Essay by Mazey Eddings, author of ‘Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake’

The titular character of Mazey Eddings’ Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake is coping with some very rom-com-appropriate issues—particularly, that her two-night stand with a scorching Australian man resulted in an surprising being pregnant, and she or he’s now attempting to platonically cohabitate with him. But alongside all of the tropey hijinks, Lizzie additionally good points a greater understanding of and extra acceptance for her attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction. As Eddings explains on this essay, that mixture of rom-com fizz and a neurodiverse perspective is central to what she hopes her books can obtain.

Getting my ADHD analysis was like receiving a key to a door I’d been attempting my entire life to unlock. On the opposite aspect was an expansive horizon of infinite potentialities. I lastly had phrases and a framework and instruments to grasp how my mind operates: why my ideas do loop-the-loops once I’m imagined to be focusing, why my thoughts deep dives into particular pursuits or makes me keep away from sure duties. It felt so indescribably good to lastly perceive that I wasn’t lazy or undisciplined or reckless, as neurotypical society so usually branded me, however was as a substitute wired in a manner that’s price celebrating. 

And after seeing myself on this new analysis, I used to be hungry to see myself mirrored in fiction too. 

Unfortunately, individuals with neurodivergencies are sometimes represented in tales that concentrate on their trauma or hardships. We not often see these characters experiencing unfettered pleasure or having needs, intercourse, love; so many superb human experiences aren’t explored by way of the distinctive lens of neurodivergence. ADHD, particularly, is a situation usually represented from a male-centric, adolescent level of view. Even in nonfiction, ADHD is usually written about by neurotypical individuals with an undertone of what ADHD-ers can do to evolve and make life “easier” for the neurotypicals of their life, as if the ADHD neurotype is one thing to be ashamed of or is a burden to others. 

It’s not. 

It’s great and difficult and distinctive and nuanced, and one thing we have to speak extra about in a optimistic mild to destigmatize it. 

Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, my sophomore novel set in the identical world as my debut, A Brush With Love, includes a lady in her late 20s coping with ADHD and the final chaos of maturity. Lizzy is messy. Impulsive. Clever. Wonderful. I like her deeply. But she’s been raised (as many neurodiverse persons are) with the narrative that her incapacity is a burden to others and one thing that have to be leashed as a substitute of reveled in. She navigates workplaces and relationships and the world at massive whereas being consistently reminded that these methods and locations weren’t designed to accommodate the way in which her mind works.

This isn’t a novel about how Lizzie “overcomes” her incapacity. It’s a narrative about how Lizzie accepts her incapacity, unlearns the internalized ableism connected to it and honors her analysis and her lovely mind, discovering consolation in her great bits and her irritating ones. It’s a narrative of breaking away from individuals and methods that inform us we have to reconfigure ourselves to suit. It’s a love letter to neurodiverse individuals and the discovered households that not solely accommodate us however rejoice us, giving us the help to unabashedly thrive as a result of all of us should exist in areas which can be excited to welcome us.  

Writing about neurodiverse characters means the story gained’t be relatable to each reader. The pacing of neurodiverse love tales gained’t at all times match what we see with neurotypical relationships, and we have to get comfy with that reality! People who’re neurodiverse usually expertise belief, connection and intimacy at completely different speeds than neurotypicals, and it’s vital to honor that. It’s time to lean into particular pursuits and disorganized ideas. It’s time to speak about residing with sensory points and diversified processing, to placed on the web page what makes the world extra accessible so everybody can thrive.

Every mind is gorgeous. Every mind is worthy of profound love and supportive friendships and, above all, the happiest of endings.

Photo of Mazey Eddings by Ben Eisdorfer.