Ask the Author: Echo Miller
Answered Questions (8)
Echo Miller
Life on the Innside book 2. If I say any more, it would spoil book 1. But I'm glad readers have gotten oriented. Now that we're going to can really explore and enjoy the antics.
Echo Miller
Connect with other writers who are in various stages of their career. Find some who you like and trust. Avoid the negativity and don't be a source of negativity.
Echo Miller
My mind kept fixating on what would happen in a few years when my son finished high school. What sorts of opportunities were available for him and this giant population of people who were like him? He needed a chance to be social and catch up on the things you learn from being with other people. Developmental delays can be a childhood of acquiring skills while others are learning the social nuances through play time with peers. It's not like that "catch up" is over on the magical 18th birthday. He could be academically ready for college (or not) and totally unprepared for life without a translator.
I visited many places. They were all cost-prohibitive (welcome to almost everything associated with autism) and inappropriate.
So I fantasized. What would the best place I can imagine be like? If a person could be in a safe space to process their life up to this point while exploring how to form friendships for the first time......What could happen? How would that even work throwing such different people together into that situation? What would be the interpersonal dynamics and the relationship to the larger community?
When faced with this new living situation looming ahead, how might someone try to prepare? By watching teen movies about bringing random (occasionally hostile) people together and making friends! Boom. Cue the song "Don't you...forget about me..."
I visited many places. They were all cost-prohibitive (welcome to almost everything associated with autism) and inappropriate.
So I fantasized. What would the best place I can imagine be like? If a person could be in a safe space to process their life up to this point while exploring how to form friendships for the first time......What could happen? How would that even work throwing such different people together into that situation? What would be the interpersonal dynamics and the relationship to the larger community?
When faced with this new living situation looming ahead, how might someone try to prepare? By watching teen movies about bringing random (occasionally hostile) people together and making friends! Boom. Cue the song "Don't you...forget about me..."
Echo Miller
Music. I use it to force myself into the necessary emotional state. Before I start, I crank up the jam and move around a lot. Because I'm about to become glued to a chair for hours and hours.
Quirky fact: When I'm writing, the music has to be instrumental. Vocals in the background are Super distracting. Sometimes I put on music that might be called "new age," "spa," or "trance" but that's to make it so I don't become too sensitive to noise. Too much quiet for too long can make going back into the world extra stressful. When I'm proofreading, vocals are fine.
When I was younger I couldn't study with music on. Certain types of thinking work the language centers of my brain at full capacity.
Quirky fact: When I'm writing, the music has to be instrumental. Vocals in the background are Super distracting. Sometimes I put on music that might be called "new age," "spa," or "trance" but that's to make it so I don't become too sensitive to noise. Too much quiet for too long can make going back into the world extra stressful. When I'm proofreading, vocals are fine.
When I was younger I couldn't study with music on. Certain types of thinking work the language centers of my brain at full capacity.
Echo Miller
Creative expression. Letting my imagination run free.
Echo Miller
I talk to friends about the story or I go for a walk. Most of my best "ah ha" moments happen when I'm no longer trying to think so much.
I also play music to get myself into the proper emotional space that suits the tone for the scene.
If I've been writing and suddenly hit a brick wall, I add "and then the aliens came," pack up my stuff and go do something else.
I also play music to get myself into the proper emotional space that suits the tone for the scene.
If I've been writing and suddenly hit a brick wall, I add "and then the aliens came," pack up my stuff and go do something else.
Echo Miller
It was a dark and stormy night. My laptop died, erasing all of my files that weren't backed up or stored in a data cloud.
Echo Miller
I'd be most comfortable in my own fictional world (a beach community offering customized levels of support for people with disabilities). My inside knowledge could help me have the most positive impact and I'd get to hang out with the imaginary people who I love.
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