StarnesBooksLLC
@starnesbooksllc
Press Release: No one ever tells you what life on the Autism Spectrum is like. At least, no one ever told me because I was already living with ADHD, depression, social phobia, social anxiety, and PTSD. Not until I was sitting in a chair hearing the words come out of my doctor’s mouth in June 2017 at 42 years of age: you have Asperger’s. After being labeled with ASD, who I am and why became clear. This is when I knew putting pen to paper, or fingers to a keyboard, and writing about my life is the only way I could explain what it’s like to walk in our shoes. This was even harder for me than I thought, being that I read at about a 5th or 6th grade level. I am the best version of myself after learning about my ASD. Finding myself had to do with The Mankind Project. With their help, guidance, and support I was able to make peace with parts of my past holding me back. With the help of the other men from The Mankind Project, these repressed memories and emotions came out, and I was forced to face them. It’s not a nostalgic memory recall I wanted to indulge. Once I could see how I held such feelings of anger and hate in myself because of issues I didn’t even know about, I was able to finally see the real me. Being targeted for being different with words of hate written across my front door, along my breezeway, the walls of my apartment, and even all around my car, in mid-2017, lead to my agoraphobia (or fear of leaving home). I spent my time self-medicating before receiving the help I need. The birth of my nephew and his subsequent diagnosis of being non-verbal autistic made me want to tell my story. I put my life’s experiences into a 7,500 word short story that kicked off the first book in my series called the Saving History Series – Time Keeper. My book series touches on many topics for young people, as well as adults, we all should know about in this modern time. Everything from how being a victim of bullying stays with a child into adulthood, to reminding everyone we all have those times in life we wish we could go back to, only if for one second, to do or say something different but we can’t. Unlike the characters in my book who can. My characters are all different in their own way, and they all do amazing things, just like in life. I want others to know that just because you are different, or have ASD, or you think you have something holding you back, you are just the opposite. You are the only person that can hold yourself back, so prove yourself wrong, because that is the only person you need to prove anything to.
