Superpower by S. Lee Manning

Todays' topic is superpowers! Awesome, right? Here's S. Lee Manning to tell us more...

S. Lee Manning: You might not realize it if you meet me casually, and I didn’t always realize it myself, but I have a superpower. I can hyperfocus.

Hyperfocus is the ability to concentrate totally on what you’re doing. When I’m in hyperfocus mode, my family can set off bombs in the next room – or under my feet as a matter of fact – and I wouldn’t notice. I don’t notice the time. Phone calls go unanswered. Cats go unfed. Dishes pile up in the sink. 

I do have to be really interested in what I’m doing to go into hyperfocus mode. But when I am in it, bingo. Using my superpower, I aced law school exams and graduated in the top ten percent of my class. It’s also how I wrote my debut novel, Trojan Horse, being published October 16 by Encircle Publications. I fell in love with the story and with the characters – and, boom, superpower activated. What’s not to love? Kolya, a jazz-playing, poetry reading Russian Jewish immigrant to the United States who works for an American intelligence agency, is betrayed by his own office in an effort to stop a murderous neo-Fascist. Kolya is joined by a cast of appealing characters: his attorney fiancee, who puts Kolya in his place when he needs it; his best friend at the agency, a trust fund brat who defied his father to go into intelligence work; a language prodigy who is an annoying but loyal friend; and a host of menacing villains. 

I couldn’t wait to get back to writing the novel, and when I wasn’t writing, I was living in the imaginary world that I’d created, even though it was a pretty scary world with terrible things happening. But it was exciting. And it kept my hyperfocus powers going over the year that it took me to write and edit the first draft. When I finished writing Trojan Horse, I was sad. Not just because I had to leave Kolya’s world, but because I had to return to my non-superpower existence. 

I didn’t always know I had superpowers. In fact, for much of life, I thought just the opposite. Because there’s a catch to my superpower. When not in hyperfocus, I tend to be easily distracted. (Squirrel!) I have trouble finishing projects. I interrupt people. I abruptly switch topics of conversation. Because hyperfocus is one of the characteristics of ADHD – which I realized rather late in life that I have. 

I suppose I should have suspected when I was in school, but it wasn’t a common diagnosis back then. When I was bored in math or science, I sat in the back of the class reading novels. Or I would just daydream about television shows I’d watched or books I’d read. I never thought I had a neurodevelopmental disorder. I assumed that I was lazy. Or just a general screw-up. 

The teachers told me – and my parents – that I was smart. That I should be getting better grades in math and science – especially since I did well in English and history, subjects that interested me (and triggered hyperfocus). No one ever suggested ADHD. 

By the time I graduated high school, ADHD had been recognized as a mental disorder by the medical world. It just wasn’t recognized in me. Maybe because it presents differently in girls than in boys. Boys tend to be hyperactive and disruptive. Girls are more likely to be inattentive with a tendency to daydream. And it affects girl’s self-esteem. 

But then, those of us with ADHD do have that superpower ability to intensely focus on what we’re doing when we’re interested and block everything else out. Unfortunately, though, I don’t have perfect control over when I hyperfocus. Sometimes, I go from intense interest to less interested – and SQUIRREL. 

I also can’t completely control my tendency to wander off when not “in the zone,” but knowing I have ADHD changed everything. There are techniques (and occasionally medication) I can use to keep focus when I’m having problems doing so. I have stopped calling myself names when I do get distracted. And I’ve realized that my focus problem when not in hyperfocus mode is just the price I have to pay for having a superpower. 

And the price is worth it. I’m back in hyperfocus mode, now that I’m writing the next novel in the series, and I’m back in my spy universe. And it’s great to be here. 

So, Reds and Readers, what's your superpower?

S. Lee Manning’s career as an attorney ranged from a top-tier New York law firm to working for the state of New Jersey to solo practice. Now a recovering attorney, she spends her days writing. In Trojan Horse, which debuts this month, Kolya Petrov, a Russian Jewish immigrant working for American intelligence is betrayed by his own agency in a devious plot to thwart possible terrorism by an anti-Semitic neo-Fascist Romanian. Manning, who is working on the second in the series, lives in Vermont with her husband and two cats. Check out her website at https://www.sleemanning.com. 

