Me Time
On Getting Back to Writing
I figure if I put my stake in the ground here, I'll have to actually do it. It's been a while (i.e., a long while) since I stopped writing fiction and I have a trilogy to finish. Book 3's chapters are sitting in my computer impatiently tapping their feet and pointing to the watches on their wrists.
I also made a list of essay titles that I want to write and even a name for this currently in-my-mind-only Substack. So I'd better get to it.
I will. I will. Starting in June. Because the foot tapping is getting louder every day, much like a strange version of the tell-tale heart.
In the meantime, I'll share a fun profile of me courtesy of Alex Bateman, GCLS' Communications Director. It's one in a series for each of our board members. The first panel is reproduced here but the full profile can be found on GCLS's Instagram page. Just click on the arrows for the full thing. And click around to find out about our other board members.
Sapphic Lit and Other Book Stuff
Another catfishing sapphic fiction author
Massive thanks to Jae for publishing this and to those in our community who uncovered this.
We’re not making these accusations lightly. We have investigated this matter very thoroughly and independently of each other, yet we all came to the same conclusion. Our goal isn’t to drag a fellow author through the mud; it’s to protect the people who were deceived by someone they considered a trusted author or even a friend.
Author Taylor Jenkins-Reid Comes Out As Bisexual, Just Like Evelyn Hugo | Autostraddle
Reid is getting out ahead of the story, telling Time, “It has been hard at times to see people dismiss me as a straight woman, but I also didn’t tell them the whole story.” She recalls growing up as a tomboy, falling for a boy as a teenager, and then for a woman in her early 20s. “This was the late ’90s, so nobody was talking about bisexuality,” Reid told Time. “And if they were, it was to make fun of people… The messages about bisexuality were you just want attention or it was a stop on the way to gayville. I found that very painful, because I was being told that I didn’t know myself, but I did.” She says her husband views her bisexuality as “a room in the house that is my identity.”
Taylor Jenkins Reid on Atmosphere, Adaptations, and Identity | TIME
After Evelyn Hugo went viral, suddenly readers were looking for other books by Reid—many of them, according to Barnes & Noble senior director of books Shannon DeVito, arriving in stores to film content and find backlist titles. Word of mouth has always been key to an author’s success. “It can’t be reverse engineered,” Reid says. “It just happens when it happens.”
An author responds: Why is sex so scary to book banners? • SC Daily Gazette
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is a historical coming-of-age novel about a 17-year-old Chinese American girl discovering her identity as a lesbian in 1950s San Francisco.
In addition to the National Book Award, it won the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian Pacific American Literature Award, a Printz Honor, a Walter Dean Myers Honor, and dozens more accolades.
And yet South Carolina’s Board of Education has reduced it to a few paragraphs about sex. This is a fundamental misreading of the novel and a gross misunderstanding of the purpose of fiction.
I’m a Professional Editor & These Are the 4 Biggest Mistakes New Writers Make | by Maria Cassano | Write A Catalyst | May, 2025 | Medium
The good news? It’s easy enough to fix when you know exactly what to look for.
New Writing Resource: A Character Type & Trope Thesaurus - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
a resource that helps writers better use tropes by providing each one’s behaviors, strengths, flaws, tendencies, and more, so they could write characters with confidence
Book Review: ‘A Sharp Endless Need,’ by Marisa Crane - The New York Times
In “A Sharp Endless Need,” two female high school athletes get lost in a vortex of passion while grappling with deeper wounds.
The Hidden Costs of AI Copyediting Tools: An Editor’s Review | Jane Friedman
For copyediting tools, I specifically evaluated Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, ProWritingAid, and AutoCrit.
My School Visit was Cancelled. I Fought Back and Won. | Opinion | School Library Journal
I’m not just a children’s book author. I’m also a former trial lawyer. So instead of walking away muttering about injustice, I spent some quality time with my contract.
Threads Is the Best Platform to Earn Money as a Writer in 2025 | by Mohab A.Karim | Write A Catalyst | Apr, 2025 | Medium
You get paid for posting what they call “qualifying Threads.” To count as qualifying, a Thread needs to reach a certain number of views. How many? That depends on your individual payout tier, which Meta assigns to you.
These are the three known view thresholds:
Tier 1: 750 views Tier 2: 1,750 views Tier 3: 5,000 views It doesn’t matter if your post gets 5,001 views or 5 million — once it crosses the minimum, it counts as one qualifying Thread.
