Queer writer of speculative and YA fiction
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”?"
I feel like every December I ask myself, "Where did the year go?" So I won't do that this time. Instead, I'm trying to take stock of everything I managed to get done during our latest turn around the sun and think of everything I didn't get to as opportunities for the future. Is it …
Continue reading "Work in progress: The Ghost in You and a queer holiday romcom"
Well, I haven't done one of these in a while! As you may recall, last year (I think it was last year?) I did a monthly flash fiction draw where I selected a genre, a setting, and a random object based on a simple playing card draw. I carried on the monthly draw from authors …
Continue reading "November Flash Fiction Draw: The Brass Bed and the Epic Journey"
From the outside, writing looks like long, nearly endless stretches of Nothing interrupted by brief, fairly loud instances of Something, which last hardly any time before sinking back below the surface of Nothing again. Hopefully, each Something offers a writer enough momentum to get through the Nothing until the next Something arrives. All of which …
Writing a book and sending it out into the world is always a weird process. It takes so long, by the time it’s released, it doesn’t feel like something I did. I look at the cover and read the words and think, did I write that? Suffice it to say, I did it with a …
Continue reading "Reminder: Virtual Launch Event Tonight (Feb. 16) with Left Bank Books (!!!)"
Happy February! At least, I sure hope it's happy. We could all use some happy. And speaking of happy (see what I did there), my latest book, Three Left Turns to Nowhere, is available NOW (like, right now) at the Bold Strokes Books webstore. Go there and you can get your hands on it (in …
Continue reading "Three Left Turns to Nowhere now available at boldstrokesbooks.com"
Join me on Tuesday, Feb. 16 with my fellow writers J. Marshall Freeman and ’Nathan Burgoine for the virtual launch of our YA book Three Left Turns to Nowhere. Presented by Left Bank Books and hosted by Shane Mullen, the event will stream on Facebook Live and YouTube at 7 p.m. Central Time. Holy cow, …
Continue reading "Virtual Book Launch for Three Left Turns to Nowhere Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. CT"