Queer writer of speculative and YA fiction
Well, this is a fine mess, isn’t it. At the moment I’m on the other side of the world, so I was waking up while everyone else was waiting for the polls to close and probably feeling exhausted and jittery. We were heading to the ruins of the Heraion outside of Argos, a temple to …
*record scratch, freeze frame* Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation. (Sorry, I’ve always wanted to do that.) For some reason, this version of me has been on my mind a bit lately. Maybe that’s because I’m revising a young adult novel and trying to tap into the feeling I …
Continue reading "Being kinder to the memory of the kid I was"
My friend and fellow author ’Nathan Burgoine has been offering up daily reading suggestions for Pride Month over on his blog, and he's listed some real bangers so far, including Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon (bisexual fake marriage for the sake of an inheritance) and Soul's Blood by Stephen Graham King (sci-fi found family). And this …
I'm always kind of envious of people who are able to read new releases immediately when they come out. Or, maybe envious isn't the right word; more life baffled. How does anyone manage to keep up with all of the books they buy and have backlogged that they're actually able to clear the decks and …
Continue reading "What to read: Catfish Rolling, by Clara Kumagai"
Have you ever finished a book and been so excited for the writer’s next one that you go look up when their next one is coming out… and it’s two years from now? Or worse, they don’t have a new release scheduled at all? And do you ever want to just, I don’t know, call …
I wrote a guest post for Scott McGlothlen at his blog. It was inspired by an eye procedure I had done last year, not long after my 54th birthday. The confluence of those two events got me thinking about getting older and my relationship to time. (And, no big surprise, there's a Star Trek reference …
Continue reading "When I’m 54, or “Yours Sincerely, Wasting Away”"
How is it August already? And why do I feel like I wasted my entire summer? I know that feeling’s an illusion. Or rather, the feeling is real (I’m feeling it, after all), but the facts behind it are not. I didn’t waste my summer: I finished the first draft of a novel, I did …
Continue reading "Why does ‘productivity’ feel like a trap?"
Now that LGBTQ+ Pride month is over, we’re in July, which I like to call LGBTQ+ Rage month. And we have a lot to be furious about. I won’t go into chapter and verse about all of the ways society has tried to marginalize us, dismiss us, and make it generally more dangerous for us …
Continue reading "I finished the first draft of my novel. So why am I so angry?"
I was an awkward nine-year-old. This probably comes as no surprise, right? I was a nerdy kid with thick glasses and a bad haircut—and let’s face it, not much has changed in the 44 years since, except the glasses are contacts and the hair is gray. I’m still a big nerd, and most days my …
I tend to seek out a lot of advice about the writing process from other writers, which explains why I subscribe to a lot of writers’ email newsletters. I’m a huge process nerd. I'm always interested in hearing how people get their writing done: where, when, which tools they use, what they do when they …
Continue reading "Why do we say “we” or “you” when we mean “I”?"