Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales -- How The Story Came To Be.

Happy Release Day to 

Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales 

Theme: Everyone Deserves To Be Seen

One Line Summery: 

When Alaina realizes something is wrong with Liam, 

the two friends look to their knowledge of fairytales to try and find a cure.

Topics inside the book:

#fairytales #friendship #Autoimmunedisorders #type1diabetes #grief #family #ferrets #theprincessbride #imagination #courage #fairydoors #camaswashington #middlegradebook #narcolepsy

Why I wrote this story: 

(I have a two-pronged answer to where this story idea came from.)

First, around the same time that I began struggling with sleep disorders, my 11-year-old niece, Alaina, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She tried to put on a brave face as her whole world changed, but this was such a heavy, unfair, life-altering situation, she sometimes broke down in tears of frustration and grief.  She said she felt "cursed" as she struggled with this new disorder that would be a permanent part of her life. 

Second, my struggle with sleep disorders was--ofttimes still is--debilitating. (*Moving my experience with autoimmune & sleep disorders to the end of this post to save space here.*) One day, when I was feeling especially defeated, I reached out to a narcolepsy support group I frequent online and asked something like, "This is so horrible to go through as an adult--what was it like for those of you who developed this as a child?" A lot of people answered, but one DM was especially poignant to me: They said something like, "At first, my teachers were kind and woke me gently by patting my back. Then, they got frustrated, assuming I was lazy, and started slapping my desk or kicking my shoe to wake me. But, then it got worse; they stopped waking me at all. They treated me like furniture. I felt like I was disappearing."

 -- Chills -- 

The idea of a kid going through this inexplicable, confusing, awful torture that is the diagnosis process, with everyone assuming the kid is lazy, that they stay up too late, that they just don't care... The idea that they would feel so alone, as disposable as furniture, a child disappearing from their own life... It made me cry, and gave me chills. I had never seen or heard a story like that before.

When kids read Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales, I hope that kids enjoy the quest to find their own truth in fairytales, that they laugh at ferret antics, medieval insults, and fantastical ideas. I hope they understand that it's okay to grieve, and that it's okay to feel whatever you feel when invisible things knock them sideways. Most of all, I hope they feel seen. 

Because, Everyone Deserves To Be Seen!

Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales is available now anywhere books are sold in

hardback, kindle, or audiobook. 

*Autoimmune & Sleep Disorders & Me* (Here's the rest of the story):

My first bout with autoimmune disorders was with Graves Disease, where the immune system attacks the thyroid and causes a goiter (mine was wider than my neck), bulging eyes, rapid/irregular heartbeat (You could see my heart beating through my shirt), hair loss, tremors, and short term memory loss. This was a tough, confusing, experience, and they eventually surgically removed my entire thyroid to combat the effects. I've been on meds for decades to make up for the fact that I do not have a thyroid anymore. HOWEVER, as hard as all that was, it was nothing compared to how difficult it was for me to cope with a sleep disorder that knocked me sideways.

Five years ago, I started falling asleep mid-sentence as I typed-- though my fingers would keep typing gibberish after my brain had checked out. Over and over again, I'd type, fall asleep, startle awake, delete the gibberish, find my place, start to write, and fall asleep again-- sometimes as often as every minute. This was the worst anytime I was stationary, but I'm a farmer, and sometimes sleep attacks would hit even in the field. (I scared my kids once when they found me lying flat in a field and thought me dead.)

During these attacks, my limbs, head, and even eyelids feel incredibly heavy, as if filled with sand. My whole body wants to melt right into the floor. My words slur so I have to fight to enunciate words clearly, my balance becomes wobbly, and my breathing changes, becoming deeper and louder--like a person deep in sleep. (Often, the sleepy-breathing is an early warning for me when a sleep attack is coming on.) But despite my extreme and debilitating fatigue, I can be painfully tired, and yet wide awake lying in bed for hours at a time at night. (Please assume I've done *all the things* to combat insomnia and fatigue and having my sleep cycles totally jacked. Not looking for advice here. Just sharing my experience.)

Honestly it felt like I was losing my mind, and it was so hard to explain to people what was wrong. "Sorry, friend, I can't drive the 30 minutes to your house because . . . I'm tired." It sounds so foolish--feels like such a copout, I felt ashamed that I could not overcome this on my own. It was made harder because diagnosis with sleep disorders is often a lengthly, costly process with a lot of insurance battles.  Writing sessions left me in frustrated tears on a daily basis. I felt like a failure when I had to call my publisher, Shadow Mountain, and beg for more time on my WIP because I literally could not keep my eyes open. (They were so understanding, and gave me as much time as they could)

In the years since, after much trial and error (and mountains of frustration), I've found doctors who listen and care, and medications with scheduled naps have given me my life back. Every day is still a struggle; I still have a lot to learn, and a long way to go, but I've improved so much that I typed THIS WHOLE PAGE without falling asleep once--and four years ago, that would have been a miracle.

Friends, 

Whatever you're going through, please don't give up. There's hope, even when answers are hard to find. Have courage to hang on, reach out, and share your story. Your feelings are valid. Your story matters. I believe in you, because you deserve to be seen.