In December of 2017, a cake baker in Colorado argued before the Supreme Court that being compelled by state law to use his artistic abilities to create a wedding cake for a gay couple violated his Christian beliefs. The ACLU took the couple’s side, arguing that an exception based on religious beliefs opens the door […]

Those of you who’ve been kind enough to follow my blog may sometimes wonder why you bother, since I’ve done a miserable job of keeping it updated. It’s a fair question, and I owe you an answer. I’ve been busy. No, really busy. I spent pretty much the whole of January and February bent over […]

Romance on the public dime. If you’re like me, you’re angry and indignant when it’s someone from the other political party, and disappointed when it’s one of our own. Either way, it exposes a weakness, a character flaw — the allure of sex and/or love proved stronger than one’s sense of duty to the public. […]

Nothing feels like this — finishing a manuscript and sending it off to the publisher & editor. It’s a weird feeling when you’ve been pouring 8-10 hours a day into something and all of a sudden it’s done. Even after just a few hours (and two more episodes of Prisoners’ Wives), I feel strangely guilty, […]

On the heels of my Top 10 list comes my other annual rite — resolutions for the coming year. I’ve always appreciated how the mark of a New Year makes us look ahead with aspirations to be somehow “better.” But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. To be healthier, we must […]

Welcome to my 12th annual Top 10 list. Each year after Christmas, I look back over my calendars, social media posts and blogs, and try to zero in on the most noteworthy bits and pieces so I can memorialize them in one place. If you’ve followed me at all this year on social media, you’ve […]

The good news is that I’m about halfway through my next book. I still like it (mostly), though a couple of times I hit that familiar hurdle when I convinced myself it was utter garbage because I’m a hack. Each time I was able to back up and rework the gnarly bits until I liked […]

For me, it all started with Xena: Warrior Princess. I watched every minute of every episode hoping to see onscreen something I knew was running rampant when the cameras turned away — romantic love between Xena and Gabrielle. Instead I got 134 episodes of subtext with wink-wink deniability, and a studio vehemently proclaiming this wasn’t […]

It’s complicated. No question it was sexual harassment, but I dealt with it assertively and put it down. The problem came later when we talked about it, and later still when I worked through it for lessons on how to protect myself. He was one of my early professional mentors, a divorced man 20+ years […]

You know exactly what I mean. I once shared that my most creative moments of the day were as I fell asleep or languished in bed after waking. In those few minutes, my mind would wander to story ideas, plot twists and all the machinations that go into tying together the threads of a book. […]

Ever have one of those days where you spend five hours writing an angry manifesto and then delete it so people won’t think you’ve gone off the deep end?

OHare shuttle CrownePlaza friends smiles hugs hotdogs icecream drinks liars coffee vendors books panel Barbie friends smiles hugs raffle Comella membership presentation anime todayspoliticalclimate vendors tacos spotlight chocolatebras panel AMFA panel Hamilton pasta poetry pajamas friends smiles hugs cosplay virus autographs auction coffee panel todayspoliticalclimate TwoMommies rehearsal tuxedo shoes shiny Goldies thankyou clangingramp RainbowGap groupdance […]

I’m off next week to Chicago for the 11th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference. Pictures to follow — hope to see you there! In the meantime, gots a new book! Moment of Weakness is ready for pre-order at Bella Books. In honor of that, I thought you might like to do some pre-reading. This […]

This time next week I’ll be in New York for the 29th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, which recognize excellence in literature from the LGBTQ community. From over 900 submissions, our judges chose 143 finalists. Come Monday June 12th at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (near Washington Square), we’ll announce winners in 23 categories. […]

UPDATED BELOW WITH YOUR DONATIONS Yes, I usually announce upcoming releases a LOT sooner. This one was different because I wasn’t even sure until today that I’d get it turned in on time. Now that it’s off for a line edit, I’m confident we’ll get it to the formatters soon. Are you ready for the […]

I get asked this question a lot. It’s one I stumble over, and if you read more than one interview or see me fielding this at multiple events, you’re likely to notice that I give different answers. Early books that moved me were written by or about women I wanted to be. Joy Adamson, Dian […]

I blame Netflix for the travel bug. I’m addicted now to European TV and film, especially crime thrillers, political intrigue and farce. Ergo we’re off to London today having planned the flight and hotel but nothing else. It’s like starting a book based on an opening scene with no idea of what happens next, a […]

I turned nine years old in 1964, the same year public schools in Wilmington NC began what would be a long, tumultuous journey to desegregation that peaked with the wrongful convictions of the Wilmington Ten. I planned my own birthday party that year, a campout in the back yard with five girls from my fourth […]

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I had this in my phone at 7:00pm. That’s because I live on the East Coast. THIS EVENT IS AT 4:00PM LOCAL TIME!!!! You probably wonder why lesbian authors do bookstore events, so let me clear that up: This is how we all get rich. And famous. Dozens of people — hundreds even […]

Several years ago, I was working through a checklist my attorney had provided to guide me through the process of setting up a revocable trust. The idea was to simplify my estate by putting all of my belongings in one place so they could be distributed without creating a legal and tax nightmare for my […]