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I wish this book, featuring a girl newly diagnosed with Crohn’s, had existed when I was a teenager — my recurring thought throughout was, “Oh my god, someone wrote a book for me!”

Science fiction and fantasy tell us that anything can happen, and yet disabled people are often told that their narratives don’t fit into the genres.

I’ve always wondered what it would’ve looked like to the outside world, this dance of ours. (Would we be pitied?)

I’ve never written fiction about living with Crohn’s, and to be honest, I’ve never wanted to. Perhaps because I still feel what I felt for years growing up: that nobody wants to hear about my annoying, humiliating misery. Yet I know, intellectually, that this is a shame, because there should be more characters in YA literature who live with chronic illnesses like IBD.

A snarky New York Times column referred to CFS as “yuppie flu,” and oh, it was hilarious. Those silly rich people imagining themselves sick!