Me Time
Wow! It's Pride Month!
My calendar is full this month and I almost feel like someone else is living my usually quiet life!
There are Pride events (like the opening of the new Stonewall National Visitors' Center and my synagogue's Pride Service), book readings, a high school graduation party, and I'm seeing 3 plays this month! There's definitely a more socially active person who's replaced the usual Cindy.
It's exhausting just to write about. But I'm up to the task. How's your Pride Month looking?
With all of this, I'm still finding time to read. I've become a regular ARC (advance review copies) reader through NetGalley and that's been really wonderful. Two ARCs I read so far this month are worth recommending: Cameron Darrow's new alt history, paranormal mystery, Death Has Golden Eyes, a great follow up to her Ashes series. Also, Kissing Girls on Shabbat by Dr. Sara Glass, a memoir of growing up in a closed ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in NYC, and over many years, coming to terms with her sexuality. Sara's on a book tour now (I hear people who are published mainstream get to do those) and I'll be seeing her reading at the 92nd St Y soon.
Caption above the picture: So what do you like to do for fun? Me:
Sapphic Lit and Other Book Stuff
2024 Winners - Lambda Literary
Massive congratulations to Georgia Beers and Cari Hunter (and BSB) for their Lammy wins.
What Do We Really Mean When We Say “Show, Don’t Tell”? | Jane Friedman
But there’s a reason we must show things when we are in scene and not tell: readers attach to clear actions and emotions. And that’s key to pulling the reader into your story.
Flashbacks vs. Dual Timeline: What’s the Difference? - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
the most important advice for integrating any style of backstory is that the information must be relevant to the current story events and readers’ understanding of the story.
Behind the Scenes: How to Craft Compelling Backstory - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
don’t tell us why they are the way they are—not yet. That’s something you should hold back for later.
What to Ask Your Beta Readers | Jane Friedman
I’ve learned that asking the right questions is just as important as finding the right readers. This is how to do it.
What Is Voice In Writing And How Do You Know If You Have It? | by Stephanie D. Rondeau | May, 2024 | The Writing Cooperative
Voice isn’t something you need to search for or seek out in some mysterious location. But there are some things you can do to define yours a little better for your readers.
Play ball! How the softball diamond shaped & continues to shape queer women's culture - Queerty
an excerpt from A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture by June Thomas
Abbi Jacobson Is Adapting Nonbinary Author Isle McElroy's Novel ‘People Collide’ for TV | Them
The book, which was named one of the best of 2023 by Them, Vogue, Vulture, and more, centers around married couple Eli and Elizabeth. One day, Eli leaves his apartment, only to find that he has mysteriously traded bodies with his wife. On top of that, Elizabeth seems to have disappeared, leaving Eli alone to navigate life within her body. As Eli searches for Elizabeth, he contemplates whether this unexpected body swap will drive them apart, or be exactly what they need for their marriage to work.
Lamya H Is the Nonbinary Author Proving the Power of Queer Muslim Stories | Them
With their acclaimed debut memoir Hijab Butch Blues, Lamya H demonstrates that queer and Muslim narratives are inseparable.
Here’s What I Learned From The Steep Amazon Self-Publishing Learning Curve | by Ellen "Jelly" McRae | The Startup | May, 2024 | Medium
And everything you need to know to avoid making the same mistakes.
How a Self-Published Book Broke ‘All the Rules’ and Became a Best Seller - The New York Times
Keila Shaheen’s first, self-published book became a blockbuster by harnessing TikTok’s potential not only for marketing, but also for direct sales.Credit...
News You Can Use
How to Customize Your Threads Feed, According to Meta | Lifehacker
If you hate your Threads feed, you can change it.
What Is the Lesbian Masterdoc? And Can it Help Me Come Out? | Them
this 30-page document. Now dubbed by readers as “The Lesbian Masterdoc,” this piece of queer internet canon is essentially a guide for women questioning their sexuality. With sections like “What is compulsory heterosexuality?” and “How do I know I’m a lesbian?”, the document is designed to help sapphics navigate questions that come up in the early stages of understanding one’s queerness.
