Category Archives: Disability & Neurodiversity

Leaving the Novel in Progress (Part 1)

How the beautiful promise of a published novel narrowed my focus too much. I did consider stopping, once or twice, but the idea terrified me. Wasn’t the NIP (novel-in-progress) my anchor? Wasn’t it the reason I studied literature and creative writing, and read widely, and started this website – and wasn’t it my lifelong dream to be the Author of a Book? There was no other job I wanted to do. There was nothing else I was this good at. What else could I do with my life?

Links & Pursuits, October 2021

Things that caught my eye this month – including writing by Carolyn Hinds and Johnathon Flowers – plus some DIY pursuits.
October isn’t just turkey and pumpkins month.

Several weeks ago, I learned that it’s also National Disability Employment month, and this guided some of my reading and thinking, as you’ll see below.

…I read:

Links & Pursuits September 2021

Autumn is nearly here! After another summer without air conditioning this can only be good news in my house. I’m thinking of having a kind of mini harvest festival to celebrate the turn of the season – something involving apples and a bonfire.

Review of Refuse: CanLit in Ruins

My tangling together of value and production, identity and respect paralleled a similar phenomenon in Canadian literature as a whole. Refuse has shown me what lurks behind the façade of my dream job.

Beyond Awareness

There is a great desire in the autistic community for the focus to change from awareness to acceptance. April is over, but we don’t pack away our stimming, communication differences, or sensory differences like holiday decorations, and nor should we have to.