Rosie Gee
I am an occupational therapist who was diagnosed with ADHD when I was almost 50 years old and it was life changing! I am now a passionate advocate for those in the ADHD community and love being my true quirky self!
I live in Auckland with my husband and a blended family bursting at the seams with teenagers. And cats. And fish. And a duck. I also spend as much time as I can in my off-grid house in the bush – when life gets too peopley and I just want to curl up in the quiet with a good book.
I live in Auckland with my husband and a blended family bursting at the seams with teenagers. And cats. And fish. And a duck. I also spend as much time as I can in my off-grid house in the bush – when life gets too peopley and I just want to curl up in the quiet with a good book.
What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
I steered away from Alan Duff for a long time as I knew of the violence in the Once Were Warriors movie and thought “why would I subject myself to more of that world?’. Wow was I wrong! The characters, the depth and complexity of being human when circumstances throw trauma at us was captivating, and the trilogy remains one of my favourites, with Jakes Long Shadow being a captivating exploration into the human spirit.
Do you try more to be original, or to deliver to readers what they want?
I guess I tried to be more original in the way I wrote my book. When I decided to write my book, it was because I had read many books about how to live well with ADHD and they were obviously written by someone who only learned about it in theory! The advice was condescending, ableist and not at all helpful of many of them so it made me angry enough to write my own damned book! So hopefully it delivered what people wanted – which is practical and real world strategies rather than toxic positivity and “just do it” type behaviours which we all know is not how the ADHD brain works!
What was the first book that made you cry?
It was the book Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders. I don’t know how old I was but it was one of my first chapter books so under ten years old I guess. You cant go wrong with a book about a cool dog can you!
If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?
If I am honest it would be actually paying attention in English class. Grammar still gets me in a muddle!
Have you Googled yourself? Did you find out anything interesting?
Yes I did once and it came up with an article I wrote many years ago for a surrogacy website about my experience being an altruistic surrogate.
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? Why?
Yes I did as its a bit vulnerable putting yourself out there in the world, but one of my core values is tuturutanga (authenticity) so I didn’t want to hide behind another name even though its pretty scary!
How did publishing your first book change your writing process?
So far, I have only published one book but I have the next one milling around in my head.
Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I try not to as I fixated on the single 3 star review with no comment – WHY was it 3 stars? what specifically didn’t you like? what would have made it 5 stars? Are you someone who didn’t even read it but likes to be mean on the internet? See, no good can come of this for my mental health!