My book's title is Still Lexie because I am. In 1991, I suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash in California's high desert. Some head injuries cause distinct personality change but when mine finally surfaced from the fog of uncertainty no one told me it had changed.
I didn't need anyone to tell me that physically, I emerged a very different person. I never regained total function in my right hemisphere and I call the way I walk a 'hobble.' Even after two surgeries my eyes continue to wonder around their sockets, too, both working just not in unison. My balance continues to be a major issue and I now use a rollator, walker on 4 wheels, when I need to be upright for a long period of time, especially on the track at K.M.S. I am also slower mentally but friends, especially those with no reference to the before me, say they see no limitations apart from my limp. They are polite.
After several years of pecking at my laptop with the 5 fingers on my left hand and the right pointer digit, I have finished "Still Lexie" my memoir. I am now in search of a Kick-Ass Literary Agent and, or Publisher. Actually, I'd take anyone willing to publish me. Currently, I am sending out submissions.
I began writing this book in Boise in 2009 by reading the accident report for the first time and writing the details around the actual crash, taken from accounts from those that were there. They were conscious, whole individuals, I was not.
After divorcing, I decided to move back to my home in Montana, where I began. I continued to write sporadically but was having a hard time organizing. The book took a backseat. For the most part, I was focused on getting my new, single life together. But then, Facebook told me a classmate, Kelly, published a book. When I actually saw her, probably for the first time since high school, she shared that she enjoyed my blog. "There's a book there, you know!" was her comment.
As casual as I could, I said, "I've started writing one and lots of my blog stories are in it."
It is difficult to say, out loud, "I am a writer," unless you've had material published. It puts your writing abilities on display and what people actually hear is, "I want to be a writer." Kelly had been published therefore she was a real writer and I was encouraged.
She asked me to send her what I had written and said she would help me get it done. And she did. Kelly was only an acquaintance in high school, the friend of my friends but we have quickly bonded and I am certain I would not have completed the book without her help and her friendship.
From her I leaned it needed to be a memoir and because of that I would have to start at the beginning. She told me my readers needed to know me before the accident so I started when I did; my birth in Kalispell, Montana. I had not lived here since coming home summers during my college years in the early 80s so writing about my childhood came easier after returning to the Flathead valley.
I wrote about my childhood; growing up in this last best place which I now appreciate tenfold. I had help recalling my high school years and early track career from coach Joe McKay, who I see a few days a week at Sykes, a local diner. Then, I travelled to Eugene to meet with Mark and Tom my Duck coaches extraordinaire. When I thought I was finished, my children read what I had written and gave me their ideas. I made some changes, wrote some more and finally arrived at the conclusion.
My objective was to tell my story; the rise, fall and return to self of one of Montana's best track and field athletes. It's from my point of view and was not always easy but it was something I had to do for myself. It is a book about my life, almost to date but includes Montana stuff, things about Track and Field at the University of Oregon and general head injury information.
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