LARA O'BRIEN, Author
  • About Lara
  • Blog
  • Chesca and the Spirit of Grace
  • Press
  • The Magic of Howth
  • Contact
  • Buy the book

Life long love affair.

2/5/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Do you remember The Fonz? A few years ago I went to a conference in NY by the Society of Children Writers and Illustrators. It was before the final edit of Chesca and the Spirit of Grace. The Fonz (Henry Winkler) was there, center stage. I didn't get what it was all about. I was overwhelmed by the number of people, nearly 1,400 writers and artists. The Fonz threw me off. I thought I was in the wrong conference room. 

I now know a little more of his story. I'm attaching his interview below. 

Check out the last paragraph. There is this light bulb moment when he recognizes himself in his son. That they learn similarly. Of course they do, it's in our DNA.

I have two dyslexic children. One suffers, one excels. It's amazing. The older one has been given the lovely High School label 'learning disabled,' I strongly object to it and will not contribute to it. This sensitive one is complex, logical, analytical. I watched this one (15) withdraw, collapse in confidence, lose belief in ability and intelligence, at a time when identity is awakening, the child took a good look around and began to grow into the label, began to believe it. I am disabled. And so it is.

The other has no such ideas, her dyslexia is mild. She works through her challenges and she works hard at her craft. She puts her head down and pushes through, she still believes she is intelligent and creative and a self learner. She believes in herself. She is 12. She will never be in a resource room that must be funded by the State, only on the grounds that she be deemed, learning disabled. So, two different kids, two different outcomes.

I keep auto repeating this idea that if all the kids that are highly creative and imaginative but think differently were recognized for that, and were taught accordingly, how our world would be different. It took the Fonze 50 years to change his negative thoughts, his belief that he could not write, his story of himself, and now it is his main source of happiness.

If we see ADHD, Exceutive functioning, Dyslexia, Audio functioning, as, highly creative, highly hands on, highly imaginative, highly, highly, highly! Turning the negative to positive.

There's a question you must ask yourself before you write a book. WHY? It takes years. Is it for Fame? Fortune? A nod from the literary elite? 

Forget it, these are not driving forces.

The idea of overcoming my biggest challenge, to write, was a driving force for me at a time when I was knee deep in diapers, baby bags and when each day started with 'hello ba-ba' and each night finished with Good nIght moon.

I love irony. My own ironic ways, and more importantly, the irony that life throws at us. So the challenge paid off because along the way, I learned to love writing. With each major edit, or each red penned question mark beside my thought process, I learned that not only could I write, but that I was passionate about what drives characters, why we do what we do, why we react the way we do... people...life. The human spirit. Spirit.

There is no D-day, no deadline, no reckoning, it will be a life long affair. 

It is a love affair with learning. 

It's great. Sometimes our biggest perceived weaknesses becomes our biggest strength. 

See the gift of it.


http://blog.dyslexicadvantage.org/2015/02/04/lifes-insights-with-henry-winkler-dyslexia-tenacity-and-more/




1 Comment
Renee Johnson link
3/31/2015 07:59:10 pm

Lara,
What a lovely piece you have written here, and what a wonderful mother you are. I adore your refusal to buy into labels. Our gifts are often, as you say, what may be perceived by others as struggles. I'm so glad we have 'virtually' met through Justen Ahren. That is another of his gifts to those of us lucky enough to have passed through his orbit.
Renee Johnson

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Lara O'Brien 

    www.laraobrien.com
    Chesca and the Spirit of Grace

    Archives

    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Books
    Chesca And The Spirit Of Grace
    Children's Books
    Children's Books
    Howth
    Ireland
    Magical

    RSS Feed

Powered by
✕