Authism: twins books - books about twins.

Today I wanted to talk about twin books. Or should I say twins books - that is, books about twins. 

                                                            

I started writing my very first book at the end of 1978 which had a different title back then but it wasn't until the early 90s, when I completely rewrote it, that the twins idea became part of the plot. I retitled it - Did You Whisper Back? 

The story opens with a crisis in Amanda's life: she thinks she had and lost a twin and goes on a quest from Merseyside down to Devon to find her, but this lost twin Jo is seemingly a figment of Amanda's imagination arising from distorted childhood truths. However Jo becomes more and more real as Amanda suffers a mental breakdown. I won't say any more about the plot but I won a southern arts bursary for this book in 1991 and had an agent interested although he couldn't place it. It wasn't until twenty years later that I self-published it. 

Last year, I was in a 'women and autism' group as a newly diagnosed women with autism. I wasn't expecting to come across many authors as at that point I didn't realise how many of us there are! But I had posted a thread about something writing-related and a woman joined the thread who was also a published author. We got talking about our books and we'd both written books about twins! This author, Rosalie Warren, went off to read my twins book. I had already earmarked hers but knew it would take me several months to get round to buying and reading as I'm such a slow reader. Anyway I was given her book 'Coping With Chloe' for Christmas and have recently finished it. It was a wonderful read. I read it quite quickly for me as it's a short book (definitely my sort of book!) and written in an assured appealing style. It is, in fact, described as a children's or young person's book although I feel it has crossover appeal and is suitable for all ages, whereas my protagonist is older and more suited to the adult reader.

My book is about Amanda's fixation and search for a missing imaginary twin Jo. Rosalie's book is about Anna's dead twin Chloe taking up real space in her head and causing problems for Anna, the surviving twin. Both books are about lost twins, real or imagined. I can't say any more than that without giving away any spoilers but they probably have more in common than suggested here. But  I found it a fascinating that as autistic authors of around the same age and gender, Rosalie and I have both written psychological books about twins. 

I have changed my cover several times and it will be changed again but for the last two covers I've kept the image of the photograph divided into two sides - one in colour and one in black and white. I did several mockups with various photos before picking that final one (although I may return to some of the older ones when I redo the cover). As you will see, Rosalie's cover also has a similar theme! 

Both books are available on Amazon as an ebook and in paperback.

Did You Whisper back is available at:

https://amzn.eu/d/geroJhX

Coping With Chloe is available at:

https://amzn.eu/d/11H4n44

 I have also posted a video similar to this on YouTube which can be found below:

https://youtu.be/1Y0D8sWA7po

Many thanks for reading today and as always I'd love to read any of your comments.

Autism, heightened sensitivity and the arts.

Today I wanted to talk about sensitivity in autism. Some say we are over-sensitive or have heightened sensitivity but it's my view that noticing or remembering some slight or hurtful comment, feeling mental or physical pain, and being creative all come from the same place. That same sensitivity we have to how other people feel about our art or our writing or our music is the same sensitivity which drives us to create in the first place. 

I was talking with someone recently in an autism forum. She was an artist but it's the same for all the creative arts. All artists in the widest sense of the word are very sensitive - they need to be, damn it! - to do their art: to observe the way the light shines on that tree, to delve deep into their feelings and emotions and to record it, to remember a conversation word for word from years ago, to write a song, a story or a poem...

It's difficult to view hyper-sensitivity as something positive. It doesn't feel very positive being too sensitive to light and noise and other senses. To feel sensory overload until you need to shutdown or meltdown or nurse your migraine. Or take painkillers for your fibromyalgia. Gaviscon for your stomach.

Being an over-sensitive person generally can cause mental pain, torment and anguish in all areas of life. But the artist tries to turn all this into a positive. Some of you will have heard of something called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria which often co-exists with autism. This means that we may fear putting our work out there. We may take it even more to heart if it's rejected or negatively reviewed. I've had so many rejections in life but my urge to create has always been stronger. I don't know if I've developed a thicker skin or if I'm actually any less sensitive to eg rejection letters from publishers or to negative reviews. But I am better at soldiering on. If you've bounced back before you know you can do it again. I guess I'm lucky to have had positives and acceptances too. These can certainly tide you over if you remember to look at the half-full glass. My small successes along the way might not be what others call success but there's no better feeling than having a publisher say yes or having feedback from a reader who loved your book, your story, your characters. I've learned that the way I write and the things I write about aren't everyone's cup of tea. I think they're quite Marmite actually but that's OK. I don't like all books either. They may be top notch but just not my kind of thing.

 I will return to the sensory aspect at a later date.

Well, that's all for now but please do leave your thoughts in the comments. This has been slightly modified from the earlier video embedded above.

Thank you and wishing you all a very happy Easter 🐤😊