by Gwendolyn M Plano

​When my eldest son was a toddler, I was a grad student at Purdue University. The psych department needed children for IQ testing, and I agreed to let my son be part of their study. Afterwards, the department chair met with me and explained that they did not have the ability to test my son’s full potential, because his IQ exceeded 140.

Fast forward several years to Ossining, NY. Unbeknown to me, this same child was being tested again – this time to see if he was mentally delayed. His teacher thought his reading and writing problems were due to a low IQ. The school psychologist requested to meet with me, and I walked into her office not knowing why I was there.

I soon learned about the teacher’s concern and the testing that was done and then was told the following. My son’s IQ was as the Purdue psych department had suggested, but he had learning disabilities. I didn’t know what that was, so the psychologist began by giving me a list of famous people who had LD – people like the following: Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, John F Kennedy, Charles Darwin, Agatha Christie, George Washington, Octavia Estelle Butler, WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Benjamin Franklin, Jules Verne, John Irving and many, many others.

She then proceeded to explain that her doctoral research focused on learning disabilities, and she had developed a one-on-one tutoring program for children such as my son. The long and the short of it is that he had daily tutoring for a couple of years; and I became a tutor to offset the cost of such treatment. Today, my son is a successful writer.

Why do I share all of this?

My personal experience and my work with LD students has alerted me to challenges that most may not see. For example, my sister can’t write a sentence without misspelling a word or leaving out notable punctuation. She has carried the burden of critique all her life. Even though her insights may be brilliant, her written expression of those insights can be quite baffling. She did not have the tutoring my son had.

Many writers deal with LD and most resort to editors to catch the comma, the period and the misspellings. The editors (and readers) can see that which these writers do not perceive. 

Yesterday, I came upon an article by Pete Quily that fascinated me. It lists advantages for LD writers with ADHD. I thought the list impressive, for it includes the following:   

1. Ability to hyper-focus for hours on things of interest.
2. High levels of curiosity.
3. Extreme creativity.  
4. Great hunters of information. 
5. Notice what others do not see.
6. Challenge the status quo.
7. Fast processing minds IF they find the topic interesting. 
8. High energy levels.
9. Multitask with ease, may have 2 or 3 browsers open with multiple tabs.
10. Adrenaline (deadlines) helps with focus.
11. The impossible is a strong motivator. 

 
Do you know a writer with LD? If you do, she or he may be like John Irving, who was called "lazy" and "stupid" because of his disability. Irving acknowledges, "I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft...Half of my life has been an act of revision."

    Hate can rip through a soul like a jagged knife. It’s unwanted and unexpected insertion carves a chilling path of barbed wire wrapped in deceit. We shudder when we see it, recoil when it draws near, but usually we imagine it lives only – over there.

But hate thrives on all shores. In the poisoned waters of Flint, Michigan it flows; in the dying mouths of Syrian children, it thrives. Hate lives where fear or complacency hides, and when it arrives, it takes innocence as its prize.

What is our choice? Do we fight hate with hate? Can a hardened heart silence its blade?

On April 24th, we remember a time when hate shouted dreams, and many refused to hear its terrible scream. Six million of us died because we chose a lie.

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) is not just about Jews and a deadly regime; it is about you and me.

Three authors (John W Howell, Jan Sikes and myself) will speak on this topic through Blog Talk Radio on April 24th.  We will address the following quote and ask an important question - has anything changed?

My greatest disappointment is that I believe that those of us who went through the war and tried to write about it, about their experience, became messengers. We have given the message, and nothing changed. ~ Elie Wiesel

Please join us if you have a moment, as we consider our responsibility. 

by Gwendolyn M Plano
​

      Several years ago, my husband and I had a four-hour layover in Phoenix and decided to spend it in a local museum. It was Larry’s first venture into the world of artisans and their masterpieces, and we discovered a lot that day. While he is drawn to photographs that are paintings; I am drawn to paintings that are dreams. He sees perfection in landscapes, detailed and proportionate; I see possibilities in impressionistic themes.

Is there a right or wrong to how we see? Is one better than another?

O’Keefe and Chagall fascinate me. I stand before their creations and am brought into a world seen but not seen. John Singer Sargent has structured his stories, giving my husband peace. And though I am in awe of his paintings, I am left searching for his dream.

We are different each of us - writers, painters, craftsmen of all trades. We see through different lenses and thus have different dreams. My masterpiece may not be yours, your masterpiece may not be mine. While I travel through art to the world I’ve yet to meet, you may seek something entirely differently.

What captivates you about a poem, a book, a painting, or a piece of pottery? What stirs your imagination and makes your heart beat? A few words that paint a world, a whimsical clay mug, an intriguing mystery?  

As for Larry and me, we respect our differences and enjoy where we meet – in paintings and writings and all artful creations that straddle the photograph and the dream. 

The RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB is sponsoring a Spring BOOK & BLOCK PARTY throughout the month of April, and I am participating from beautiful Branson, MO. Visitors who leave a comment have a chance of winning a signed copy of my book (2) or a $5 Amazon gift card (2) - a total of 4 gifts. Have fun traveling to all the sites!           

     
                      WRITING IS A VISUAL PROCESS

     Writing is a visual process. The characters, the setting, the time of day, even the conflict is something we craft in the scenes we display. A recent trip to Tuscany, Italy brought this fact home to me.
 
     This beautiful country of contrasts, where time is a marriage of yesterday and tomorrow, opened my eyes to how I see. I was taking a photograph of ancient steps leading up to a medieval church, when my sister said,
            “I’m following you and taking photos of whatever you photograph, because you see                      differently than me, and I like what you see.”
               
     Interesting comment, right? I’m not a photographer, but I am drawn to the intersections of life, and less to the obvious passing me by. I notice the play of light, the shadows that linger, and I am fascinated by the reaches of buildings and sky. A pigeon in the side of a fortress wall will hold my attention, as does a dog bowl on a cobbled street, where visitors like me meet.

     Images of the intersection of life draw me into story, which is my world it seems. Do you find your stories taking form through something you see?

     A short walk in Tuscany and one travels through centuries - to a time of the Etruscans, to a time before Christianity. The land is riddled with relics of war that the invaders and armies ignored. Walled fortresses have now been transformed, into a home for wine shops and cafés, boutiques and other market places. Walls, once dividing and threatening, are now pulsing with life. Contrasts…a writer’s dream.

     Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vince and Michelangelo all walked the Tuscany streets. Now they dwell in galleries, churches, and libraries, but they are often seen on the streets.

     What do you focus on? Do you notice the cardinals in the trees, the solitary fisherman standing on the edge of the stream, the old man in his garden pulling weeds, or the child high in the tree? What is it you see? Do you find stories awaiting you when you pause to see - the intersections of life surrounding you, surrounding me?