crazy stuff we read on the internet, all the distortions and lies, whether it's about covid and vaccinations or the unhinged views of some politicians.\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Rubber Fence","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rubber-fence-revised3-high-resolution-Copy-scaled.jpg?fit=821%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rubber-fence-revised3-high-resolution-Copy-scaled.jpg?fit=821%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rubber-fence-revised3-high-resolution-Copy-scaled.jpg?fit=821%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rubber-fence-revised3-high-resolution-Copy-scaled.jpg?fit=821%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}