As the mother of two boys with autism, I sometimes tire of hearing about dashed hopes and broken dreams. While the struggles that families such as mine face are painfully real, and should never be trivialized, joy has not forsaken us.
Neither has hope.
Those of you who have kept in touch with me since the release of my book, "Turn Around, Bright Eyes", know that I have always dreamed of writing fiction. However, having two boys with such serious diagnoses gave me a million wonderful reasons to tweak that dream a little.
It only made sense to me, as I realized how unprepared the world was to receive children like my sons, that I would use my only God-given talent to help pave the way for a good future for my children and their peers. I turned to nonfiction, all of it autism related.
I can honestly say that I've never regretted my choice to write "for the cause" for one moment.
There is no substitute for effective advocacy and advancing awareness, and I hope that I have managed to contribute, in some small way, to the enrichment of the lives of persons with autism.
As my beautiful boys have grown, and my understanding of the children they are has evolved, and as many of the barriers in their lives have come crashing down, I have found myself turning back to my original dream--to write (publishable) fiction.
But the strangest thing has happened. I've changed as a writer. These days, when I sit down at my keyboard and allow myself to dream, people with differences invariably populate the landscapes in my imagination. While such diverse characters aren't often the stuff of block-busting best sellers, I must believe that there is a place for them in mainstream fiction.
Today, in a small way, my vision for creating compelling stories that positively portray persons with autism and the families who love them came true with the publication of my Amazon short, "Imprint in the Ice".
According to William Stillman, author of Autism and the God Connection, "The poignant prose with which Liane Gentry Skye crafts her uncommon love story makes Imprint in the Ice a vignette about not only the universality of love but the inextinguishable bonds we forge with one another no matter the variation of our human experience."
I hope you will choose to read this story, which began as a waking dream for a brighter future for my children--for all of our children. I hope that the characters move into your heart and allow you to experience autism in a new and beautiful way.
In this small way, perhaps I can show the mothers and the fathers who wonder if they can really go on for one more day that saying "no, not now" to our personal dreams doesn't mean "no, never."
Most of all, I hope to bring you a really good read, because when it comes to fiction, I must always remember that a compelling story is everything.
Allow love to rule in your lives,
Liane
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1 comment:
Beautiful post. My baby sister, which is five, lol (I was an only child until I was 21) has tibia hemamelia, which is a physical disability. For a long itme I was mad at myself for being born normal, why, she, my beautiful baby girl would have to udergo coutnless painful operations, not to mention the difficulties she faces just to go the playplace at McDonald's.
If it is okay with you, may I add your link to my blogs? Have a beautiful day.
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