Newsweek’s Autism Article

Thank you Newsweek for bringing to light the possibility of girls being misdiagnosed, or in this case not diagnosed at all. This is a well-written and thought-provoking article. After reading the article and thinking about it, I can say that I know many, and have met many, autistic boys, but I do not know a single autistic girl. I think there are probably a couple of reasons for this. Once you understand the condition, the diagnosis is actually easy to make in boys. The psychological and physical obsessions, the difficulty in social interactions, the awkward speech, avoiding eye contact, and so on are obvious indicators. With girls, these types of behaviors might be seen as natural. Further, if the obsessions with girls are different, and if they do not lead to behaviors that we find odd or unusual, I can see how a girl could easily fly under the radar, resulting in no treatment or an inappropriate reaction. If this article is accurate, the clear inference is that the autistic spectrum is much larger than we initially thought it was.

See the article here.

Post a comment »

La Jolla Writers Conference

I was delighted to have been invited to Antoinette Kuritz’ annual La Jolla Writers Conference (Nov 7-9) in San Diego, CA. It was a great pleasure being there, and I had the amazing opportunity to meet writers of the stature of Chris Reich and James Rollins. Both of these authors were wonderfully kind in considering and critiquing Gauntlet, as well as the opening chapter of its sequel, Counterplay. I believe that there’s a chance of getting endorsements from both, which would be great. I also had the opportunity to listen to established writers like Reich, Rollins, Martha Lawrence, and Lisa Lutz describe how they deal with issues like opening sentences and chapters, development of plot and theme, characterizations, and endings. I don’t think I’ve taken that many notes since I left university!

A number of individuals presenting at the conference are involved in Gauntlet’s path, so it was very nice to reconnect with them as well (I haven’t seen them since the LA Book Expo in May). Eric Kampmann of Midpoint, who was there teaching business and publishing classes, is going to be handling the distribution. Antoinette herself is handling our publicity. It was a truly humbling experience to see the people who are on my team conducting classes and organizing a conference of this much importance!

At the conclusion, and over a great dinner in “Little Italy” in San Diego, Carrie, my editor/publisher (Glass House Press) told me that a large wholesaler, Baker and Taylor, has pre-ordered 1000 books. At that point I felt I could fly home on my own, but reality stepped in and I went with US Air instead. Needless to say, it was an awesome weekend. Stepping into the publishing world always gets me excited, but this was over and above. I feel jacked sideways at how well everything is going.

Post a comment »