Me Time
Unfortunately, Here We Are
If you're feeling like me, you're hoping to soon wake up from a bad dream. But unfortunately here we are. So I'll share quotes from two people who've said some helpful things.
First, a piece by Kathleen Schmidt, titled I Believe in Books: For centuries, books have outlasted elections, wars, and much more. People can pick up a book to escape, educate themselves, and evolve when the going gets tough. Even during a global pandemic, books were available as solace. This moment is no different.
Granted, there is work to do, and we, as literary citizens, must fight book bans and ensure children’s literacy is a priority. That must be our resolve. I believe in the fight, and I know many of you agree.
Now, more than ever, we need books. We must ensure the freedom to read and keep moving forward. It won’t be easy; sometimes we will want to give up, but we can’t.
No matter what comes next, I believe in books.
Second, from Betsy Carswell, President of the Golden Crown Literary Society: While we don’t know specifically what is to come, we know that our LGBTQIA+ literature and community, especially our trans and nonbinary family, are under increased threat.
GCLS affirms our commitment to advocate for our literature today and in the days ahead. Our stories are powerful. Our stories change lives. Our stories provide needed hope to those who feel alone. It is our mission to advocate for these stories and their authors, publishers, readers, reviewers, editors, audiobook narrators, et al. We are steadfast in this work.
There is work ahead and we are in that work together. We will roll up our sleeves and get to that work.
Sapphic Lit and Other Book Stuff
A New Biography Transforms Our Understanding of Audre Lorde
Survival is a Promise is not a traditional biography that traces the facts of Lorde’s life from birth to death. Instead, Gumbs offers us what she calls a “cosmic biography,” a luminous deep-dive into various moments throughout Lorde’s life and relationships in a series of 58 poetic, non-linear chapters.
Kate McKinnon Is Now a Farmer, a Carpenter and a Children’s Book Author
Kate McKinnon hopes this book will help the “weird kids” feel less alone. And I feel like this book can accomplish this in two ways – one, by being the weird kid representation we all need, but also because kids are smart and have access to the internet. Some kids are going to love these books and look up their new favorite author, and see that she’s not only a grown up former weird kid thriving, but also an out and proud lesbian, and for some little weird kid, that’s going to make all the difference.
Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick Are Co-Authoring Sapphic YA Romances While Balancing Motherhood | Autostraddle
Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick are busy. They’re moms to a toddler, which would be enough, but Rachael is weeks away from giving birth to the couple’s second daughter. Oh, and they’re about to release their second co-authored book, the holiday YA rom com Make My Wish Come True.
Queer Television Is About More Than Representation | Autostraddle
Shayna Maci Warner’s new book The Rainbow Age of Television: An Opinionated History of Queer TV
'The L Word' Stars Prepare To Tell All In New Memoir - GO Magazine
So Gay For You: Friendship, Found Family, & The Show That Started It All will be released by St. Martin’s Publishing Group and will hit the shelves on June 3, 2025.
Just for Authors: Writer Beware’s Go-To Online Resources – Writer Unboxed
Writer Beware has a very specific purpose: to document and expose schemes, scams, and pitfalls that target writers, and to educate authors on how to recognize and avoid them. As far as we know, we’re the only organization with this exclusive mission. In other words, we aren’t a general-purpose resource: we are quite narrowly focused. We are also a small, all-volunteer team, with limited time and resources.
Writing a Lesbian Novel Should Have Been Easier. It Wasn't | Autostraddle
We found ourselves examining emotions and moments we had thought were long-resolved, pulling at their threads to see if we could stitch them into something new.
'Where the Wild Things Are' Author Maurice Sendak Was a Queer Jewish Visionary - Hey Alma
When Sendak found Ursula Nordstrom, a revolutionary queer publisher and the editor-in-chief of children’s books at what was then Harper & Row Books, it was a perfect match. Nordstrom wanted to create what she liked to call “Good books for bad children,” and Sendak’s work fit the description.
Best Communities for Marketing Your Writing - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
knowing which social media platforms work best for your particular genre
News You Can Use
Dorothy Allison, Author of ‘Bastard Out of Carolina,’ Dies at 75 - The New York Times
Ms. Allison liked to describe herself, as she told The New York Times Magazine in 1995, as a “cross-eyed, working-class lesbian addicted to violence, language and hope.”
