Dracula & Autism

Have I got your attention? These words have affected my life in very distinct ways; one more than the other of course. I was twelve, I think, when I fell in love with Frank Langela who played Dracula in the 1979 movie. There was something about this movie that inspired me to write my first story ever. Mind you, it was the movie written in my own words, but this was my first attempt at writing. It was terrible, but the flame had been lit so to speak and my dream of being a writer born.

I was a painfully shy child and teenager, but books were easy friends. I would go to the local library and check out stacks of books, as many as they would let me…anywhere from my favorite historical romances to Stephen King. It was around this time that I entered my Princess Bride phase and again I was inspired to write a story called "The Tolls of Time", and that's not a typo. That's how I spelled toles. I still have that one and it physically hurts to read it! It's incredibly awful, but I credit it also as a stepping stone.

I wanted to be a writer and inspire other people to feel what these movies and books made me feel…happy, enthralled, engrossed and imaginative. However, I came from a place where being a writer wasn't a "realistic" goal. Being a nurse was, so when I graduated high-school I reluctantly enrolled at the local technical college bound for the nursing program. College was difficult for me. I got my first ever grade "D" in anatomy and my confidence was shattered, so I decided to work instead of going to school for a while until I figured out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and I pretty much stayed in that phase for about ten years.

I went back to school and enrolled in their computer technology program and I liked it for the most part, but I didn't love it. I soon got married and had a son who was diagnosed with autism when he was three and we were devastated. Many years went into trying to get him everything he needed, including my moving an hour away to live in a tiny apartment so he could go to a better school while my husband stayed in our hometown working his job. I also was working about thirty some hours a week, I won't get into the details because it's very in depth. But it was during this time that I actually began, what I call, my real writing. I had a couple of spare hours during the day before I picked my son up from school to take him to whatever therapy was after school that day, where I started writing. I received this postcard in the mail from Romantic Times about their upcoming convention and I went to their website to get more information. Reading some posts from certain authors, I ran across one from a writer, whom I hate to admit, but I can't remember her name, but she said this, "God doesn't give you the desire without giving you the talent." That was it for me pretty much, I had to at least try.

It took several years for the rest of the pieces to fall into place, the job I currently held (but wasn't happy in) was a temporary position and once the job was complete I found myself without a job for the first time since I was sixteen. Which was a very scary thing for me, and even though I had prayed for an opportunity to write and pursue my dream, I didn't see this event for what it was.

I already had something that I had been working on, and both our cars were paid for…or this never would have happened. It just all came together…I had the time to focus on my son's appointments and time to write. It still wasn’t easy, especially since I found out I was pregnant again…more hits to the writing time. I had about sixty some thousand words in a manuscript, and I was quite unsure at this point if I had what it took to be writer. 

I always believed in God and Christ and the Holy Spirit from a very early age and I really think it was His hand in all this that allowed the puzzle pieces to fall in my favor…especially after so many wrong turns and bad choices. He never left me even when I felt like I was all alone. Hard times, trying to care for a son whom I struggled to understand and try to get help for, a newborn daughter and my marriage taking a constant beating from all sides as we both searched for ways to handle our issues.

Anyway, I followed some advice from a self-publishing company, and after some edits and some money this company "helped" me self-publish. It took twice as long as promised and did not live up to my expectations…either in myself or this company, but I felt compelled to see it through because everyone was so excited about it I couldn't make myself pull the plug on it.

I didn't market like I should have because it wasn't something I wanted to market. Yes, it was available in all forms at all book stores, but I just knew it wasn't right. It wasn't my best, even though everyone said it was great…my heart wasn't with it. So I hired another editor to take a look and to help me get it where I was happy with it and Storm Crossed was born. This time, professionals at a book publishing company agreed that it was good enough to publish, and I think this was what I needing all along. For someone in the book world to read my work and say, "Hey, you've got something here." For all my self-publishing peeps out there, I'm not throwing shade. I have so much admiration for you. I know how difficult and costly it can be to write, edit, and market your own book. For me though, I just needed something more traditional. So I yanked my self-published book and Storm Crossed was released by Desert Breeze Publishing in March 2016.

So I'm happy to say these two words in a sentence that probably "never" would have made it in the same sentence otherwise…Dracula and autism. Without Dracula I wonder if I ever would have picked up that number two pencil that set me on a path (however, curved, crooked and bumpy) to being a writer. I can also safely say, that had it not been for autism, I would probably still be working a job I hated while pining away to fulfill a dream.

There are a bunch of facts not in this blog, but I think the most important ones are included…mostly is this: If you have faith in God, and have the bravery to be patient…it will work out. Doesn't mean you won't have bad days or bad things happen in your world, but if you consult with "HIM" he will make take you through those hard times with HIS PEACE in your spirit as you endure.

So really I should have named this blog God, Dracula and Autism, because he is the glue that has woven these articles of my life together.

Lesley