 Trojan Horse is available through Encircle Publications https://encirclepub.com/product/trojanhorse/, on Amazon amzn.to/3fJdEDk, and through your local independent bookstore.

Revealing our secret SUPERpowers

HALLIE EPHRON: My 6-year-old granddaughter has a superpower. She can whistle. Not the hail-a-cab whistle, but whistle-a-tune whistle. My husband’s superpower is that he can play his head. His head is particularly resonant, though his repertoire is pretty much limited to Turkey in the Straw.

I cannot play my head or whistle, but I can make pie crust. I’m pretty good at speedy vegetable chopping  and card shuffling, too. After watching the Ken Burns program about country music, I wished I could yodel. And this holiday I wished I had turkey-carving in my quiver. Instead I make a hash of it.

What are your superpowers, and are there any you wish you had?

LUCY BURDETTE: Making cakes from scratch I think is my superpower. My yellow cake with caramel frosting reigns supreme, though I have a few chocolate cakes in my repertoire that cause swooning. When the grandkids and nephews arrive in February for a visit, I’m thinking of trying a sprinkle cake--colored sprinkles all the way through and in the icing.

And planning and organizing trips. I’m really happy with the travel experiences we’ve had over the last years. Hopefully many more to come! And buying books, more than I can read. I’m very, very good at that!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I can’t whistle, I can’t snap my fingers, and I can’t blow bubbles, so I definitely need some kind of superpower! I’m not much of a baker, either, sigh. But I can make a mean soup, and a perfectly proper pot of tea. I’m also really good at finding my way around London, and at giving travel tips to other Anglophiles!

RHYS BOWEN: I’m a useless baker, never learned to whistle through my fingers but I used to ride a mean boogie board ( so well that two teenagers once asked me for instructions). I also can remember the words to every song I’ve sung.

JENN McKINLAY: I can whistle, can’t play my head, I can boogie board, shuffle cards, and I do love to bake. I’m not extraordinarily good at these things but competent.

I think my greatest superpower is that I’m ridiculously handy. All by myself -- although sometimes with the hooligans if I am teaching them something -- I’ve painted every room in this house, built a screened in porch, built a brick patio, built a swing set/fort, changed all of the locks, ripped up all the carpet, tiled two floors and put wood in three others, put in all new faucets, and refinished all of the kitchen cabinets. I’m having professionals do the heavy stuff - new counters and appliances for the kitchen. But then, I’m looking to remodel my laundry room all by myself. Can’t wait. I love this stuff!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: No whistling, no matter how hard I try. I can roll my tongue and pump it up, but that doesn’t get me very far. I’m pretty ambidextrous, so I can play tennis with both hands, meaning I have two forehands. It is very confusing to my opponent. I can make a pretty good dinner out of whatever is in the refrigerator, those one time only recipes that you can never duplicate. I can also sing songs using only the first letters of the words—oscys! Would be “ oh say can you see.” And I can do that really fast, almost without thinking.

And me too, Rhys. I know words to every song. Sadly, I fear that may be taking up too much work room in my brain.

Oh! My other superpower is that I can find lost stuff— even things someone else lost. it’s very bizarre.



JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm beginning to think my superpower is giving sensible life advice to millennials, since it's something I seem to be doing a LOT of lately. My other superpowers? I can tell if you have a fever - and roughly what degree it is-by touching your forehead. Also, all dogs love me. I mean, even ones I'm pretty much ignoring. I can make a great fire in a wood stove with newspaper, six small sticks and a couple of split logs. 

My kids think my superpower is the ability to talk to anyone, anywhere, about anything. This is an hereditary superpower, since my mother was able to do the same thing. Maybe I should try to combine my strengths by becoming a traveling dog-walker/nurses aide who brightens shut-ins lives with hours of conversation?

HALLIE: This is reminding me of a superpower my daughters had. They could talk backwards. Naomi's name was I-Mo-Ane. Molly was Why-Lom. They could converse like that. Weird.

So what are your superpowers? Can you fold fitted sheets? Salsa dance? Juggle? Run marathons?? Say the alphabet backwards???