Beautiful writing and beautiful thinking. There is *so much* I want to keep chewing on here, Emily! (As well as to figure out why Tajja's essay isn't landing with me very well.)
Thank you for sharing about your process so generously <3
I'm still chewing on it myself, tbh! Even with the draft of my book this morning I found myself tussling again... it kind of feels like a living question that's going to morph over time, for me at least?
oh my goodness: ok, so I don't listen to the Ezra Klein podcast regularly (I find him brilliant but insufferable), but I'm listening to his newest episode, and it's an interview with Zadie Smith, and she is saying SO many incredible things, and weirdly I think they intersect with this very topic / constellation of thought / chewiness. Some of the connections might be subtle or layered, but I think they're there.
This is so relevant both as a reflection for my own writing (I “had to” say the diagnosis part out loud first for a variety of reasons - or so I thought - before I could diverge from it again) and for a project for children I’m working on. I want to both be specific and include language around ADHD and such from a ND affirming lens and at the same time, I’m finding myself drawn to the bigger picture of neurodiversity and neurodivergence. I’ve been wondering if I’m “afraid of labels” after all for my fictionalized characters and reading this, I wonder if there’s something else below the surface. The answer is probably somewhere in the both/and. Thank you for giving me a different perspective as I approach my own questions and hesitation.
I hear you... specific language has its own life (and help us find each other more easily!), but it can also have limitations, or come out of assumptions... I'm still figuring out how to write from that "both/and" without it sounding like I'm just adding caveats everywhere! It's like, I really don't want the caveat -- I want new language, or more options. It's been so helpful to find other ND writers here who are also wondering about this and tinkering with different language and forms for the language.
Beautiful writing and beautiful thinking. There is *so much* I want to keep chewing on here, Emily! (As well as to figure out why Tajja's essay isn't landing with me very well.)
Thank you for sharing about your process so generously <3
I'm still chewing on it myself, tbh! Even with the draft of my book this morning I found myself tussling again... it kind of feels like a living question that's going to morph over time, for me at least?
oh my goodness: ok, so I don't listen to the Ezra Klein podcast regularly (I find him brilliant but insufferable), but I'm listening to his newest episode, and it's an interview with Zadie Smith, and she is saying SO many incredible things, and weirdly I think they intersect with this very topic / constellation of thought / chewiness. Some of the connections might be subtle or layered, but I think they're there.
love this idea of a paper jam! going down research rabbit holes is always my favorite
This is so relevant both as a reflection for my own writing (I “had to” say the diagnosis part out loud first for a variety of reasons - or so I thought - before I could diverge from it again) and for a project for children I’m working on. I want to both be specific and include language around ADHD and such from a ND affirming lens and at the same time, I’m finding myself drawn to the bigger picture of neurodiversity and neurodivergence. I’ve been wondering if I’m “afraid of labels” after all for my fictionalized characters and reading this, I wonder if there’s something else below the surface. The answer is probably somewhere in the both/and. Thank you for giving me a different perspective as I approach my own questions and hesitation.
I hear you... specific language has its own life (and help us find each other more easily!), but it can also have limitations, or come out of assumptions... I'm still figuring out how to write from that "both/and" without it sounding like I'm just adding caveats everywhere! It's like, I really don't want the caveat -- I want new language, or more options. It's been so helpful to find other ND writers here who are also wondering about this and tinkering with different language and forms for the language.