Pre-S (get it? It’s like a PS except it comes at the beginning instead of the end, so, Pre-S): I finished the third draft of my latest novel! Two months ahead of schedule! Cue the fanfare! Will it ever see the light of day? Who the heck knows! All I know is I did a thing! Please clap. [waits for applause to die down] Thank you, you’re too kind. And now, for the offer-slash-request (yes, I know I could have just used a / instead of writing out “slash,” but where’s the fun in that? Nowhere,...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Happy new year! I hope. Buckle in, he’s going to talk about Star Trek again. There’s an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that’s been on my mind recently. “Tapestry” was a sixth season episode in which Captain Picard’s artificial heart failed and he’s given an opportunity by Q to fix the “mistakes” in his past that led to him having an artificial heart in the first place. But when he does so and then returns to the present, Picard finds himself no longer captain of the Enterprise, but...
3 months ago • 3 min read
My favorite book of 2024 I’m a slow reader. Usually, I’m glad if I can get to two books a month (although when I’m teaching, even one can be ambitious). So I was surprised to look back and realize I read 32 books this year. I even finished a couple of them because I was reading them alongside two students I was working with in an advanced fiction class. It was a good year for reading. My favorite book of 2024. Oh, also my chin. If I had to pick a favorite out of all these books, it would be...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hope and Fear Well, this is a fine mess. I was out of the country for the past two weeks in Greece. We voted early and planned to be away during the U.S. election, and upon reflection that turned out to be, if you’ll pardon my language, a fucking fantastic idea. Now I’m back, of course, and talking about my wonderful and inspiring and highly stressful trip abroad seems pretty darn off key. As they say, read the room. And the room is pretty darn bummed. It’s easy for me to feel helpless when...
4 months ago • 2 min read
At last, October. With fall officially upon us at the end of September, I start to feel a little more human as the days get shorter and the temperatures start to come down. It’s no secret that summer and I do not get along. Allergies that reared their heads in spring keep right on trying to kill me throughout the dog days of July and August, and as someone who breaks into a sweat any time the temperature is above 75, summer means I perpetually look like I just ran a road race. When October...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Pre-S: If you’re in the St. Louis or Metro East area on Saturday, Oct. 5, I’ll have a table at the Metro East Pride Festival in Belleville, Illinois. Join me and my fellow Bold Strokes Books author Heather O’Malley selling our books as well as a few from other BSB writers. Stop by and say hi and check out the festival. Music to write by. Sort of. This newsletter is a little late—although maybe you didn’t notice. I try to send this out the first Monday of every month, and with the long holiday...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Stories can shine a light in dark times I’ve been reading a book called Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories, by Charlie Jane Anders. Anders has become one of my favorite authors. She wrote City in the Middle of the Night, a fantastic science fiction novel, and she also wrote Victories Greater Than Death, part of a YA sci-fi space opera trilogy (I’ve got books 2 and 3 but am sort of saving them; it’s silly, I know, but I like having some of it to...
8 months ago • 3 min read
Searching for an agent, self-doubt, and Kevin, the voice in my head Welcome to July! June sure was busy, and as we bid farewell to Queer Pride Month and welcome Queer Wrath Month, I’m hoping that July will be a little less hectic, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m still plodding through the revision of the book I’m working on. At the moment, the second draft is clocking in at 58,255 words, and I have about six more chapters to revise, so I think I’m a bit ahead of where I expected the word...
9 months ago • 4 min read
