Thursday, December 9, 2010

On Blogging...

When you have a blog...you have no editor.  You do have an edit button, but you have to find your own mistakes and/or bad choices.  That is unless you have family who reads your blog and is shocked and appalled by what you have written and they feel the need to point it out to you.

Hence...one of my family members brought to my attention something rather ugly that I said in a post about one of my children.  It wasn't exactly about the child -but the child's behavior. I love my children dearly.  I hope that comes across here.  I do not however always "like" their behavior -in fact sometimes I hate it.  I am appalled by it. I want to run away from it. Therefore my writing may not come across as this loving, rosy picture of a life that I wish I had, but I don't.

One day my children may read this blog.  There may be some things that I write that they don't like.  I hope that when and if they do read it, they can see the big picture.  Mom is writing this blog to help educate the world about the reality of Aspergers -the good, the bad and the ugly.  Temple Grandin's story wasn't all pretty.  She had some pretty bad meltdowns at times.  Her story was real and so is ours.

These are my confessions! Yes...like Usher (the singer/songwriter -and his confessions were a bit scandalous as well).  Thus this is called "Confessions of An Aspergers Mom".  It's not called "What is your personal Opinion?" (although you are welcome to leave them as a comment) or "Life is Rosy at My House!"

I have read other blogs in the autism community where mothers come across as angelic.  Where the love of their children shines through so clearly -your heart is warmed by it.  There are blogs that are all about inspiration -what huge accomplishments children with autism have made.  There are completely educational, very professionally written blogs that can be quite frankly, rather intimidating.  Then there are those that fall somewhere in-between -the real nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts of every day life and the struggle of raising special needs children, or the not so pretty side of what having a disability Aspergers is really like. I love them all. Each blog has something special to bring to the table. I love being a part of this community.

Yes -I use creative license at times in order to make the writing humorous.  Exaggeration may be used to make a point.  That is my prerogative as a writer.  For me writing is a therapeutic release.  Most things that I say are a matter of opinion -my opinion and I am entitled to it.

Writing is an Art.  If  an artist sits around thinking about what others will think of their work -they may very well be too afraid to allow the world to see their art.  If the artist looks at other's work and says, "Wow -that is so good! I could never be that good."  There would be no art, or what we have would be extremely limited.

There is room in the world for every artist, every story and every struggle -even if the picture isn't always so pretty.