DuJour | Contact Me
Member since April 16, 2013

About Me

Right now, I'm reading:
The Disc World series--again! Terry Pratchett's hilarious topsy-turvy universe helps put the real world in better perspective for me....and "laughter doeth good like a medicine".

My favorite story of all time is:
Alice in Wonderland (plus Through the Looking Glass). I once read some comments by a children's book editor that "Alice" was the worst kid's book ever--"nothing changes, she just has a crazy dream". I knew then that she had never read the book...at least, not with comprehension. Most worthwhile children's books are about children functioning without adults, because that is the quest of a child: to become a whole, separate person. In AIW, Carroll uses a dream to accomplish that--it is her "walkabout". Alice begins as a subservient child worried only about obediently pleasing adults, but as she confronts more and more illogical, frustrating behavior from the adult characters (a witty parody of the Victorian society Carroll lived in) she increasingly rebels until in the final scene before waking she proclaims to the terrifying Queen herself, "why you're all just a pack of cards!" That her character has truly had an "arc" is evident at the beginning of the second book. No meek child now, she begins large and invisible, snickering at the silly adult characters. (a perfect picture of most young teens) But when she enters the garden, she is dismayed to find herself not only visible, but regarded as one of the "adults"--albeit a novice. In this book her humorous, and sometimes touching, journey is about her struggle to transition to adulthood--ready or not. It is a work of scope and lasting relevance, all the more so for its sly, witty social commentary disguised as child-entertaining nonsense. Genius. Which the offending editor is obviously not.

In bed I like to read:
Everything from philosophy to history to sci-fi and fantasy. Well-written time travel is one of my favorites, but I also just loved the first two books of The Long Earth series--anything that stretches my mind and imagination and makes me think interesting new thoughts!

Besides SMITH, I read stories at:
Writer's Digest site, and so many types of "info" newsletters that my inbox is sort of scary.

If you were to throw up your hands in exasperation and yell \"it's the story of my life,\" what would you be talking about?
I'm the one that the thing they say will probably never happen--happens to me. So much so, that my doctors long ago nicknamed me "1% Dawn" and then my friends began to realize that it applied to a lot more than medical issues--it describes nearly everything in my life, good and bad--so they call me 1% Dawn too. A few years ago when I decorated a special event with butterflies and did a live butterfly release, I took the time to research them--to my surprise, every single butterfly is a 1% survivor--only one out of a hundred makes it all the way through the cycle to reproduce. Now they are my personal symbol--my mantra is: "the beauty of the butterfly is the result of a long journey through many changes." So many think of the butterfly as symbolic of spring and youth--but the truth is that the butterfly is finally beautiful and free in the LAST stage of it's life--it blossoms in maturity.

What six words would I tell my teen self if I could go back in time?
Discard dogma. Think freely. Cherish yourself. (But oh how I would want more than six words!)

The song that encapsulates the soundtrack of my life is?
"The Rest is Still Unwritten".

If I could have one person read my writing on SMITH it would be?
Just that one person who would find encouragement in what I have to share about my strange (but never dull) life. One of my dearest friends says that my life has such an extreme "arc" that I'd never make a believable character in a book--but hey, I believe it (as does he) because I lived it. My ultimate advice is "think bigger thoughts"--and that very thought helped me finally break free from other people's dogma into my own truth.