The Shoulder Check Problem

A couple of days ago, there was a discussion that sort of flashed past my timeline. An author of gay romance who is also a gay man was expressing the frustration over a sentiment in an m/m group that was posted—“women write the best m/m”—and how unwelcoming it can feel to gay men writing gay …

Just Another Baseball Game

By now, you've likely heard about Thom Brennaman's "accident." He said something homophobic on a hot mic. It went on the air at a baseball game. And, happily, there were consequences for him. He's been suspended, is my understanding. And the Reds put out an almost-decent apology, even. I say "almost decent" because if they'd …

When They Don’t Get It

This week, I was super lucky and was asked to step in at the last minute to talk to a local writing group about queerness, as a replacement. Now, before anything else, I want to say it was a really good overall experience, it went about as well as I ever expect it to, and …

Judging for Yourself

Both the Lammies and the RITAs have announced their finalist lists for the year. Now, before anything else, I want to make sure I begin with a simple declarative here: there are some really great things that are happening on both lists. And there's some buts. I don't know how coherent I'm going to be …

Not All Catholics (or Christians, or…)

Recently, I shared a post on my Facebook about a Denver Archbishop preaching hate in the form of conversion therapy (which is widely debunked and incredibly harmful, just to make that clear). I dismissed him with a series of invectives, and then edited the post after someone asked why I'd share the post in the …

Historical Romance and Queerness as Up For Debate

I recently joined the RWA despite knowing full well it wouldn’t necessarily be a place I’d be welcome. I’m a queer writer of queer stories—including romance—and seeing some forward motion in the organization made me think perhaps it was time. Or at the very least, it was time enough to try and get involved, rather …