Meta is rewarding you for how often you create engaging posts, not for one-off viral hits.
In other words: when it comes to Threads bonuses, quantity beats occasional quality.
News For A Challenging Time
How Much Do People Pay for Newsletters Like Substack? It Can Be Surprising. - The New York Times
Because the category is relatively new, there isn’t enough public data yet on who is paying for newsletters, or how many they are paying for.
How the Oct. 7 aftermath splintered the New York Dyke March – The Forward
For some of those caught up in the Dyke March drama, it was evidence that a space that was once a refuge was now the opposite. “I feel too queer for Jewish spaces,” Kreines said, after the statement went out, “but I also feel too Jewish for queer spaces.”
What It Actually Looks Like When Trans People Follow Bathroom Bans - cindyt.rizzo@gmail.com - Gmail
In addition, earlier this month, two cisgender women were ordered to leave a Boston hotel after a security officer demanded one of them show identification to “prove” her sex while using the women’s restroom.
"We have to do a better job in the world linking bathroom hypocrisy to [discrimination]
Two Cis Women Kicked Out of a Boston Hotel Bathroom After One Was Ordered to "Prove" Sex | Them
A queer couple said they were ordered to leave a Boston hotel on Saturday after a security officer demanded one of the women to show identification to “prove” her sex while using the women’s restroom. Both women are cisgender.
The Moderate Case Against Transgender Sports Bans
Bans on transgender competition in sports tend to be controversial, with some even otherwise supportive people siding with such bans. I present the moderate case against doing so.
RAINN Drops Resources After Trump’s D.E.I. Executive Orders - The New York Times
Fearing funding cuts, the anti-sexual-violence organization RAINN barred referring callers to resources for L.G.B.T.Q. people, immigrants and other marginalized groups.
For LGBTQ nonprofits, Trump’s orders target their very existence
Los Angeles LGBT “has been told it must remove terms like ‘LGBT’ (which is in the organization’s name), ‘queer,’ ‘trans’ and ‘transgender’ from its materials” or forfeit its $2.25 million grant from the U.S. Office of Family Violence and Prevention Services, lawyers for the group and others targeted by the administration have told a federal judge as part of an ongoing lawsuit in Oakland.
Major social media platforms fail to protect LGBTQ users, advocacy group GLAAD says | AP News
The scorecard assigns numeric ratings to each platform with regard to LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression. Elon Musk’s X received the lowest score at 30 out of 100, while TikTok came in highest at 56. Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Google’s YouTube were in the 40s
Coming Out of the Closet Was a Liberation. Why Are Some Peeking Back In? - The New York Times
It doesn’t require some imaginative leap into an Orwellian dystopia to conjure an America in which trans people are divided into those who can pass and those who can’t, or in which gay people must once again deny their identities in order to hold on to their jobs, apartments or children.
Under Trump, Corporations Are Divesting From Pride. Here's What It Means for LGBTQ+ Orgs | Them
In addition to Target sunsetting its existing DEI initiatives earlier this year, Anheuser-Busch and Comcast reportedly declined to sponsor this year’s San Francisco Pride Parade, while Citi, Nissan, and PepsiCo are no longer providing financial support to NYC Pride. Major businesses like John Deere and Tractor Supply, meanwhile, had already publicly declared that they would not sponsor any Pride events for the foreseeable future, in response to last year's right-wing, anti-trans backlash.
Salt Lake City backs 3 new flags to get around Utah ban on Pride flags
The city’s three new flags mix the existing Salt Lake City flag design with elements of flags celebrating various communities that were barred from being flown at public buildings.
Culture and Joy
Which WNBA Team Should You Root For This Season?
I made you a guide, explaining what is gay and what is diabolical about each team. You're welcome!
Kristie Mewis and Sam Kerr Had Their Baby, Are Officially Soccer Moms!
The two posted an adorable selfie on Instagram announcing their baby boy Jagger Mewis-Kerr, the caption reading: “Our little man is here.”
Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley’s New Movie ‘Honey Don’t’ Might Break the Sapphic Internet | Them
Qualley has been tapped to play the lead lesbian in the film, the second in a planned trilogy of queer B-movies from married couple Coen and Cooke who also wrote and directed Drive-Away Dolls
Lesbian Stans Are Finally Driving Pop Culture. Is It Enough? | Them
If 2024 was the year of the celebrity lesbian — think Chappell Roan, Kehlani, Reneé Rapp, Sasheer Zamata, and more — then 2025 seems poised to become the year of the lesbian stan. From viral clips of celebrities on talk shows giving sapphic viewers exactly what they want — Kathryn Hahn, I’m looking at you — to the noticeable changes that have been made to the plots of beloved TV shows like Yellowjackets and Sex Lives of College Girls
Kristen Stewart Wants Her Directorial Debut to 'Crash and Burn' at Cannes
The 35-year-old actress-turned-director was frank when she told the outlet she simply "cannot believe" that she managed to get her new movie into the prestigious festival. "There’s not a more eloquent way [to say it]. We barely finished this movie. It’s not even done," Stewart admitted. "I need to come home and literally have two more weeks in color and sound. This is my f------ first draft."
Why Raven-Symoné Doesn't Share A Bed With Her Wife
"You are such a sporadic, bizarre sleeper, and I really need sleep to function. I was like, 'We should have separate bedrooms, then we could each decorate our rooms the way we want,' because you had a different vibe."
Dove Cameron Recalls Coming Out After Queerbaiting Claims
“I had to basically go on Instagram Live at the time and be like, ‘Guys, I’m not queerbaiting, I am queer. And I just wanted more fucking representation in the fucking cartoon. And the emoji was just hinting at the music video!’” she said.
Excerpt: Read (and Listen!) From Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs' Memoir
In this exclusive excerpt, Kristin writes about approaching one of the most challenging moments in her collaborative career with Jenny: how to tell their thriving community of listeners that the inspirational gay marriage they’d built the podcast around had dissolved. Jenny and Kristin were getting divorced.
Lauren Chan Is the First Out Lesbian to Appear Solo on the ‘SI Swimsuit’ Cover | Them
After becoming the first queer plus-size model for the brand in 2023, she is now the first out lesbian to grace a solo cover of the magazine’s famous Swimsuit edition.
Cynthia Erivo Will Play 23 Roles (And Sing One Song) in a ’Dracula’ Stage Adaptation | Them
The Wicked actress will star as the titular vampire, as well as the 22 other roles, in an adaptation of Dracula set to debut in London’s West End in February 2026, per Deadline. T
Bourbon, Beignets, And Babes: A Queer Girl's Guide To New Orleans - GO Magazine
Lesbians, gays, pans, transfolks, and all of our community’s sparkly rainbow stripes aren’t just embraced here, they’re celebrated
Reneé Rapp Announced New Music With a Series of Thirst Traps | Them
Rapp took to her Instagram and TikTok accounts to post two short videos teasing her new song “Bite Me,” seemingly confirming the long-suspected rumor that she would be releasing new music in the near future. And thankfully, we won’t be waiting for long. The captions for both videos were short and sweet, simply reading: “MAY 21.”
Maren Morris Gets Candid About How Dating Women Feels Different From Dating Men - GO Magazine
In a refreshingly honest interview, Maren Morris opens up about navigating connection, chemistry, and confusion while dating.
How Kara Swisher Scaled Even Higher - The New York Times
Ms. Swisher's reach in the media world goes far beyond Vox Media. She is finalizing a deal for a documentary series about cheating death, produced with EverWonder Studio, probably for CNN, where she said she already earns around $250,000 annually as a contributor. She is working on a book about mortality and future tech. There is a potential TV show based on her memoir and another possible series about tech moguls. She also serves as a consultant on a D.C. version of the series “The L Word.”
Science Backs It Up: Donor-Conceived Kids Of Lesbian Moms Are Thriving - GO Magazine
study, titled “The Psychological Adjustment of Donor-Conceived Offspring of Lesbian Parents Over Two Decades: Differences by Donor Type and Contact With the Donor,” draws on data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running research project of its kind. It followed 70 donor-conceived participants, evaluating them at multiple points in their lives: ages 10, 17, 25, and most recently, 30 to 33.
Helpful Tools
How to Set Up and Use USPS Informed Delivery to Preview Your Mail - CNET
Whether you're trying to catch that long-awaited check or just don't want to walk to the mailbox unless it's worth it, Informed Delivery is a simple, free way to stay one step ahead of your snail mail.
