I’m Back!

That’s right! I’m finally writing a blog post again, after several months of silence!

To be fair, the headline is a bit misleading since I never actually went anywhere, I’ve just neglected to post anything here. I’ve been rather busy working on a few different things both personal and related to my advocacy work, not the least of which is finishing up the manuscript for my book.

If you don’t happen to be following me on any social media, the manuscript is now complete! Shake it Up! How to be young, autistic, and make a difference (provisional title, but looking like it will become the official title) is a first-of-its-kind advocacy guide written specifically for autistic teens and young adults who want to make a difference in their communities, also featuring interviews and case studies with eleven young autistic activists. The preliminary feedback I’ve gotten from the publisher is that this is going to be a fantastic book, so I’m so super excited to be able to get it out into the world here soon. I’m so glad I could finally write something directly for autistic young people like myself.

The delivery date was delayed by one month, but it’s finally in and we’re taking the project to the next steps. There’s still more work to do, including both fun things like cover design and marketing and more mundane things like copyediting and typesetting. I’m really looking forward to pushing forward with the fantastic people over at Jessica Kingsley Publishers! Last year when the book was commissioned I guesstimated a release date of the end of this year, and though this timeline is still hypothetically possible, I think that an early 2022 release is more probable. I will receive an official timeline from the publisher soon.

I worked really hard on this book, but now that the brunt of my work is complete I suppose it’s time to start writing here again. I have a few ideas for blog posts lined up, so stay tuned.

I’ve also been doing relatively decent in my personal life, just going with the crazy flow. I’m still enrolled as a student at Colorado State University, but I’m not taking classes this semester because I had a pretty sucky time last year due to COVID stuff, and since some of those restrictions are still in place I’m just going to wait it out until I can have a fulfilling in-person experience.

On some more upbeat notes, I had a fantastic fossil hunting season over the summer. I had so much fun last summer chasing down old dead animals and plants that I had to do it again, which culminated in a multi-week expedition across Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, collecting on six different geological formations ranging in age from the Jurassic to the Oligocene. Didn’t find any T. rex skeletons or really anything of any real value either scientific or monetary, but I got to add a bunch of neat little finds to my mini-museum. I like being out in open ranch land looking for prehistoric treasures in the rock faces. It makes me feel connected to the earth and its history, plus the ranchers themselves are just about the friendliest people in the world.

I’ve also been occupying my time by being engrossed in the TV series Breaking Bad (unusual for me because I rarely watch TV), and I was so impressed with how well the Denver Broncos played in their opening week victory against the New York Giants that I’m excited about a professional sports team for the first time in many years.

But ultimately it’s time for me to get back into a flow of writing in here and making a difference in whatever small way I can. I know this wasn’t a “real” blog post in my usual style, but I promise that’s coming soon.

I’m back, baby. Throw the confetti and set of the fireworks (actually don’t do that last one, it’s a sensory disaster)!