An amazing interview with Tina Power Traverse. Read on...
Title:
Forever, Christian
Author:
Tina Traverse
Page
Count: 46
ISBN:1481003925
Genre: Non-fiction/Family
& Relationships / Children with Special Needs
Cost:$15.00
paperback $1.99 Amazon kindle
Can
you tell me something about yourself?
Okay,
lets see…. I was born on a warm July evening in 1974 just as the sun was
setting on the capital city of Newfoundland the first and only child(as later
years will prove) to a lovely couple, Anne and Peter Power. I developed the
love of writing at the age of eight when I read a story I wrote to my
classmates, receiving rave reviews. I married the true love of my life and
settled down to raise our tiny family, Christian 11, and Brandon, 3.
What
inspired you to write?
The
inspiration to answer the call of the writer came to me when I was eight years
old and wrote my own little twist to a bible story and read it out to my class.
When I received rave reviews from my peers and teacher, I knew I wanted to continue.
Who
are you favourite authors?
Steven
King, Dan Brown, Lauren Kate, L.J. Smith and every author of the Author Social
Media Support Group (ASMSG)!
Can
you tell me something about your latest book?
Forever,
Christian is what I like to call a labour of love, or Love's journey with
autism. The title may be confusing at first because it seems as though it is of
a religious nature, but it is about my eldest son, Christian Peter, who was
diagnosed with High Functioning autism in October of 2009, a diagnosis that
took nine years to reach. I really
cannot truly explain it, but I knew something was not right with Christian from
the time he was a tiny infant, right from the start. He would have many all
night marathons were Christian would not cry, but scream these high pitch
screams for apparently no reason. My husband and I did what ever we could to
soothe him, rocking him, feeding him, burping him, giving him warm baths, etc
but nothing would work. Even took him to the doctor several times who assured us
that it was not colic and after several tests, nothing else physically wrong.
As Christian got older, whenever he get upset, he would scream he high pitched
screams, but this time he would hurt himself. Soon the symptoms included
sensitively to certain sounds, touch, becoming hyper focused on one thing,
everything like his food and toys had to be arranged in a certain way.
Christian was a social child, but would do socially inappropriate things,such
as invading another's personal space, asking inappropriate questions, taking
their turns or becoming very clingy. Christian would always ask the same
question over and over, even though he already got the answer, always needed to
be reassured about our and others love for him. One of the most disturbing self
harm when upset or when he realized he has done something wrong was when he hurt another boy's eye at his
daycare and then proceeded to fill up the sink with hot water and submerge his
head in while the daycare worker's back was turned to tend to another child, so
he could burn his eyes out! Lucky, the water was not too hot and the daycare
worker pulled him out instantly. It has been instances like these and many
others that were heart breaking, frustrating and other indescribable emotions
that had us not asking, but begging many doctors to tell us what was wrong with
our son. It was finally the compassion and knowledge of a teacher who set the
ball rolling to get Christian tested for autism. While we were on the waiting
list for two years for the testing, when we finally got the diagnosis, it was a
relief to have a name. Feeling, with what I can only call, a
"magenta"( the feeling once described by Rue McClanahan's character,
Blanche Devereaux of the Golden Girls, as the feeling you do not know the
colour off because it is a whole bunch of colours mixed up(I am paraphrasing
here)) I took pen to paper and wrote down my feelings about the diagnosis, and
about Christian's first nine years, Forever, Christian is the result. I am also
proud to say that Christian himself does the foreword, he wanted to introduce
himself to the readers. I figure it was a nice touch to get to know a little
about the boy behind the title.
Wow!
How long did it take you to write it?
Forever,
Christian took me from start to finish, two years to write.
Can
you tell us something about the writing process, do you have a set time for
writing, did you do any research or anything else of interest that was
involved?
I do
not have a set time for writing, I write daily, but it is whenever I can fit it
in during the day, but usually that is at night when everyone is in bed. For
this book, no research was necessary to write it because the story is my own
and my son's, but normally yes, I do research for every story I write as often
the story involves a topic or two within it that I can not take off the top of
my head if I want to achieve realism and/or accuracy.
What
do you think readers will come away with when they have finished your book.
What I
hope they will take away is, though I feel this is a very raw and emotionally
charged story, because I spill my soul out onto the pages, I hope that with
anyone who reads it realizes that though most journeys are long, laborious and
dark, there is always a happy little light at the end and no matter what we are
never alone. We just have to look.
AN
INTERESTING PARAGRAPH OR TWO FROM BOOK
His
hugs too, are healing, during those rare moments that he senses another's
sadness. He may not understand why a person is sad, but he will walk up to them
nonetheless and put two arms around them. Giving them a big, loving hug, he
tells them not to be sad, that he is there with them, he loves them, and that
everything is going to be okay. I cannot speak for the others, but whenever I
receive one of those little miracle hugs, and his honest, unconditional words
of pure love and affection, I feel better!
These,
and numerous other qualities, not
autism, are what define Christian Peter Traverse, these qualities, gifts, and
ideals that will always be forever, Christian.
Any
other links of interest:
Forever,
Christian Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ForeverChristianPeter
Website:
http://www.tinasdestiny.com/
Thank
you Diane!
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