A Splintered Mind

Just touching base today before I finish up my next article on AD/HD. I haven't forgotten about my novel, even though homeschooling has taken over my life. I am still steadily working on the back story - something that was simply not ready enough to take advantage of NaNoWriMo last November. However, I have finished a children's picture book manuscript about a boy and his cat's secret and am now preparing it for submission. I just received guidelines from my first victim. I'll be sure to post updates. I have decided that I will immediately select another publisher and prepare a packet for that publisher to mail the very day I receive a rejection. In this way I can prevent my Depression from holding up the submission process should I receive a rejection, which is very likely. (I'm not being negative, folks. Just realistic. I expect to sell the manuscript, but not without effort) I am also working on a second pb ms that is humorous proof that one truly can have too m...

Give Me A Break by John Stossel How I exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media... Known for his investigative reporting exposing scams in business, John Stossel turned to the biggest business of all - the government - and found his fan base transformed into his loudest critics. Stossel explores his career from business busting to governmental shenanigans in an honest and humorous way, exposing his own flaws and hypocrisies along with the targets of his criticisms. Surprisingly, I found myself agreeing with him on most of his conclusions and insights until I reached the end of the book. There I found his stance on drug legalization difficult to buy. Give me a break, Stossel. We can't even regulate drunk drivers and DUI casualties in this country and you want to open the floodgates for even more high drivers? I did readily agree with his suggestions for litigation reform. "Loser pays" sounds like sound advice considering ...

Being an artist of a family of four, two of which I homeschool, I am finding drawing time very hard to carve out of my schedule. My oldest daughter has voice lessons, dance lessons, and performances which I bring her to. Recently, she had a sudden showcase with A&R guys tossed at her. My middle two daughters also take dance lessons, with my twelve year old an assistant teacher. They are busy, and they, too, have sudden performances thrust upon them. My youngest daughter has Cerebral Palsy and requires attention of her own. She's mild compared to many, but still struggles. All of this takes time since I am the stay at home parent and my wife, bless her heart, works two jobs. Frankly, my family's needs doesn't allow for me to kvetch about my disabilities. I need to be ON all the time. I manage to squeeze in whistle practice around the edges of my schedule, sometimes even driving out in the middle of the night to find an empty parking lot to sit in my minivan and prac...

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Today's news was filled with little else but the terrible tragedy of how a mad gunman opened fire on innocent college students on an American campus. I never dreamt that I would find a personal connection to this nightmare, but hot off the Drudgereport I followed a link that read " Investigators believe Cho at some point had been taking meds for depression... " "What on Earth does Depression have to do with killing people?" I thought, but investigators apparently thought otherwise: Investigators believe Cho at some point had been taking medication for depression. They are examining Cho's computer for more evidence. Sources: Virginia Tech gunman left note | Chicago Tribune I'm not sure what evidence they expect to find about his medical history on his computer. You'd think that they would find that sort of thing in his medicine cabinet. I believe what is really happening here is that they are simply, even desperately, trying to find an answ...

Sometimes disability, be it neurological or physical, can get us down. Keeping positive seems futile when facing the insurmountable odds against us. There are times when I feel that even at my best I'm still less than everyone else. Today is one of those times, yet I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I realize that I am tired and simply need a good night's rest so that I can attack my life with renewed vigor. There is a quote I have grown fond of that lifts my spirits when they are too Earth-bound. It is from Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. Do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. When I allow Depression to take ahold of my heart, I lose my ability to continue fighting. If I am not fighting, then I am letting life in all it's misery knock me around. Depression is not just the doldrums, however. It can be triggered by real events, but its intensity is born of chemical imbalance. Still, even then I have found ...

One and a half weeks ago I put out a call for comments over at What Do You Like About Your AD/HD Kid? . It was my intention to collate all the loving anecdotes I received into a comprehensive article on the benefits of having AD/HD children. To this date, not one parent has replied. Not even my Mum. Of course, I already knew she didn't like me. What I didn't realize was that AD/HD kids were globally loathed, despised, and detested by other parents. This has come as quite a shock. I assumed somewhere a loving, benevolent Cliff Huxtable-like father smiled patiently upon his sweet, little, whirling dervish as a gift from God. Now I know better. Fortunately for my article's sake, I have an AD/HD child. She hasn't been officially diagnosed, but you know what they say about ducks. Let me show you folks how this is done.     Dang. This is harder than it looks. This is going to be one short article... Thirteen Things I Love About My AD/HD Daughter Her deli...

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