Q: Please introduce yourself! Share your name, pronouns, and something fun, interesting, curious, or important (take your pick) about yourself that you would like our audience to know about you.
A: I am Eden Gruger, she/her.
Q: What genre or format do you write in? (for example: romance, fantasy, short stories, poetry, etc.)
A: I write short stories, articles and non-fiction.
Q: Who do you write for? Who is your audience, and are you seeking to reach a particular type of reader with your work? Why?
A: My fiction audience are predominantly female; they are probably neurodivergent and are fascinated by how humans work and turning life’s weirdness into humour and having a laugh at ourselves.
My nonfiction readers are writers - often aspiring writers, who want help, advice and plain explanations about what needs to be done, why and how.
I want to reach other people with neurodivergence and mental health issues, because I want them to see that regardless of the things we struggle with, or can't do, there are things that we can do just like everyone else in the world, and we need to focus on where we shine.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration as a writer?
A: Real life! If I hear a snippet of conversation that can spark a whole narrative, or someone will tell me a story or of course the things that have happened to me. And for my nonfiction it’s the questions people ask me that dictate what I think needs to be written about.
Q: How do you fit into the disability and chronic illness community?
A: I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder with associated phobia and panic disorder, and I am autistic
Q: Does being disabled/chronically ill impact the way you write? For example, do you have to pace yourself differently than your colleagues or structure your writing sessions in a particular way?
A: Absolutely, thanks to hyperfocus if I sit down at my keyboard or with my pen and notebook, I can write a thousand words or more without looking up, I will be able to tune everything else out, including forgetting to eat or drink. But other days if focus won’t happen I don’t even try, and busy myself with creative play instead. It’s easy to manage now I don’t measure what I am doing against other authors.
Q: Does being disabled/chronically ill affect the content you write? Does it affect the audience you try to reach?
A: I think so, it makes me want to be more open and clearer than I might be about my challenges to help other people who might be the only person they know that feels the way they do. If I can make anyone feel less lonely and isolated, I will be happy.
Q: What do you do to hone your craft as a disabled writer that might be different from other writers who don’t have your set of experiences?
A: I use my hyperfocus to binge podcasts and courses so I can take in huge amounts of information in a very short space of time. I use the daily journaling I do to help myself regulate as writing practise and write everything with a view to it being read by someone else at some point.
On Representation
Q: Do you wish you could read more books with disabled or chronically ill characters? Do you wish there was more diversity in the types of stories told? Overall, how do you think we are doing when it comes to disability representation in literature?
A: I would like to see more of this, and people being shown as full people not just as their diagnosis or using stereotypes.
Q: What does disability representation in literature mean to you? Is it important to you? Does it affect culture - or is it a side effect? What are your thoughts in this area?
A: It does affect me, because disabled people make up enough of society to be shown in literature, and we aren’t, I often say it’s like we are hiding in plain sight.
Q: Does disability representation play a role in what or how you write? Please talk about why or why not.
A: I hope so in how I write, and also in how I produce books, making sure that they are formatted to be easier to read and process, with wider spaces between lines, clear chapter or story titles, and including audiobooks for my fiction works, which although an expensive format so necessary for accessibility.
Q: Do you come across bad disability representation in the books you read? How does it make you feel? How do you think we can do better when representing the disability community in literature?
A: If I have, I must have blocked it out.
Q: Do you have any further thoughts on disability representation you would like to add?
A: If you are disabled yourself, consider sharing your story, the more of us who are visible the less we can be ignored. Inconvenient and unfair maybe, but there you are.
On Advice
Q: What advice would you give to new writers?
A: Keep writing, and if you can’t write indulge in creative play or creative rest instead, it’s the best way to get your juices flowing again
Q: What writing or life “hacks” would you recommend to other disabled or chronically ill writers, especially those who are still starting out on their writing journey?
A: Record what you want to say if things are hurting or you are too tired to write or type, many devices have this facility. Don;t expect to remember anything - make a note. And remember your voice is unique and precious.
Q: What do you wish someone had told you when you were finding your path?
A: See the above!
Q: What was the best piece of advice given to you as a writer, or even as a disabled writer?
A: That if you can’t write to indulge your creativity in other ways, which for me is painting, pottery and gardening.
About Your Work
Q: Would you like to share anything about your current work-in-progress?
A: I am writing about my life and healing journey, that’s a long project obviously, so I also have a nonfiction book about marketing your work ‘on the go.’
Q: What do you love most about crafting a new work?
A: The exploration of what my brain is able to come up with.
Q: Do you have any work already out there that you would like to talk about? If so, please tell us about the project, why you wrote it, and what you hope readers will take from it.
A: For writers, it is definitely my How To Write Without Block. It talks about why people get stuck, how to get out of it, build healthy writing habits and what that looks like for you as an individual. I hope it will get people writing and producing more books that share our stories and the way we work to educate, inspire and entertain.
Q: Where can readers find your work? Please share links and pertinent information.
Final Thoughts
Q: Thank you for sharing your thoughts, today. Any final words?
A: I am delighted to have been included.
Image Description: Author, Eden Gruger, sits in front of a wooden staircase. She is wearing a cheerfully bright pink cardigan. She has a light, peachy complexion and wavy light brown hair with a deep side part. She smiles directly into the camera.
Credit: c/o Eden Gruger
About Eden Gruger
Eden Gruger is the creator of Make Your Book A Reality, a set of down-to-earth audio masterclasses that answer all the questions, and worries you may have about writing, publishing and marketing your own book.
She also writes collections of short stories inspired by real life events, in the humorous, candid, occasionally tragic style the women might use to speak to their closest girlfriends.
When not working Eden spends her time in her garden, on her allotment and being trained by her dog.
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