I have a high IQ – well above average, have tested at “genius” level (160+) – but I am also naive and make mistakes like everybody else.

I did well in school and was a lousy student. I emulated my Dad by being an agnostic, and in high school became an atheist, probably because I went to a Catholic school for a year and a half. Now I’m more of an agnostic pantheist with a side of apathy. I am spiritual but not religious. (I think religion can be one of the worst things to happen to spirituality.)

I have a Husband, Will (sometimes called “the Hubby”); we were married in 1994. Ten years later, give or take, we became polyamorous^. I know a lot of people have misconceptions about polyamory, but that’s a post in itself. For now I’ll just touch on the basics: it’s not polygamy^, where one person (usually the husband) has many spouses (usually wives); it isn’t swinging^, and it definitely isn’t cheating. It takes a lot of strength and trust in a relationship to be able to consider non-monogamy; it also isn’t for everyone. So far we are taking it slow and things have been okay.

I have in the past identified myself as bi-sexual, and have had romantic and physical relationships with other women. However, I’m not entirely sure “bi” is accurate; I think in my case I just am not mentally constrained by gender when I feel an attraction to some one; to me, personality counts for so much in regard to what I like in another person, so male or female doesn’t always come into it.

The Hubby and I have four kids: Rose (14), Blossom (12), THE BOY (or Boo, he’s 9) and Lily (6). I can’t keep actual plants alive but my “garden” of children is flourishing. We homeschool^ – or more accurately, unschool^ – all of them, with help from the Internet. Rose and Blossom recently finished a summer class at the library for computer skills; Rose spent more time helping teach the class than playing the part of a student. Their neighborhood friends envy them for it; some days I envy the other mothers for being able to get rid of their kids five days a week. But generally I enjoy their company so much I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I started writing stories when I was very young; they become more ambitious in theme and scope as I grew older, but I didn’t finish my first novel until 2004. Then, a lot more frustration and false starts, until November of 2007 when I wrote a novel in 28 days. I followed that with another in early 2008, and since then have been working fairly steadily on my sprawling fiction project.

I began studying the occult at 13. I was Wiccan^ briefly, but grew out of that pretty fast. By the time I met Will, I was finding my own path, and when I began joining Internet groups in 2002 I identified myself as pagan, although I was already fairly agnostic by then, because those were the groups doing what interested me: they call it magic(k), I call it energy work.

After a few interesting attempts to participate in pagan magic rituals, I realized I’m better off working solo, so as not to disrupt other people’s efforts. I also discovered that other people’s energy (OPE) can trigger something like an allergic reaction in me, so avoiding high concentrations is preferable to throwing myself into the mix.

This spring I joined the team at Rending the Veil and became friends with the owner/Editor in Chief, Sheta Kaey. It is without a doubt one of the best decisions I ever made – not only is the website and magazine an excellent resource, Sheta is an intelligent, admirable woman (with a damn freaky blog).

I’ve always been weird. Even among “freaks” I was still the odd one. In 1998 I read the absolutely incredible autobiography Nobody Nowhere by Donna Williams^. And for the first time in my life, I realized that there were other people out there that experience things the same way I do, have similar hurdles and comforts, frustrations and elations. They’re referred to as being “on the autistic^ spectrum.”

I learned everything I could about it. And when the day came that I realized I could be diagnosed as “having Asperger’s Syndrome^,” I was both relieved to know I was not alone in the world, not an alien out of place, and horrified to think I was “disabled.” I didn’t *feel* disabled, although I acknowledged then and do now that I have a lot of hurdles in my life that many others do not, particularly in regard with interacting with other people. I became very depressed. I didn’t want to be disabled. I wanted to just be me, and be able to enjoy this new understanding of myself.

Again, I turned to the Internet, and found many “Asperger Support” groups. I joined them and hoped for understanding and compassion. What I found were people complaining about “how hard Aspies are to live with” and the best ways to keep them “managed” – usually by heavy drugging, even in small children!

I was outraged. I complained right back that “neuro-typicals” (non-autistics) aren’t any baskets of sunshine to live with either. They have an excess of social dependency, a fixation on superficial physical contact, and an appaling degree of xenophobia. One of these “supporters” called me a “wild Aspie” and told me to get medicated. I left the group in a huff, and the Wild Aspie was born.

I started my own group on Tribe.net, mostly as a place to sulk, in April of 2005. Slowly at first, without me inviting a single soul, the group grew. Membership has gone up and down, but has been holding steadyish around 100 for a while. One of the first members coined the phrase “self-identified” as a way to refer to oneself, and the group is a truly supportive, pleasant place for Aspies and non-Aspies alike. The ironic thing is, they get on so well I can’t keep up with the messages, and rarely go there anymore.