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?

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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 […]

I had hoped to spend the year holding Democratic politicians to their promises of living wages, racial justice, gender equity, greater LGBTQ equality … the progressive dream list was long. Instead I’ll be fighting Republicans to save Medicare, Social Security and the environment. I wrote a blog back in November about how I’d deal with […]

Let’s just all agree that 2016 uniquely sucked. Not only did it bring the violent massacre of our brothers and sisters in Orlando, it gleefully shoved that vile hatred and bigotry in our faces. I personally will feel the rage of this year’s elections for the rest of my years, no matter what the future […]

It’s been over a month now. Every single morning since Election Day, my first waking thought is that Americans chose as their 45th President an ignorant narcissist instead of a woman who arguably was the most qualified candidate ever. Yet I’m reminded daily in the press and on social media that Americans should strive for […]

It’s been nine days. I still wake up in the night mired in the horror of our political reality, with the feeling of a foot on my throat. I once had faith in the overall goodness of America — but no more. I’m disappointed in family, and in many I once thought were friends. They […]

I was in Dallas a couple of weeks ago discussing Trial by Fury with the Women With Pride Book Club at their brand new Resource Center. These women have rolled out the welcome mat for dozens of lesbian writers who come from all over the country (world?) to talk about their work with readers who […]