Did you always dream of being a writer?
I actually never dreamed of becoming a writer, I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a physician. I had hoped to work in sports medicine helping athletes, as sports have always been my number one passion.
How did your writing career develop?
If you would have asked me as a senior in high school if I would become a writer, I would have cowered into a corner and told you the story of what I felt was one of my biggest high school failures. My senior year, I was told my writing skills were not on par with my classmates and I was not cut out for Advanced Placement English. It was a blow because, unlike most of my friends who did qualify for AP English, I would break off each day from the group and head to a remedial writing class. But what I didn’t know at the time was that it would be the best thing that would happen to me in high school. We had a strict writing teacher who scared the pants off of us as freshman and I had her again senior year. As a senior, though, she wasn’t trying to turn 9thgraders into disciplined high school students through a stern and frightening exterior, but it was like we got to see the human side of her, and her genuine desire to prepare us for college and become writers for life. That experience gave me the skills and confidence to allow writing to become part of my life. And when I got to college and realized I wasn’t so great in science and would never be a doctor, I applied for the journalism school and writing became my career path.
But even then, I never thought I would write a book, until ten years after I had a paralyzing injury and decided to write a memoir about my experiences. I didn’t think I could do it, but it actually came pretty easy. Of course, now I have jumped into the world of fiction and found myself facing a whole new challenge, but knowing that I’ve succeeded before, has given me the confidence to know that I will always be learning and growing, and that I should never shy away from doing something that I love to do.
Your newest novel is called Chance For Rain,what is it about?
Chance for Rain is about a 32-year-old woman named Rainey May Abbott whose best friend has decided it’s time for her to find the love of her life. But Rainey is sceptical because as a 14-year-old, she was in an accident with her family, and was paralyzed from the waist down and doesn’t believe that anyone will love her as a result of her disability and the fact that she uses a wheelchair for mobility.
What was your inspiration for the book?
My inspiration for the book came from both my life and the lives of the many women I have met who have disabilities. I was paralyzed in a cycling accident when I was 31. Just at the age when my friends were getting married, having children, getting settled in their careers, I was learning skills for the first time again—getting around in a wheelchair, driving with hand controls, figuring out how to take care of my new physical situation. I had moments when I wondered if I would ever find a relationship. Would I find a guy who loved me despite my wheelchair?
Can you tell us more about the main character(s)?
Rainey is feisty, she’s an athlete. She’s confident on the ski slopes, yet terrified of going on a date. She has a big heart, but is afraid of being vulnerable. But over the course of the story, she learns that to fall in love, she is going to have to let down her guard and truly trust in another person.
Where and when do you write your stories?
I actually write a lot of my stories on the notepad of my cell phone in the middle of the night. The best ideas, sentences, stories, come to me as I’m falling asleep or they wake me up at night. I used to keep a pad of paper by my bed to capture them, but now I find it easier to pull the cover over my head (so I don’t wake up my husband) and write into my phone. But once I have my ideas, I typically write at my desk…either first thing in the morning or late at night. My writing brain is typically worthless in the middle of the day. But my goal for my next book, is to get away, to a writer’s retreat—maybe by the beach and be able to immerse myself in writing without the phone ringing or laundry calling my name, or as much as I love them, without having my cats walking on my keyboard and distracting me with their furry little faces!
What do you do and enjoy when you’re not writing?
If I’m not writing, I’m usually either working (I am a professional speaker and the director of a non-profit) or working out. I’m still in the thick of my competitive career, so training is a must in every day.
If you could switch places with a character from a book, who would it be and why?
I don’t have a specific character I’d like to be. I would be more interested in being able to live different lives, and experience different worlds. There are so many people whose lives look intriguing—I look at them and always think, “I wonder what it’s like to live that way...” I’d like to be able to experience walks of life that are so different from mine.
What books have influenced your life most?
As a result of the question above, I love reading memoirs to dive into other’s lives and see what makes them tick. I also love chick lit, and stories that are light and quick reading, but on some level still make you think. Some of the authors I enjoy most are: Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Gilbert, Emily Giffin, Sophie Kinsella, John Irving, and my favorite authors growing up were Judy Bloom and S.E. Hinton.
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently, I’m working on a new blog project and making notes for my next fiction novel.
What do you enjoy most about writing?
I like going back and reading what I have written. Sometimes I feel like I’m just slogging along putting words on paper, but after I step away for a day or two, or maybe weeks or months, I come back and read something I’ve written and think, “hey, that’s not so bad after all!” And sometimes, you even find stuff that feels truly brilliant.
Pick three authors you want to have dinner with and tell us why.
I would like to have dinner with Judy Blume, because as a kid, she helped me develop my love for reading. I’d also like to have dinner with Elizabeth Gilbert…I have truly enjoyed her writing and through her interviews and speeches, believe that she’d be a wonderful, down to earth person to sit down with. And third, I’d like to meet Lizzy Weiss, who is actually a screenwriter (not a traditional book author) as I love the young adult show she created, called Switched at Birth which seamlessly incorporates several characters with disabilities into the family drama.