Dorothy Allison, Lesbian and Feminist Writer and Activist, Has Died
Some of my favorite teachers in the world are people I’ve never shared a classroom with, and Allison is undoubtedly one of them.
These LGBTQ+ Candidates Made History on Election Night 2024 | Them
As we collectively grapple with the consequences of a second Donald Trump administration, there are downballot victories to celebrate, including historic LGBTQ+ firsts.
Here’s How We Can Help Each Other in Trump’s America (and Beyond) | Autostraddle
a definitely incomplete list of things you can do post-election. These are things to care for yourself, to feel better, to look out for others, to continue to fight against fascism and for a better world for everyone — and to use the next two months to get ready for the next year and the next four years. There will be losses, but there will also be wins. Above all, there needs to be action.
How A 50-Year-Old Lesbian Magazine Is Surviving Despite It All | Autostraddle
This is an audacious story about an audacious group of women, but it’s also a story about the ways queer people have sought one another and found one another across time, and the ways that we figure out how to tell our own stories, despite it all.
Chappell Roan Went Full Country Debuting a New Song on ‘Saturday Night Live’ | Them
a full-on country banger entitled “The Giver” that featured deliciously sapphic lyrics like “only a woman knows how to treat a woman right.”
Chloë Grace Moretz Officially Comes Out as a Gay Woman and an Early Voter | Autostraddle
While Chloë’s sexuality and her relationship with model Kate Harrison has been somewhat “known” for a relatively significant length of time, Chloe has historically kept tight boundaries around confirming these specific details of her personal life.
Country star Maren Morris enters "liberating" new era of music & life after coming out - Queerty
Morris came out as bisexual at the beginning of Pride Month, sharing some concert snaps of her holding a rainbow flag with the simple caption, “Happy to be the B in LGBTQ+. Happy Pride.”
'Agatha All Along' Gives Lesbians Everything They Want with First Sapphic Super Kiss in Marvel's On Screen History | Them
To no one’s surprise, gay girls all over the internet set their phones ablaze posting in ecstasy as well as anguish; the kiss between the two characters, shared during episode eight, was not just a culmination of series-long sexual tension between Agatha and the goth lesbian personification of Death who, as we’ve gleaned throughout the show, have centuries-worth of on-again, off-again ex-girlfriend drama. The kiss was also a consequential climax of a saga between the two dark witches, as Death sought lusty vengeance on Agatha and taunted her throughout the series with the possibility of her demise.
Ilene Chaiken and Jennifer Beals Create Queer Media Company | Autostraddle
The company is called Run-A-Muck, and it will produce film, TV, and live events with the intention of connecting queer artists and creators with their target audience. And while they have some things planned already, they aren’t sharing any details yet.
Comedian Amber Ruffin is proud & wants you to be too! - Queerty
On the final day of Pride Month, Ruffin capped off June in rainbow style.
She came out!
With a big smile on her face and purple tank with “Queer” written down the front, she posted her coming out announcement on Instagram.
Comedian Taylor Tomlinson is the funniest member of her very queer family - Queerty
“Queer relationships are the most beautiful, thoughtful, creative things I’ve ever seen in my life. My sister and her partner are in a romance novel.”
Now Tomlinson can embark on a romance story of her own… as her true, hilarious bisexual self!
Hannah Gadsby on making it big, their pre-show routine & forgetting about straight people - Queerty
While Gadsby’s exhibits their familiar self-deprecating humor throughout the special, they talk about how they’re struggling to grapple with a myriad of existential topics, such as fame and their father’s passing.
3 Queer Women Chefs Changing the Food Industry - Tagg Magazine
times are changing, and this piece shines a light on three trailblazing queer women chefs: Dominique Crenn, Kristen Kish, and Missy Robbins
Maisy Stella Absolutely Would Have Picked Aubrey Plaza To Play Her Older Self | Autostraddle
there were a lot of queer people in the cast that had all talked about it and wanted to make sure it never came across as someone who only likes women and then sees a Calvin Klein model and changes her mind. That never was what it was.
Helpful Tools
Use Porto to Upload All Your Old Tweets to Bluesky | Lifehacker
The extension is called Porto, and it's currently available for Chromium browsers (though plans are in the works to cover Firefox and release the code open source as well). Once you add it to your browser and configure it, you can use it to import many of your tweets and posts to the new social app—even those that predate Bluesky's beta release in late 2022.
A Terrific Quote
Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.