"Take. It. Slow."
Guest Post & Interview Series - Episode 2
This post is part of my monthly Guest Post & Interview Series, available free to all of my subscribers. This series is an opportunity to ask, interview, or feature, my community and their experiences of one of my main topics that I write about here on Substack - motherhood, neurodivergence and creative small business. If those topics are of interest to you, we’d love to have you in our community. Come join us?
Welcome to the Guest Post & Interview Series!
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I put a call out for members of my community to take part in an interview or guest post for me to share on my Substack. The responses flooded in, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
This interview series will be ongoing, so if you’d like to take part, you can find more details at the end of this post.
Now, let me introduce
…
A brief introduction of who you are and what you do
Alice Kuipers is the award-winning, internationally bestselling author of the chapter book series Polly Diamond and the Magic Book, a Parents’ Magazine Best Book for 2018 and a Junior Library Guild selection praised for "bring[ing] the magic of imagination to life" (Booklist). The third book in this series came out in August 2023.
Among her other published books are five novels for young adults, four books for Middle Grade readers, and two picture books featuring twins Violet and Victor. She’s also a successful ghost writer, having written several books for other authors. Her newest book, Spark, for adults wanting to write for young readers, came out in October 2024. In all, her work has been published in 36 countries.
Alice regularly shares her love of reading on CTV Saskatoon, in her segment Ali’s Book Club, and in her Substack newsletter: Confessions & Coffee. A mother of four, she has taught writing to thousands of people, in person and in online workshops, and she now works at The Novelry as a writing coach.
When did you first realise you were neurodivergent?
When my son was diagnosed with ADHD, it started to become clear that perhaps I had it, too. My formal diagnosis was about a year after his.
How has finding out you're ND impacted your life?
It helps me help my son, and realise that probably two of my other children have ADHD. It's made me realise how many times I've shown up and been out of my depth, and I've started to notice when my symptoms are elevated. I've had real trouble with emotional regulation my whole life.
Are you diagnosed/ self-diagnosed?
Yes, formally diagnosed with ADHD.
What was the process like to diagnosis?
Hard. The actual process was clear and involved filling in lots of forms, having other people fill in forms, talking to my doctor. But I found it very upsetting--I thought I had a few symptoms, perhaps, not every single one.
Do you ever wish you'd never have found out about being ND?
No. Not at all. I find it really helpful in my writing life because I help so many writers come to the page when I'm coaching.Â
Describe what being ND is like for you
Exhausting.
What are some struggles that being ND brings?
I'm always doing too many things and am completely unrealistic about my mental capacity to take on new tasks. I get easily bored, am flighty, difficult, reactive, impatient, unable to sit down for more than forty minutes, and I have used alcohol as a way to calm myself down for years.
What are some good things about being ND?
Having lived like this for a long time, I have a lot of workarounds.
What helps you on a bad day?
A Focus supplement, coffee, lists and plans, exercise--it makes such a difference but it's a thousand times harder to get to the gym.
A good day would look like...
Well, I would have about a thousand answers to this ;-) But, really, so long as I've got some writing done and connected with my kids, it's a good day.
What would you like neurotypical people to understand about you/ being ND?
That just being in my head is really tiring, that I can't ever predict what I'm about to do next, and that I don't mean to get distracted or interrupt when you're talking to me.
What advice would you give to someone who is discovering they are ND?
Take. It. Slow.
A top tip is...
I love (at the moment) my ADHD timer!
Tell us about a time in your life that you felt the most content
When I was jogging most days. I really need to put exercise at the heart of my existence, but I just fight myself on this.
The best thing someone has ever said to you
I've had so many lovely things said to me in my life, there isn't a best. I do like the advice that we give at The Novelry to write for an hour a day and just keep showing up to do that work. It helps me.
Your go to when you want to be creative is...
Playlists--I repeat them for myself to help me tune into what I'm writing.
Where can people find you online?
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the first neurodiversity episode of the Guest Post & Interview Series. Please feel free to share this post by clicking the button below…
Until next time,
Take part in the series!
I’d really love to bring in other people to chat to about their own personal experiences with parenting, neurodiversity, mental health or being a creative business owner, or a mix of these (parenting neurodivergent children or creativity to help with your mental health etc.). If you have a story to share about any of those, I’d love to speak to you about collaborating.
Below you’ll find some links to some very quick forms to fill out if you’d like to collaborate in an interview style, or, alternatively, if you have an idea for a guest post, then please DM me or reach out via email (findingsimpleandcalm@substack.com) to chat further.
I’m also going to be resuming my Simple & Calm Interview series, because I already have so many wonderful responses that need sharing with you. And, if I’m completely honest, I want to hold onto the belief that I can get a slow life again, and I’m hoping that the interviews in this series will re-inspire me. If you’d like to fill in the questionnaire and collaborate with me in that series, you can complete that here.
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