Beyond the Borders
It’s time to step outside your comfort zone, outside your borders, or outside of your own country or culture. Tell us about the books that transported you to a different world, taught you about a different culture, and/or helped you step into the shoes of someone different from you. What impacted you the most about this book? What books would you recommend to others who are ready or not ready to step over the line? In essence, let’s start the conversation about diversity and keep it going!
Wow. Well, Diversity in books is a huge hot button topic for me. But, since I have no real experiences related to books from other cultures and other countries and other cultures, I am going to discuss another topic related to diversity that really is a big one for me.
What a lot of people may or may not know is I am the parent of a child on the autism spectrum. My three-year-old daughter also has what is believed to be a mild cerebral palsy. I also have two more children, ages 8 and 10. So a lot of children’s, middle grade, and young adult books filter through my house on a day to day basis.
More and more lately, I have found myself reading through the books and asking myself “But what about role models for my child who has to do things differently?” I think that characters with disabilities are lacking in a lot of popular fiction today.
I know that in the Dusk Gate Chronicles series by Breeana Puttroff, there is a character with autism and, while not being a main character, he ends up being pivotal to the story line and, well, you will just have to read it.
In my own writing, I have tried to address this, because I want there to be more examples of people who are “different” who have accomplished extraordinary things. In the rare instance where there is a character with a disability in a novel, they are portrayed as weaker, less than, or the butt of everyone’s jokes.
I currently have a short story published where the main character is an autistic boy who discovers an extraordinary truth about himself and his life and his destiny. This is the precursor to a novel that I hope to finish before too many more years pass me by.
Am I off base, are there novels out there that already give examples of this (if there are and I have to search this hard, that still tells me there are not enough of them)? If there are, comment and let me know. Because this is the kind of diversity I need in my life. These are the kinds of stories that will make me want to read them.
Giveaways
About the whole giveaway thing. No, I know, I am sure you noticed I don’t have one running. The odds just didn’t play out this time around for me to be able to do so. But I wanted to give some thoughts to giveaway posts I have seen in the past and the way some people do them. I have run a fair amount of giveaways in the past and have noticed that, as much as I want them to do well, I get very few entries. I thought about the giveaways I entered. And then I thought, I prefer to enter giveaways that are simple. If a giveaway has a hundred entry options on rafflecopter, I am not likely to jump through all of those hoops to put in the effort. And if I have to remember to check back on the blog to see if I won, well, I have ADHD, and chances are I will forget. It’s just the reality of it.
So, in lieu of having a giveaway, I am asking for tips on how to make my giveaways more successful in the future. What draws you into a giveaway post and makes you willing to put in the effort to enter? I have floundered and failed with my giveaways in the past, and I would like to correct this.