Love is Blind and so am I!

They say love with blind. I’m not entirely sure, who they are, but in my case it may be true.

When I was six years old, I was diagnosed with an eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Try saying that three times fast, I dare you. If you want to spend time Googling it, please do. I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version. RP causes permanent blindness.

I know! That’s a real Romance mood killer. Blindness is not so sexy in Romance unless a blindfold is involved (note to self).

As a result of my vision loss, I access the world of literature through audio. As a kid I was a voracious reader. Hours were spent devouring books in my Public Library. Nothing beat the musty aroma of a book and the feel of it’s worn pages against my fingers as I flipped to the next chapter. That experience has now been replaced with the transporting voices of many of my favorite audiobook narrators like Julia Whalen, Aidan Snow, Zachary Webber, Karissa Vacker, and so many others.

The other difference is the impact my vision loss has on my writing. As I access the word through nonvisual mediums, that means I am doing the same for writing. The rules of grammar can be a little different when you are dictating or using Braille. Nonetheless, I proceed.

While I do lack sight, I have vision. My blindness impacts my ability to see the world in the same manner as individuals with unimpacted sight, but it offers me a different texture to how I visualize my stories. My blindness allows me to flourish as a storyteller, because the way I access the world is through all my senses. Not just sight.

Good authors will not just tell a story but transport us into that story. To have the sensation of strong arms wrapping around our shoulders. To feel the prickling heat of hot breath on our neck while a deep voice whispers, “You are lovely.” To smell the aroma of dew dipped grass coiling around us as we stand barefoot beneath a canopy of trees. To hear the thump, thump of our heart as soft lips presses against ours.

While my vision loss presents a series of hurtles for me to leap over to spin my steamy/sweet romantic tales, it offers me a gift. I process the entire world with all my senses, even my dimmed vision. Tapping into this will make my writing a richer experience for me as a writer and hopefully for you as a reader.

Love may or may not be blind, but I am…and I tell love stories.  

Pinkies up!