Reading Kicks

Does anyone else go on reading kicks--you know, where you read lots and lots of one particular genre of book in a short period of time?

I do, and right now I'm on a Regency Romance kick. Perhaps its because I'm currently enmeshed in writing a contemporary romance, editing another,  just finished a post apocalyptic piece and am working on an urban fantasy that's definitely modern in scope. Or perhaps its because I cut my teeth on Barbara Cartland and Georgette Heyer.

Regardless, I do love a good regency romp.

And a friend (Anna Campbell) who writes historical noir romance (not something I'd ever come across before but man, she rocks it) was celebrating having not one, but two of her books on amazon's bestsellers for Regency Romance. Of course, I went to check it out, and ended up leaving with 6--count them 6 books on my kindle that were not there before. Happily  most of them were on sale, so I could justify picking that many up. http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/746228/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_2_3_last

I know, you're welcome. I had to share the wealth.

So the latest Regency I read was Secrets of a Wedding Night by Valerie Bowman. It was cute, funny, and had quite a few of the traditional tropes in there that the author riffed on. I enjoyed it--enough that I'll be getting the next one when it comes out.

But picking my favorite regency is impossible. I cannot even pick my favorite regency author--there are just too many amazing ones to pick just one. Or ten. Seriously. I couldn't narrow it down to ten, which makes me think I might be ripe for an intervention.

In which case, I'll move the focus over to you. What is your favorite regency? Or are you like me, where you couldn't possibly pick just one?

Reading for a Great Cause

Whenever I see a way to help raise awareness for Autism and acceptance for people on the spectrum, I help if I can. Having a child with Autism, I see the necessity for raising awareness on a daily basis, in people's reactions to my son, in the lack of accommodations available to allow him to participate in many of the activities available to normally developing kids, in the sheer financial cost of meeting his basic medical and social needs.

Its a big undertaking.
Our family is lucky enough to be in a better financial position than some, and for many people out there, they simply cannot get their children the therapies they need.

Parents of kids with Autism struggle.

Families with autistic members struggle.

We struggle with the depth of emotional courage you have to have to just keep at it when nothing you do seems to help your struggling child.

We hurt when people are unkind to our kids, when they don't understand or care to understand that this is a person, trying to connect the only way they know how.

We struggle when our kids become overwhelmed because of their sensory issues and strike out, or melt down sobbing, sometimes for hours and sometimes multiple times a day. We struggle with the symptoms of the other frequent co-morbidity diagnoses stemming from being on the spectrum--ADD, OCD, Anxiety, Sensory Processing Disorder.

Loving a person with Autism is overwhelmingly easy to do.
But helping them navigate their world is difficult and takes an immense amount of love, patience, support and knowledge.

That's where Autism Speaks comes in. They provide support in the form of information, advocacy, resource guides and a multitude of other things. This is a good organization, doing good work helping families cope with the demands of Autism.

So when I saw this anthology, I just had to pick it up, and then to share.

http://www.entangledpublishing.com/love-knows-no-bounds/

Three stories from Entangled Publishing, for sale for $2.99 on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. All profits go to Autism Speaks.

What a wonderful excuse to add to my library.
And if you want to help, and love to read, consider picking one up.
It's reading for a great cause--what could be better?

And Again With The Refrain

I'm a bad, bad blogger.

I know it. You know it. We all know it.

Oh well. I guess it's something I'll have to just accept.

I haven't posted in ages. I can't really say why. Maybe I've been so swamped I just haven't had anything left to share. It happens.

So, quick catch up:
I quit my full time job as a prosecutor a few weeks ago. A lot of you guys who follow my blog (or did before I quit posting) know that Middle Kid has been struggling since he was  just under 3 years old. We've tried and tried to help him, and to make things easier for him, but it's been an uphill battle for us and for him. We've suspected Autism for a while now. 


He's in pre-K at the local public school and had gotten to the point where he'd try to make himself sick every morning so I wouldn't take him to school. He hated going that much, but with his communication issues, we could never figure out why. He'd just say, "School bad, teacher bad."


Then we found finger mark bruises on his upper arms. I quit my job, made a police report, and took him out of school.


He's been much happier since. I don't know who, but someone was being mean to him at school. We've been trying to find a good way forward. Part of doing that was to get a formal evaluation, because without a diagnosis we couldn't make the school system give him things we know he'll need to succeed in kindergarten.  He was evaluated on Thursday by a team of child development professionals after being on a wait list for over 3 months. 


The verdict was what we expected it was. He's on the spectrum. One test came back as straight Autism, the other placed him on the spectrum but not quite in straight Autism territory.  Either way he is high functioning (average or above average intelligence), but he has a multitude of problems (beyond his communication issues) we're going to have to help him face. 


Even though I expected it, having my fears for him realized pretty much crushed me. 


Don't get me wrong. He's a beautiful, loving, super smart kid. But having the diagnosis confirmed my fear that he's going to have a long struggle ahead of him. I'm afraid for him. Already, I see the trouble he has connecting with other kids socially. I see how they withdraw from him almost immediately, even without any overt misbehavior. It seems almost instinctive. Every time it happens, I hurt for him. And I know it isn't going to get easier with time. 


I'm hopeful too. With a diagnosis, we can have access to therapy. There has been a lot of buzz about how well ABA therapy works for Autistic kids.  Speech Therapy, which he's been in for over a year now has worked wonders. And there are other therapies and interventions we can access as well. 


So. I miss work. But I'm glad I have the flexibility all the therapy is going to require. I'm still working part time as an attorney from home. Funnily enough, I make more working part time for myself than I did working full time for the State. Sad, but true. Regardless, prosecuting was never about the money for me. It was the utility. The knowledge that if I didn't show up for work, it mattered.  I guess I still have that. But now it's my kid at stake. That makes it scarier. 


Writing wise, I've been working on my "The Pass" manuscript. It's the first in a projected series of urban fantasy novels set in El Paso Texas. I'm loving the story, even when it comes hard. I also co-wrote a novella with a friend. Its a romantic comedy kind of novella--fun, quirky and fast paced. We're sending it out into the harsh world at the end of the month. I also have plans to re-work If careful Doesn't Cut It. I love the story and don't want to give up on it, but I do want to fix some plot and structure issues. So, I'm planning to take it apart and put it all back together again. 


I'm so glad I have writing and books in my life. They help me refocus, and relax when everything seems like more than I can handle. 


So hi again guys. 
Sorry it's been a while. 
But I'm glad to be back.