Writing Against the Odds
How Stake-Out came to be.
It may surprise people, but I hated writing as a kid. Not CREATING. No, I’d hold my crayons haphazardly and draw, or act out stories in my head in my bedroom or with my (bloody and drawn-on) dolls.
But writing? Pen/pencil in hand, needing precise marks to form legible letters?
Torture. I’d cry at homework time because I ALREADY was in pain during school hours from holding my hand in a way my hands didn’t like. Even with the cushions they sold, it was so painful.
I had meltdowns at home over it. Which, we didn’t know at the time (and wouldn’t find out until I was 26) that I had autism, and that meant my fine motor skills didn’t properly develop. Writing is one of said skills. Typing can be, too.
But it was my second grade teacher, Mrs. Dobyne, who taught me a way to hold my hand that was less painful for me. This came after my first grade teacher FORCED me and every other kid to only hold our pencils one way, even when we said it hurt.
For the first time, WRITING WASN’T PAINFUL!
I then began to write in earnest, my short stories getting A’s every single time. My brain was opened up to a whole new world. I COULD WRITE. I could write books and stories just like the ones I loved, the ones Mom would take me to the store to buy if we had enough money, or the ones the librarian slipped into my hands even though I took out the max amount already.
I COULD WRITE BOOKS, PEOPLE!
And it was all because my teacher noticed my pain after talking to my mom and found a way to help me not have pain anymore.
Not gonna lie, I still have pain even typing sometimes, even with special cushions for my desk and keyboard. Or my fingers just can’t hit the keys right.
I still have meltdowns.
But it’s worth it, because I was able to pick up a pencil and write as an eight-year-old kid, and that enabled me to get my laptop in 2014 and write Stake-Out.
One final meltdown at home, and two adults ensured I had a career path set out for me, just because they noticed I was in pain.
Stake-Out is important to me for that reason. Because it’s the first baby of mine to enter the world, yes, but also because it is proof that there are no limitations to what a person can do, even if they have a disability.
