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NaNoWriMo is done. Now What?
[Transparency note: This post was originally drafted in part on the day NaNo announced it was shuttering the non profit, April 1. It has taken me this long to process and sit with my grief. Some of what you’ll read in the blog is a response to that.] If you’re an author, you may be keenly aware of the controversy that has been brewing over the last month in connection with the troubled National Novel Writing Month organization. I addressed some of the issues in my last blog, The rise and fall of NaNoWriMo, and a disabled author’s take. But now, it’s official: After 20 years, the scandal plagued non-profit is…
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What lies ahead: Looking forward to 2025…
We’re on the cusp of a new year. This is a time of hope and expectation. It’s at this point in the year that many people start making resolutions and plans. This is one of the most difficult things for me to do as a person with a disability. The biggest thing I have to do for myself in the new year is get myself together to publish my books. But I often don’t know what might get in the way of those plans. I could have a medical or financial setback. Something else could come up with my family. When I made the decision to invest in myself as…
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Let’s talk about disability & visibility
So, as we head into the end of 2024, I want to let my readers in on a conversation I had with a friend who is also disabled. I was trying to decide what my final blog of 2024 should be, and she brought up something I hadn’t even considered. There’s a serious issue with people with disabilities being given the opportunity to exist and take up space in the world. Sometimes, all I want is to feel seen. That’s not to say that I don’t have people around me who do recognize what I try to do and give me support. I have an amazing community of family, church…
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The rise and fall of NaNoWriMo, and a disabled author’s take.
NaNoWriMo? More like NaNoNoMo. At least, that’s what a lot of people seem to be saying this November. If you’re just now finding me, let me take a moment to give you a quick rundown on why this is so important to me. Short version? “Hi, I’m Erin, a fantasy romance author, who also happens to be a Christian, disabled, and weaves romantic themes into her stories!” Long version? Read on, my dears. For the uninitiated, I’m a 10-year veteran participant of the writing event known as National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo for short. The goal of NaNo is to create the rough draft of a “novel-length” work (50,000…
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Faith Fest 2024
Back in September I traveled to Wilkesboro, NC, with my mom and two of our dear friends from church to attend Faith Fest. For some reason, this post has been sitting in my drafts for a while. For those who’ve never heard of this event, Faith Fest is a multi-day outdoor concert. There is also the presentation of the gospel by a speaker in the middle of things. They manage to get some pretty big names, and Jason Crabb ( a two time Grammy award winner and Christian artist) is often closely associated with the event and performs. As great as it was to be at a Christian concert, I’m…
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The benefits of rest
Sometimes, we all need to slow down and take a break. Recently, my disability reminded me of this the hard way – by causing a problem with a sore on my foot that became infected. One of the downsides of my disability is that I don’t have a lot of feeling in my feet. This often causes me to have sores or other issues without being able to feel them, or know how bad they really are. To my detriment, I’m also incredibly stubborn. I hate going to the doctor unless I absolutely have to. So when my mother dragged me to urgent care a few weeks ago, I was…
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Maybe It’s OK (If I’m Not OK)
Trigger warning: Today’s blog discusses mental health issues and suicidal ideation (albeit without a plan to follow through). If you are struggling, please reach out for help. Resources are available at https://988lifeline.org . https://www.focusonthefamily.com/get-help/mental-health-resources/ also has help available. With apologies to We Are Messengers, I’m borrowing one of their lyrics for this week’s blog. “Maybe It’s Ok” was released in 2019 on We Are Messengers’ debut album, Honest. Darren Mulligan, the band’s lead singer, has talked about the story behind the song, and especially about how the song was written from a place of understanding that not everything will be roses as we follow God. In living with Cerebral Palsy,…
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Learning to find joy in the complication
My favorite type of weather is actually the one that causes me some of the most difficulty. As a non-ambulatory wheelchair user, I shouldn’t love snow as much as I do. But being a child born in winter, there’s an almost magical joy that fills me when I hear that it’s going to be cold outside. Winter poses its issues for me as well, though. It gets slippery, and difficult to manuver my manual chair if it’s snowing or raining. On top of that, I have issues with my knees that flare up in cold weather. I have to find clever ways to get around it or keep my hands…
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Creating Space
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? My perfect space for reading and writing would be hard to imagine. As it is, I live at home with my parents due to my disability. I do most of my reading and writing in my bedroom in their home, simply because I feel comfortable there. But okay, here goes. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m a very messy person. My room is currently filled with piles of clothing, papers scattered to the floor and a desk right beside my bed, so I have my computer near on days when it’s difficult for me to get up.…
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“Make us truly thankful.”
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. As people around the world celebrate a day of gratitude, I pause to reflect on the things I am grateful for, and what is to come. One of the things I often struggle with as a person with a disability, is finding moments of joy in the times when I am at my lowest. I always tell people that I know things could be much worse. There are varying degrees of severity that come with Cerebral Palsy. They also come with a host of other medical issues. I know people who were born prematurely, like me, who struggle with worse health issues than I have. I’m grateful…
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Thoughts on Life, Faith, Disability and the Writing Craft from E.S. McLaughlin
