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My sister has Down Syndrome. She has a hilarious personality, gets grumpy when she watches too much TV, and says funny things like, "[Bro], I have some advice for your driver's test. Cut your hair." She's a big and special part of my life, and I always sort of had the intent to write either a book about her or a book about a character with Down Syndrome.
But I couldn't, because I was sure I would get it wrong.
I was worried that I wouldn't be able to represent her properly as a character in a book. My thought always went along the lines of "I am not someone with Down Syndrome, therefore I can never accurately portray someone with Down Syndrome in a book, therefore I will not write them."
And I didn't.
But then I realized a few things.
1. People with Down Syndrome are still people.
2. Everyone is different.
3. I am a person.
I know writing a character with Down Syndrome would require some amount of research just because of the way a life is affected by that, but what I realized in realizing these things is that I'm not writing "Person with Down Syndrome", I'm writing "Person".
And I can do that.
I became unstuck from the thought of "what if I can't get my sister exactly right?" because I realized that yeah, my sister has Down Syndrome but she isn't THE representation of everyone with Down Syndrome, just like I'm not THE representation of 18-year-old white Canadians with curly hair.
My sister is not a representation; she's a person. And if I chose to write a character with Down Syndrome, that character isn't a representation either. They are a person who is different than others with Down Syndrome and that's OK because people are different from each other.
The #yalitchat on Twitter the other day was about diversity in YA. And I think part of the reason why there is so few books with POC (Person of Colour) MCs or anything other than Caucasian MCs is because of this weird fear writers have (including me) that they're going to get it wrong or they're going to misrepresent someone along the way.
We have this mindset of "I'm not that, so I can't write that."
But I think that we need to stop worrying about that because people aren't just lumped into one huge group of White Canadian Females with Curly Hair that all have the same personality and charateristics and likes and dislikes, or one huge group of People With Down Syndrome who are all clones of each other and we've got to get our character-clone exactly right.
Stop being so afraid, and just write people who are different, because every person is different.
Because really, that's exactly what diversity means.
What do you think?
(Also check out this awesome post by @ravenamo on writing POCs!)
(Also just so you know I did eventually succesfully write a short story that featured a character with Down Syndrome. ;) )
Around New Year's is the time when we start to think more about these things called "resolutions" because new year, new start, right?
So I think that "resolution" is just a fancy way of replacing one of my absolute FAVOURITE WORDS OF ALL TIME:
GOAL.
You may think I am crazy, but goals definitely are NOT just for January. This year I have made Summer Goals, New School Year Goals, and Mid-Semester Goals. I have goals in various categories such as health, reading, writing, school, and more. Now, I don't know, maybe everyone makes a lot of goals. But I bet a lot of people don't actually accomplish (okay, what is the correct term when you uh, reach a goal? reach? finish? accomplish?) their goals. And what's the use of making goals if you don't actually accomplish them??
So I bring you today...
GRACIE'S GUIDE TO REACHING YOUR GOALS
Tip #1: Make a plan
If you just flippantly say "I resolve to write more" or something, and then that's it, it's pretty difficult to reach that goal. OK, so I'm going to use a goal I made at the beginning of September as an example. I made a goal to run more, building up so I could go farther.
So, first step in making a plan, I think, is dividing up your goals.
Tip #2: Divide up your goals
When I make goals, I try to be as specific as possible. "Write stuff this month" should be "write at least 3 scenes of work in progress" or "Write 50,000 words this month". Then I'd divide it up even more: "In order to write 50,000 words this month, I will write 1,667 words a day"; "In order to run 60 miles this month, I will run 2 miles each day." This is all part of my plan for reaching my goals.
The next thing that most people would say now is that you can motivate yourself by bribing yourself. "If you abstain from sweets this week, you can have a piece of cake on Saturday." This definitely works for some people, but I don't understand this kind of motivation - you encourage yourself with something that is the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish... okay, then. But it does work for some people.
For me, I just need to be focused and constantly plan and be absolutely determined to reach my goal. The actual accomplishing of the goal is a huge reward for me, actually, especially in areas like fitness because as you live healthier, you actually feel more energetic, better, etc.
Another motivation for me is sort of competition. My dad and I both run and he is always impressed when I say I've run longer than usual, and sometimes that will motivate me. I think, "I'm going to run 5 miles today, then just wait until dad hears how long I went for!" I think we both encourage other, and in some cases it is a little competitive. Some time in mid-November, I'd run 45 days in a row and my dad was going on the treadmill and I heard him say to my mom, "I have to run! [Gracie]'s run 45 days in a row!"
Tip #3: Use encouragement and competition from another person to motivate you.
And guess what? My goal of running 60 miles in November I reached, and passed... I actually ran around 65 miles, and I ran everyday from October 24 to December 22, and so far I've only missed 2 days in December. I know I used running as an example, but all these things you can apply to writing goals (or any other goals) too.
I hope this helps you a bit when trying to reach your New Year's Goals! Good luck!
Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Do you ever actually accomplish them? What's your strategy?
November 15th! Halfway through NaNo (who's doing it? how are you doing?), and halfway through just plain old November. And for all you people bustling through writing a 50,000 MS in 30 days, and because you're HALFWAY THROUGH!, here is something I think you need at this point....
CAKE!
OK, so all you non-Nanoers like me can have some too. It's a busy time, mid-November and I'm sure you are most likely trying to work instead of reading blog posts etc. But who doesn't have time to eat cake (except for my dad. he is not allowed to eat cake. Or his gross peanut butter icing sugar mix that he makes for a midnight snack.)
Anyway, enjoy!
Yes, of course eat the icing last... it's the only way! :)
Happy Nanoing!!
As a newer blogger, the pages on other people's blogs that say "Tips for Blogging" or "How to Blog", etc, interest me quite a bit. And I read them, and they are helpful -very much so- but they also start me going on a "what if" spin.
I read "People like funny people. Be funny and interesting..." and all of a sudden I'm going: Am I interesting? What if I'm not interesting? What if I'm not funny? I'm not funny! How do I be funny? These things don't come naturally to some people...
And I dissolve into a puddle of worry and doubt, and I realize I should probably stop looking at those How-To Blog posts, and that I need to write An Encouraging Post, telling me as much as other new bloggers that everything's OK.
So....
How to Blog Post: Be funny. Be interesting. Be cool, be this, that and the other thing.
Me: It's okay to be yourself. More than okay. Because if you're not yourself, who are you? And when you're yourself, you'll find that it's easy to be funny, and interesting, and slightly cool and nerdy and maybe a little bit awesome but still able to be serious sometimes too.
How to Blog Post: Blogging is work, blogging is for marketing, you need to work to get an audience, you need to adjust to your readership, on and on and on...
Me: It's okay to just have fun. Maybe you have different motivations, but for me, blogging is about sharing my thoughts on my interests like writing and reading, and looking at other people's thoughts on those same topics. And it's fun for me, writing about writing and reading about writing. Who doesn't like having fun?
So I just hope that will encourage someone in their blogging/writing journey!
And... I would also like to point out some great posts that you should check out, like, right now:
- Dianna Wynne Jones just passed away, and Neil Gaiman posted about his friendship with her.
- Author Corrinne Jackson is holding a contest with cupcake prizes to celebrate all the awesome book deals, etc she is getting. You should also follow her blog... I find I am always inspired by her posts!
- Writer Claire Dawn has a crazy idea and needs your help - she plans to make a list of 100 Books Every Writer Should Read. Go to the link to read contest details -and yes, there are prizes.
- This post is awesome. And basically, I believe everything that is said in that post.
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