A few years ago, someone asked me if I would ever write a novel with a character who had MS. I told him no. My reasons for this at the time seemed simple. I already wrote a blog about living with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. That seemed like enough for me. My thought at … Continue reading
I’m sure many of you will read that title and think: One too many cupcakes, Cait? Is all that sugar affecting your perception? Nope. It’s true. My first entry into feeling in community with a disabled person was when I bonded with Noola Quirk from Life in the ’Cosm. Okay, yeah, I know it seems … Continue reading
I’ve written over sixty books in multiple genres that run the gambit: short fiction, romance, fantasy, poetry, young adult, children’s literature, horror and suspense, even some science fiction. In all of those books, I have never had a character that was disabled—not in any of my books. I was born with cerebral palsy (CP). When … Continue reading
It had been a few weeks since I’d been feeling a persistent sadness weighing on my heart. Unable to write and barely getting the essentials done, I found myself watching Hallmark movies. They’re like a chocolate so sweet, it makes your teeth hurt. When even When Calls the Heart failed to cheer me up, I … Continue reading
Just to set the record straight, I’m not brave, okay? I live with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) and relapse-and-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). I can’t count the number of people who have called me brave. I always smile and nod when they say this, but the truth is that bravery has nothing to do with it. … Continue reading
I have an interesting relationship with pen names. I’ve been writing since I was eight years old, and I started thinking about a pen name almost immediately. It wasn’t that I disliked my name, exactly. I’m very attached to the name given to me by my parents,—mostly because I’m very attached to my parents—but I … Continue reading
I remember very distinctly the first time I read about “someone like me” in a book. I couldn’t have been more than ten or twelve at the most, and the book was Mine for Keeps by Jean Little. The main character, Sally, had cerebral palsy—just like me. She wasn’t the sad, crippled friend that you … Continue reading
I didn’t always like cosplay. In fact, for many, many years I thought people who did it were a bit odd. Then in September 2015, my friend Miriam encouraged my long-suffering husband Bruce and I to join her and her brother Mike that November for PopExpo ’15. She wanted us to cosplay as Doctor Who … Continue reading
Okay, quick confession, the title of this blog entry might be a tad misleading and click-baitish. But only insomuch as this article has nothing to do with sharks, octopuses, or sea creatures of any kind. It’s about author branding. And by that I mean treating the author as a commodity rather than insisting they bend … Continue reading
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