The novel which I have only posted chapter 2, a summary and one small excerpt from, is a work in progress. Writing can be a long and tedious, lonesome process, but life can be as well.
My book is definitely autobiographical, about me and my two sons, only their problems are really not as bad as ours, my characters that is, because if they were
my book would be hard to believe and unrealistic, like the fact that in reality all three of us are legally blind.
What are the odds of that happening? One doctor said
our RP gene must be very strong, but my father and his uncles were totally blind from it, and when I was at
the SCCB, I met a beautiful woman* who had it. She was totally blind and had a sister who had it as well.
Well, about American Boys, I am really aiming at showing the hardships of young boys, from childhood to adulthood, exposure to drugs and alcohol, growing up in poverty and on assistance in a single parent home like ours was for the most part. The struggle of parents divorcing, and having step parents and half siblings, in our case on their Dad's side. Young boys, teens and young adults in our culture have problems in society which are very difficult due to the economy and lack of direction. It is not like the old days when they could just grow up, go to college, get a job, get married and have kids. They can and they do, but some have so many obstacles. I have actually as a single parent applied for financial aid for both my children and they had support from the SCCB, commission for the blind, but one of my sons did two semesters of college, the older one, and my younger one has not, but is an extremely talented musician.
Sometimes, although I would love to have, I think it
would have been harder for me to raise a girl or girls. I
do not know much about parenting a daughter. I do not have that experience, only sons. Girls have their own hardships and crosses to bare.
Well, obviously, my character, Lizzy represents me, but like I said before she is not visually impaired and is more like me fifteen years ago even though she is almost as old as me. In my story, she had her children a little older than I had mine, a little later in life and the children are sort of reversed in age. Also the friends of her children, mostly Daniel, the older one, represent the characteristics, goals, talents and personalities of my own sons' friends, even physical characteristics.
I suppose I am in fantasy like Lizzy, because even though their house is old and run down and drafty, it is more the kind of house I would like, although I would not like living in the boonies like they do. So, they have their problems and ups and downs.
I have not fully developed Charlie's character. He is
Lizzy's off and on boyfriend, who she just does not love or really feel like he is the one, but she needs his help in some ways. I have not decided whether he should be a real jerk or just a really nice guy who she should like if she were smart, but she thinks he is boring, although I have heard it said that you cannot really help loving or not loving who you do or not. I once told a therapist that I regretted not marrying someone because I wanted my husband back at the time, and he said "you were in love with someone else." I wrote the book, because I wanted to convey how things are in the real world, not sheltered by wealth and privilege. However, even wealthy and privileged can suffer I suppose, become drug addicts or alcoholics. I guess where I am going with this is that those less privileged have less options. Still, my character Adrien, the only one in the story who comes from wealth, is the one who meets the most tragic end.
Eventually, I hope to get this book fully edited by someone other than myself, but I am very critical of my own writing, having read so many great classics and best sellers by so many renowned and amazing writers, some actually less known. I wanted to write the great American novel as they say, but who knows? Perhaps I will write a better book some day. (I worked for two years on this project. I am editing this article on August 30, 2015. When I originally wrote this particular afterward, it was February 2, 2012, even though I did not finish the book until a couple of months later. I suppose I had the outline in mind as I wrote this and had been working a long time on it.)
When I read something like One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest by Ken Kasey, who was only twenty-seven years old at the time of writing it in 1962, these feelings about youth and the amazing talents some are born with are only reinforced. I always wanted to be exceptional and not just mediocre, but so few are truly talented.
*When I referred to my lovely friend at the SCCB who also had RP, I wanted to point out that retinitis pigmentosa is known to every ethnicity and equal in both sexes. There are three ways in which it can be inherited, autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive or X linked, meaning linked to the X chromosome, going from father to daughter, daughter to son. In the United States the statistics are 1 in 4000, in Switzerland, 1 in 7000, and worldwide the highest statistic for any ethnic group is among Navajo Native Americans, 1 in 1000. These statistics make it a rare disease, which is why I belong to online support groups consisting of people all over the world.
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