All journeys require that you leave something behind as you move forward into uncertainty. Hazard Yet Forward. Elizabeth Ann Seton
I was delivered to the doorstep of Seton Hill University’s MFA Writing Popular Fiction program on the tailwinds of a life-circumstance class 5 hurricane. Without recognition of moderate dyslexia, I lacked sufficient warning. Instead, I settled into a creative pursuit more consistent with who I am than ever before, not realizing–until graduation–I shouldn’t have applied in the first place.
…that was unexpected…
Medically-tinged vocabulary tossed into a stew of dyslexia produces a sensory experience of place and character. I’m not trying to create voice: my mind spits out words, phrases, and concepts that most other sane people would run from, and I spend hours ironing out peculiarities. One consequence is that my writing is frequently described as literary, which is rather a punch in the gut to someone who graduated with an MFA in genre fiction.
I adjust.
Readers who enjoy my stories are intrigued with complex characters, multiple interwoven plots, and layers of genres. I suppose you could take what I said about language and apply that to a mind bent on complications. If something can go wrong, I conjure something worse on the next page. It’s not fluffy stuff and far more likely to keep you up at night than to put you to sleep.
But if you enjoy experiencing a tight focus on misogyny, domestic abuse, legal manipulation of LLCs, societal impact of infectious disease, and/or historical medical practice (particularly mid-Victorian), my writing might just be your cuppa. And if you’ve ever been at the handle end of a scalpel, accurate historical scenes and escapades based in accurate history are baffling, perplexing, and hilarious. For non-medically trained readers: more than one wishes they hadn’t dug into a bowl of spaghetti before cracking open the latest chapter. Sanitized cozy, it is not.
Surrounded by love and compassion in a vibrant midwestern writer’s community, I am ever grateful for their support.
May you become the person you were meant to be.
