The Rest is Silence / Novel writing

I've been working on a novel for the past 6 months. Although I have attempted novel writing in the past, I vowed to get this one finished. I completed the 2nd draft on Dec. 24 at 5 pm. Like a  marathon viewing of the series "Breaking Bad" or the entire "Lord of the Rings , by the end I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I hit the mental off button and like that everything stopped. My mind was a blank, the characters, the internal editor, the grammar police were silent and it felt weird.

To celebrate I present the opening scene from "The Mighty One, Before,During and After".

Everyone has a moment in their life that sets fate into motion. My eight year old curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out what I was getting for Christmas in 1966. My parents were kind but set boundaries and one  of them meant staying out of their bedroom. They treated my room with the same respect and always knocked before entering.

Mother left to go grocery shopping which gave me the chance to go upstairs. My room occupied the front of the second floor, with theirs at the back. I knew Dad kept presents under the bed and I carefully lifted up the comforter when I heard the front door open and shut.

Oh no, if she comes up the stairs I'm done for. Panicking, I did the obvious and stupid thing; I stepped across the bed, opened the window, and climbed out on the rear porch roof. It had snowed the night before. Dad shoveled a path from the back door to the detached garage leaving a large pile of snow close by. I tiptoed to the edge of the roof, aimed for the mound and jumped. Instead of hurtling fifteen feet to the ground, I drifted like a leaf from a tree. 

I laid in the snow in a mild state of shock. I tried to absorb what just happened when the cold snow on my backside reminded me Mother expected me to be in the house and hurried up. I brushed snow from my clothes and noticed our next door neighbor Mr. Hoover standing in his driveway with a shovel in his hands and a gaping mouth. I gave him a nervous wave and headed thru the back door. I almost ran into Mom in the kitchen unloading groceries.

"Neil, what are you doing outside without a coat?" she asked with typical concern. I mumbled something but Mother didn't notice anything unusual. 

Despite my ordinary appearance I have exceptional strength, fast reflexes and oh yes, I can fly.I mean like Superman, just push off the ground and I''m airborne. I realized no one else could after I got a the weird glance from a friend when I mentioned it. I had to keep it to myself but the burden grew heavier, even after the careful realization that everyone had a secret to hide.

At a young age I didn't fly so much as make little hops, like reaching for an apple high in a tree or something on the top shelf at Dad's hardware store. Falling like a leaf was one thing. Flying took more effort to accomplish. Not as easy as it sounds since Galesburg Illinois is as flat as Kansas. There  aren't a lot of places to hide. By adolescence I would sneaking off at night or near dawn for some quick flying out in the country.

I became aware of other unusual skills as I went about the business of childhood. I used to take a red blanket off the clothes line and pin it to my t-shirt. Like many boys, I would run around the yard imitating the world's most famous super hero. Our dog Blinkers was energetic but not the brightest pet. He would chase me around trying to get his  blanket back until exhausted. I got too carried away with this game one time and in the excitement he ran out into the street and the path of an oncoming car. Seeing the inevitable tragedy about to happen, I ate up the distance, grabbed the dog and dodged the car before the driver slammed on his brakes.

My joy at saving him was dulled because I had no one to tell. The disappointment followed me for days until Mother noticed my unusual crankiness. 

I don't like keeping this to myself, I wanted to say but just shook my head, it was nothing.

We don't feel too little, we feel too much

Contrary to common belief autistics are not cold, unfeeling people rather the opposite. We feel too much and shut down when overloaded. Don't believe me, than Read on.

You're going to camp whether you like it or not.

By Alisa McLaughlin

I planned to be at the  annual Kindtree Autism Camp early to beat the rush and rehearse for a role in a play one of the Volunteers wrote . I  say planned because my plans didn't quite work out that way. Thursday morning my ride never appeared leaving me frantic, confused, angry and so stressed I thought, the hell with it. Once again fate was in charge.I woke Friday and immediately got a call from Nell, one of the directors of the camp.

"We need you out here." were the magic words she said. I got a ride from another volunteer Julie, and we arrive mid afternoon. Unfortunately I missed a shift of work and a rehearsal so I was way behind the schedule. No problem, no worries I'm here that's what counts.

The  main work on Saturday was the technical rehearsal for the play. The final draft of the play was delivered to me when I arrive so we're all reading from the script here and at the show. In a homage to Dr. Who, Frankie has written a play that could easily pass for an actual episode. Pretty good since he's never done this before. He plays The Doctor but is preoccupied with directing. Tim plays a befuddled Professor and offers ideas on direction. Logan-playing the villain, proves to be very professional, picks up on his stage business, gets into his part and has most of his part memorized which impresses me. A high energy pre teen is cast for a small role and does the news commentator on a pre recorded video. He's all over the place and I wonder if he is up to the discipline of acting.  I'm stressing about the complicated blocking.

Panels of cardboard are painted brown with yellow circles like the interior of the TARDIS.  One of the panels is discarded because of space and Logan decides it looks like an easy version the game twister "Left leg on yellow, right leg on yellow, left hand on yellow, left hand on yellow" Yeah, that's it I laugh. The prop control panel could easily have come from the early days of the BBC show when they had no budget. We all love it's thrown together appeal.

I'm tired from rehearsal and go to my tent for a ten minute nap that turns into a 30 minute nap. I miss out of the many activities scheduled but camping for me is about resting not doing. So I  enjoy throwing a frisbee around the open field with campers in the warn sun. I wander over in time to see Mary -Minn and company packing up after the watercolor class I missed. They speak in a fake French accent for some strange reason  while they clean up. "ah  ze colors are magnifique." "Zees is ze best water color ever. " I didn't miss the fun after all.

The  play is presented at the end of the talent show Saturday night and is wildly enjoyed despite the imperfect staging and my stepping on Frankie's lines-twice. The crowd loves it and that's all the matters. Afterwards he and Ryan do their impression of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. I went to bed.

Sunday I rose to late for the eggs so I have bacon and fruit for breakfast. I take a long walk to the end of the camp  and back. Big mistake, even though it was quite lovely and quiet. I then spend over two hours helping in the kitchen which I rather like even though it's tiring work. I have spent the last month sitting on my butt while writing a novel so I get all the exercise I missed done in one weekend. It's raining and I'm exhausted when Julie and I head back to Eugene. I'm so tired I swear I'm not going to do it again next year. 

Well, there is talk of a sequel to the play. 

What kindtree means to me and has done for me

I have met so many different people with autism through kindtree since the guy my mom was with did karaoke for them back in 2005 even becoming really good friends with a few of them i love being around those with autism more then anyone else because i can relate to them being an autist myself we don't put each other down for how we do things we except each other for the way we are we understand what each other deals with because of our Autism i love how kindtree puts autism out their for people to recognize and learn so they can better understand and treat us the way we should be treated and so they can see what we can do and that we are just as human as anyone else i also love how they do different events for those with autism and there friends and family members they give us with autism a place to go and be our self and to be around others with out feeling self (sp) contions or embarrassed of how we are we feel wanted and needed and don't shyed away by others etc.