Cosmo Profile
Just stated reading my Cosmopolitan magazine this month and imagine my delight in discovering that the “true story” section this month features a beautiful quadriplegic woman! This section is for “shocking” true stories, so of course it played a little bit on that drama with the title, “Her Bachelorette Party Left Her Paralyzed.” The article was good, though. It was interesting to me that she is less than a year post-injury and seems to have a very rational perspective on the whole thing. I suspect that part of that is simply the experience of being in the media. Profiles like this need you to be one thing or another, they don’t allow for the natural variety of one’s emotions and experiences. What I mean is, for...
Read MoreAbilities
I’m currently taking law classes in a paralegal program and it leads to some very interesting things to ponder and discuss. My class this semester is on Tort law and last night we talked about assault and battery. Battery is when you physically touch someone in an unwanted way (i.e., hit him), but assault is when you make someone afraid that you will soon touch them in an unwanted way (i.e., threats, telling someone that you are about to hit him). In order for it to legally be assault, the person being threatened has to believe that there will be imminent harm. Part of that condition is that the person who puts you into apprehension has to be capable of committing the act they are threatening. The teacher literally said, “For example, a...
Read MoreStar Wars
If you are like me, you never think of Star Wars being a movie with disability in it.  A friend recently pointed out that Darth Vader is so bad-ass that you never think about him being a vent-dependent triple-amputee! I love that.  He is disabled, but so powerful that no one crosses him. It would be  a problem to me if the movie suggested that he became a psychotic bad guy trying to take over the world because he was bitter about the disability.  Many writers would go that direction with it. Star Wars doesn’t go there.  The disability is completely in the background and not used as part of the plot, except for the way his suit makes him look and sound super scary. That’s a win.  Congratulations, Star Wars, I know you were just waiting for my approval!...
Read MoreProgress Trackers
At proofreaders; available for pre-order
What Is Meant To Be
Second draft
Homework & Homicide (working title)
Second Draft
Book Montage
RFW winner October 7, 2011
