"There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write." ~ Terry Pratchett
I love darned near everything about Terry Pratchett. For those of you unfamiliar with this genius of words, he's a British author who writes in the genre of fantasy and science-fiction. Most of his books revolve around a place called Discworld and the very interesting characters who live there. One of the most amazing things about him is that he's been writing these books for over forty years. That's my entire lifetime, plus a year for good measure.
Before turning 60, Terry Pratchett was appointed to Officer of the Order of the British Empire for "services to literature", knighted, awarded eight honorary doctorates, and won too many awards to list including the Carnegie Medal. His books are translated into more than 35 languages. They even named an asteroid after this guy. As of two years ago, his books had sold more than 65 million copies. I can't even begin to comprehend what one million books would look like, much less sixty-five times that number.
Sadly, three years ago Terry Pratchett announced that he suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. This runs on both sides of my family, so it's a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. When he found out he had it, he didn't bemoan his fate and sit around pouting about it. He made a sizable donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, and then went a step further and developed a program for BBC television that chronicles his experiences with the disease.
But wait, there's more.
Terry Pratchett doesn't have just any form of early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. He has a rare type called posterior cortical atrophy. Know what that means? Areas at the back of his brain are shriveling up, and actually shrinking. I cannot imagine how that would feel, knowing that a disease could take away the thing that you loved to do best...writing.
This man is an utter optimist. He met with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008 to ask for an increase in research funding, and has been testing a prototype device that has shown some improvements in his condition. Sadly, in the time since his condition has deteriorated to the point that he writes via dictating to someone else, or with speech recognition software. In 2009, he stated that he does not wish to let the disease win, but prefers assisted suicide. That makes me really sad. Regardless of whether a disease takes your life or you take it yourself, the disease still wins.