Imagine Chance for Rain would be turned into a movie, who would you cast for the main characters?
I’ve definitely envisioned Chance for Rain as a movie a million times! I’d cast my friend Regan Linton, who is an actor and paraplegic, as Rainey and Kate Hudson as her best friend Natalie. As for Rainey’s love interest, Brian Ryan Reynolds.
You are a paralympian, can you tell us more about this experience?
Ever since I was a kid I have been an athlete. I started in swimming when I was four and had competitive careers in swimming, gymnastics and diving through college. After college, I spent a short time as a couch potato, but made a strong comeback getting involved in cycling, for which I had high hopes. But a head-on collison with a car on a training ride would end that pursuit, as I became instantly paralyzed from the chest down. But with sports as my therapy, I quickly ended up competing again, this time in wheelchair sports—first road racing, then triathlon, had a short stint in rowing, and then when my body started to say no more, I began a new sport—Olympic style target shooting. It was something totally new and foreign to me and, frankly, quite intimidating. I enjoy it for the mental skills it has taught me and the physical challenges that are unlike any other sport I’ve experienced. When I started in 2014, my goal was to try to make the 2020 Paralympic Team in Tokyo, but I was fortunate to make the US Team in 2016 for the Rio Games. I’m now training with the hopes of making my original goal come true—a spot on the 2020 Paralympic team.
You also wrote a memoir: Cycle of Hope. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey from paralysis to possibility?
My memoir is the story of my bike accident, what it was like to lose the use of my legs and become a paraplegic. It was a pretty massive change in my life and took a long time to accept and make the transition. But along the way, as I started doing sports again and began seeing parts of “me” re-emerge, I got to a point of acceptance and even joy. That was something I never thought I would feel again, but I’ve actually had the opportunity to do some amazing things as a result of my injury and I feel like I have personally pushed myself further because I know how fortunate I was to get a second chance. I think it has allowed me to take risks, and one of those risks was to start living and doing the things I wanted to be doing rather than what I thought other people expected of me. So, my journey has taught me to go for my dreams because you never know which day will be your last. And it might come much sooner than you expect. It’s taught me to live with no regrets.
Coffee or tea?
Tea
Paperback or e-reader?
Paperback
Mountains or the sea?
This is a tough one….I grew up near the mountains and they hold so many great memories for me, but I find being at the ocean is such a calm, beautiful place to be. In my ideal world, I’d have a mountain house anda beach house.
Summer or winter?
Easy. Summer.
Sweet or salty?
Sweet. Oreos or ice cream. Preferably both. Together.
Chance for Rain Shows Disability Experience for What it is: Another Version of the Human Experience
U.S. Paralympian, author, and mentor Tricia Downing’s first fiction novel, Chance for Rain, tells the story of disability experience as what it is – simply another version of the human experience. Downing, a 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Member and founder of the nonprofit The Cycle of Hope, wrote Chance for Rain after finding herself disappointed not only in how few books about disabled people put those characters in a positive light, but also how few – if any – were written by authors who have experienced disabilities.
In Chance for Rain, Rainey Abbott, a Paralympic athlete whose confidence on the ski slopes and the race tracks doesn’t transfer over to her love life, finds herself attracted to a man she meets online. As their romance develops, Rainey has to face her insecurities. She realizes she must pave her own path when it comes to the road to happiness.
The character of Rainey is inspired by Downing’s own experience. After a paralyzing sports-related accident in 2000, she went from being a competitive cyclist to a paraplegic requiring a wheelchair for mobility. Her life was changed forever, and she had to decide whether to give up or to “get her grit on.” She decided to get tough and embarked on a journey of self-discovery. Downing has used the lessons she learned through her injury and rehabilitation as the foundation of her life as a competitive world-class athlete, author, speaker, and mentor. She has completed more than100 races – including marathons, duathlons, and triathlons – since her accident. She was the first female paraplegic to complete an Ironman triathlon and qualified for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in 2006 and 2010. In 2011, she competed as part of the U.S. Rowing team at the World Championships in Bled, Slovenia. Downing also is a member of the Sportswomen of Colorado Hall of Fame and was named the 2006 Most Inspirational Athlete from the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the 2008 Courage Award from the Tempe Sports Authority.
Tricia Downing is a Denver-based author, speaker, Paralympian, and director for The Cycle of Hope, a nonprofit “aimed at empowering adult women who are full-time wheelchair users.” She has been highlighted for her athleticism and tenacity in multiple publications, such as Muscle and Fitness Hers and Women’s Adventure Magazine. She has also been featured in the Warren Miller documentary Superior Beings and the lifestyle show Life Moments. Although her first fiction novel, Chance for Rain is her second book. Her memoir, Cycle of Hope—A Journey from Paralysis to Possibility, was published in 2010.
For more information about Tricia:
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