Wow, and it was thrown in a big way. My goal is to have my Williams Project in the hands of Mr. Agenty Man J by November first. This gives me a concrete deadline as well as clearing my plate for my fifth NaNoWriMo, yeah? I can totally do it. First I have to take all of my separate … Read More
Why Focus on the Can’ts?
Hello. This is the face of a disability. I think that it’s pretty cute. My son Niko has Williams Syndrome. He was diagnosed when he was about a year old. Williams is becoming more common, but when he was diagnosed, we hadn’t heard of it. It was a crazy mystery that messed with his genes. He had heart problems. He … Read More
Adding A Happy Chapter
I took a week off of the Williams project because I needed to. I needed to dance around and fill my mind with butterflies and glitter again instead of hypodermic needles and the smell of antiseptic. But we just spent two days testing with some of the leading authorities of Williams Syndrome, and my son exceeded all of our expectations. … Read More
Resilience and Fragility
It’s 1:00 in the morning and I can’t sleep. I’m working on the Williams project and, quite frankly, it’s hard. Do I believe in it? YES. Is it a book that needs to be written? YES. But it hurts. Honesty hurts. I thought that my piece coming out in the second issue of Shock Totem made me feel naked. … Read More
Resilience and Fragility
It’s 1:00 in the morning and I can’t sleep. I’m working on the Williams project and, quite frankly, it’s hard. Do I believe in it? YES. Is it a book that needs to be written? YES. But it hurts. Honesty hurts. I thought that my piece coming out in the second issue of Shock Totem made me feel naked. … Read More
Love Letters: WIP Wednesday
Still over the moon about the Skipp anthology. But that doesn’t mean that I’m slacking. I threw down the gauntlet and issued a challenge to a few friends on Monday. Each one of us made it into an e-book, and that is pretty cool. Getting into an antho is always fun, but crashing the party as a group is even … Read More
I’m Queen of the Wooooooorld!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Friends, Romans, and Writers, lend me your ears: I am Queen of the World! I have been under an inordinate amount of stress lately. Real Life responsibilities, waiting on test results for my son, and literary deadlines have nearly done me in. And then today happened. The most important thing is that my son’s … Read More
Today’s Thoughts on Williams Syndrome
Small Son’s test results came back, and his calcium is elevated. Once upon a time this happened to us, and he descended into kidney failure because of it. We’re hoping it can be changed with diet instead of drugs, and I’m keeping a diary of everything that he puts into his mouth. It isn’t much. Today he was supposed to … Read More
Day Two
Also, here is a brief essay that I wrote about a typical day. I originally posted it in January. A Broken Laptop by Mercedes M. Yardley Her son pulls eight keys from the keyboard. Her daughter finishes it off, making it a nice and even twenty. This slows the writer down some. The telephone rings. It is her best friend. … Read More