Releasing Tales

Over the years, my friends and family have encouraged me to write a book about our experiences with autism. Although the task of writing a book is still too daunting for me, I decided instead to start writing essays that have become blog entries for One Autism Mom’s Notes. The positive feedback I have received from readers of the blog has been gratifying and encouraging, and I am always amazed to check my stats page and see that people around the world are reading the entries I have written about our life with Alex and autism. This past week, I received some good news about my essays being published in two different places this month.

In April, Parents magazine requested submissions of essays about family life with autism as a special feature called "Voices of Autism" during Autism Awareness Month for their online GoodyBlog. I decided to submit “Milestones” and was pleased to see that they published this essay from my blog on their blog on Good Friday this year. This summer, one of their editors contacted me and requested permission to reprint the same essay online as part of their October tablet edition along with a photograph of Alex and me. Their October magazine that came out this week features a good comprehensive article on autism along with a terrific family profile written by one of my favorite bloggers, Lynn Hudoba. While my essay “Milestones” does not appear in the print edition of the magazine, they have included it as a bonus feature on the tablet edition, which is available on iPad, Android devices, and Nook Color. Since we don’t have any of those electronic toys, I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m honored that they decided to include my essay as part of their autism coverage.

In addition to the publication on the tablet edition of Parents magazine this week, yesterday I received notification that an anthology called Wit and Wisdom From the Parents of Special Needs Kids, which includes a new essay I wrote about Alex’s birth, will be released on September 27, and will be available through Amazon.com. This book is the brainchild of “Autism Army Mom” Lynn Hudoba and another one of my favorite bloggers, “Big Daddy” of Big Daddy Autism. Several months ago, they contacted me and asked if I would be interested in submitting a never-published essay for this special collection, and I was pleased to hear from them this summer that my essay, “Expecting the Unexpected,” would be included in this anthology. Needless to say, I’m excited that our stories are being shared with others through Parents magazine and the new book, and I pray that my words can offer hope and encouragement to those families and friends whose lives have been touched by autism.

“Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Ephesians 4:29