An Author With ADHD Walks into a Coffee Shop...
Orders a chai latte, and then?
Well, let me tell you!
The other day I was running some last minute errands around town (Brunswick, Maine, I’ll remind you) before flying to Norway to see my mom. I put postcards with my book info on the library bulletin board and brought an advance readers copy (ARC) to our local indie bookstore, with the hopes that they will carry it.
In the coffee shop I placed my order, took a few sips from the sweet & spicy treat, then saw a writer friend who was sipping and reading a book in the corner. We exchanged a few words, and then I left and ran to the post office (to mail a copy of my book—an “advanced reads copy” or ARC—to a writer whose work I admire and quote in my memoir). Getting back into my car, I’m like, “wait, something’s missing here…Where’s my chai??”
Yup, that’s right, I left it at the coffee shop! Becasue that’s how I roll, I go to get coffee and leave the coffee. Classic Nina. I ran back, and luckily found it just where I had left it, and of course everybody in the shop got a good laugh at (and with!) me and my absentmindedness.
In Body: My Life in Parts, I write about what it has been like to live almost six decades dealing with so many of the classic expressions and experiences of someone with ADHD. In fact, it was a real ah-ha moment for me that I was able to reach because I collaborated with my BODY in this writing journey. Having written this book brought me the resolve to finally get tested by a neuropsychiatrist, and I am not sure I would have, had I not had the ah-ha moment. So, memoir and personal essay writers out there, and readers of memoirs and personal essays: it’s not just what we know, but what we find out that makes this particular genre interesting and important.
Anyway, all this to say, thank goodness I can laugh at myself, and also that I got over the “navel gazing” complex that would nag at me from time to time during writing this book and let curiosity pull me onward. Because as Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
What might you have learned about yourself after examining your life a little closer? And do you have a “classic you” moment that you can laugh about? Tell me in the comments!
And hey, thanks for checking in today!
xo Nina
Let's see... yes I can step into this arena... Just this week I went to the grocery store, got my bag of provisions plus a 12 pack of toilet paper (covid era PTSD + IBS =nothing smaller than a 12 pack) Got home, unpacked groceries... and I can't even say what tipped me off that I didn't have the TP, but then realized I didn't have the TP. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna leave a 12-pack of TP at the store!" I said to myself, since the time I'd left the kitty litter in the cart it was days later and too late to go back. (Apparently, whatever I put in that bottom part of the cart goes out of sight-out-of mind) Went back and had to explain. Miraculously, I actually had taken and kept the receipt. Returned with my toilet paper.
It was a literary endeavor though, because I got to listen to 24 more minutes of Elissa Altman's Permission in the car (so good!)
And now, after my lunch break, it's back to editing my next episode of Daring to Tell with none other than your very own Viking Jewess... yes, Ms. Nina Lichtenstein, reading from her new memoir! It's a good one folks! (will be out on Tuesday!)
(Is it shameless self promotion, if I'm promoting Nina?)
XOXO
Michelle
CUTE photo!!