Writing Porch Author Q&A: Yvona Fast

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson interviews authors for other writers to watch, listen and learn from. To be considered for a Writing Porch Q&A, contact J. Louise Larson through the Comments feature: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=518671822507077211&postID=5145601248816180676

Author: Yvona Fast

Book: Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies.

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004, 272 pages, trade paper

Other publications: This book was recently translated into the Polish language; Yvona Fast's articles have been published in E, the Environment Magazine; Adirondack Daily Enterprise; Lake Placid News: American Small Farm; Vibrant Life: Home Cooking; Woman's Touch; American Health & Fitness; Health and Home; Equal Opportunity: Adirondack Explorer; OpEd News; Miami Family; ATA World; Asperger's Journal; Minority Engineer; Lifeglow; Advance; Christian Single.

Bio: Yvona Fast is an author, freelance writer, food columnist, editor, researcher and speaker living in northern NY state. For more information see her web site, www.wordsaremyworld.com

About Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies: My book is a career guide for individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning disability. There are personal stories of people grappling with work issues as well as practical advice on dealing with these issues.

Why this book? I was driven to write this book. I saw the need through a listserv I was on for people with these disorders. They kept saying 'there is nothing out there for adults.' Now there is.

How did you get a book published? I sent out query letters to publishers, and got a response from Jessica Kingsley.

What was the biggest challenge for you about this book? For my writing and speaking, my biggest challenge is the marketing part of it.

What's your favorite kind of writing and why? I enjoy writing essays and articles. I enjoy doing the research. My wiring is fact-based. Writing fiction is much more difficult. I don't have the imagination and I find it very difficult to create scenes.

What advice would you give other writers? Networking is key. As in everything in life, it's not what you know but who you know that matters.

What projects do you have coming up? I write a weekly food column which I'm trying to syndicate to more newspapers. I'm also working on a cookbook and a memoir with my mom.

http://www.amazon.com/Employment-Individuals-Asperger-Non-Verbal-Disability/dp/184310766X

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson is a Texas-based writer whose work has appeared in major magazines and newspapers. She is the author of The FabJob Guide to Party Planning. She is the editor of The Ennis Journal and a contributor to The Waxahachie Daily Light.

Getting it all done

It occurs to me as I try to engineer, rather than just NAVIGATE, my checkered writing career, that sometimes the problem is the solution.

I know, it sounds all zen and "Here's how it is, Grasshopper" - but something I discovered while beating deadline tonight resounded with some sort of eternal truth. There's not much of that to be had on deadline, usually - just a grinding of glass under the stone wheel of time as all sorts of things are made to break (or at least reduce) -- including my expectations.

So there I was, hammering away, checking my e-mail as is the custom, and a flitting phrase caught my peripheral vision. It was a google alert -- a quote from Immanual Kant, of all things. "To do is to be."

Wow, I thought. That's deep. Especially when I'd been fretting about how I was ever going to finish my book when I can't even get this week's calendar done. I have no extensive staff. No assistant, no associate. It's pretty much just an army of one. And some very nice people sharing a bit of their week with me at head office.

Work some more, fret some more. Another quote jumps off my laptop screen and sits, perched, on the bridge of my nose, just beyond my glasses, waving its little letters at me.

This time it's Paul Valery, admonishing me: "The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."

So, in other words, Paul, what you're saying is: To do is to be.

And yes, I've heard the joke, and I know that Frank Sinatra said "Do be do be do." Which, in context, is pretty stinking brilliant.

So the dilemma of how to accomplish all these objectives? how to do it all? What someone wise and calm told me recently when I was feeling neither: Spend part of your time doing one thing, and part of your time doing the other.

Like one of my favorite children's books suggests (you know the one, about Homer or whatever his name is, and the red shirt?) Cut a little from here to put a little bit there.

I don't know why, but at 3:04 in the morning, I'm of the belief that I can do this. I can achieve this duality.

In this case, turning the problem inside out reveals the solution. In the seeds the problem sheds, a new solution springs up.

Do. Be. Do. Be. Do.

How do you balance your life? I'd like to know.