How Many Lesbian Bars Are In The US? We Have All Of Them | Autostraddle
This list is partially born of an incompleteness and rigidity we noticed when it comes to other similar lists in mainstream publications which sometimes exclude smaller bars and bars that might have a more expansive approach to the way they identify and use language but still fit within the overall legacy of dyke bars. We have not included pop-up bars/events on this list but hope to put together a guide of those soon. We welcome community input and are happy to make ongoing additions to the list
LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Now at 7.6%
Women are nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ+, 8.5% versus 4.7%. Bisexuality is the most common form of LGBTQ+ identification among women, while men are equally likely to identify as bisexual or gay.
Half of USA women's basketball team is LGBTQ, Caitlin Clark is out - Outsports
The USA women's basketball will be just about the 'gayest' team at the Paris Summer Olympics, with half the players and 2 out coaches.
Kristen Stewart Is Playing Real-Life Queer Astronaut Sally Ride | Them
“[Kristen] has never done television, but when she read [The Challenger] she became obsessed with telling the story of Sally Ride from her own unique perspective
Reneé Rapp Is Rewriting the Rules of Lesbian Pop Stardom | Them
“‘Lesbian’ was not a good word for me to hear as a kid,” she says, “and now it’s something that I have such a close emotional connection to.”
Cara Delevingne's Sweet Anniversary Post To Girlfriend Minke
“I spent so long looking for my partner in crime, little did I know that it would be someone I went to school with (and had a baby gay crush on). Here’s to many more years being us…”
Tig Notaro Shares How Her Twin Sons First Found Out Their Moms Are Gay
“Their school is six minutes away from our house, and at minute three we were in the front seat of the car talking about something about gay,” she says. “Our son Finn leans forward and says, ‘You’re gay?’”
Abbi Jacobson and Jodi Balfour’s Wedding Was an Ode to Total, Unscripted Togetherness. Look Inside Their Raucous Brooklyn Festivities
We had planned an outdoor ceremony and dinner, but we had to pivot. It was such kismet, because the ceremony was not what we expected, but it was exactly what we’d hoped for.
Actor Maria Bello and Chef Dominique Crenn Got Married and Their Playlist Was Perfection | Autostraddle
When speaking to People about the wedding, Bello shared: “Dom and I have been through the three C’s: cancer, Covid and now commitment. I’ve never been married. Even to my son’s dad. I’ve never taken that step. And that’s an exciting thing too in the second half of my life, deciding who I want to be with, choosing the person that I want to be with.”
A Black Lesbian Couple Won ‘Bridgerton’ Wedding of Their Dreams | Autostraddle
Tiffany Rae and Shanti Hinton are high school sweethearts who attended the 2023 Bridgerton Queen’s Ball fan event in New York City, shortly after Netflix reached out and offered them a wedding straight out of the fairy tale books
Sarah Paulson Doesn’t Live with Girlfriend Holland Taylor After Nearly 10 Years as a Couple
we’re together when we want to be and we’re not when we don’t.
'Baby Reindeer' Star Jessica Gunning Comes Out as "A Big Old Gay" | Autostraddle
British actor Jessica Gunning, who’s best known in the U.S. at this moment for playing Martha in the massive Netflix hit Baby Reindeer. She talked on the podcast Reign With Josh Smith about coming out to herself, her family, and now the world, as a “big old gay.”
Cynthia Erivo on Coming Out as Queer, Bringing Full Self to ‘Wicked’
Cynthia Erivo received the Rand Schrader Award at the annual Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala over the weekend and used her acceptance speech to discuss embracing her queer identity and how it has positively impacted her life.
Bridgerton Star Jessica Madsen Pride Month Post
You know Jessica Madsen from Bridgerton — she plays Cressida Cowper
LGBTQ+ designers share impact of merchandise being dropped from Target stores after Pride backlash - News Is Out
Serrano and Veronica Vasquez are a queer lesbian Latina couple who own JZD, a lifestyle brand celebrating culture every day based in Brownsville, Texas. The women, who’ve been married for almost 10 years, said they were first contacted by Target in 2021 for its Hispanic Heritage Month collection, in which that collaboration launched in 2022. They were excited to be informed Target wanted them to contribute to its 2023 Pride collection.
Helpful Tools
Information Organizers - Good Tools #17 - by Robin Good
tools and apps that can help you organize ideas, notes, documents, links, images and other digital resources in a way that helps you easily find and retrieve them
A Terrific Quote
Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
It is the artist's business to create sunshine when the sun fails.