I’m a huge fan of GLEE (Fox TV). Jane Lynch plays Sue Sylvester, a cheerleading coach with an ax to grind about–well, everything that isn’t her. She does an opinion spot for a local television station and here is her latest on “sneaky gays.” Hilarious.

Sneaky Gays

Just found out that TOASTED has been named a finalist for Best Lesbian Mystery 2009, Lambda Literary Awards!

I’m thrilled to be on the list with fellow nominees:

• Command of Silence, by Paulette Callen (Spinsters Ink)
• Death of a Dying Man, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)
• From Hell to Breakfast, by Joan Opyr (Blue Feather Books)
• The Mirror and the Mask, by Ellen Hart (St. Martin’s/Minotaur)
• Toasted, by Josie Gordon (Bella Books)

Fellow Bella Books/Spinsters authors Rhiannon Argo, JE Knowles, Tracey Richardson, KG MacGregor, and Karin Kallmaker are also on the lists in various categories.

Treat yourself!  Buy some of these wonderful books!

Ran across an interesting idea today while reading The Practice of Creative Writing by Heather Sellers:

“Get in the habit of writing in images instead of putting down all your thoughts hoping to translate them into images later” (122).

I’m entranced by the thought of using this advice as a journaling project.  What would my journal be like if I wrote down only images instead of thoughts?  It reminds me of art journaling–in recent months I have done more drawing and painting in journals.  But what if I kept my journaling words focused only on images?  What would result?

Anyone ever tried anything like this?

I’ve been drafting two hours a day, five days a week, for about three weeks now.  That’s nearly impossible for me during the “high season” at my “real” job, but I’ve been making it happen.  And I don’t allow myself to write any more than that, even if I want to.

So far, I’m not moving along as fast as I’d like.  But I am moving along–and with work I like quite a bit.  So I think I’m further ahead than I would be if I were moving faster and risking burning out.

Do others of you find that pacing yourself, even when you want to press on, is a good way to combat burnout?  Or do you prefer to write while you’ve got the motivation and time–in fits and starts?

So, as I re-enter my “real world” after my vacation on beautiful St. John, USVI, I’m wondering something:  can I take Lonnie Squires out of her humble home in Middelburg, Michigan, USA, and place her in a completely foreign setting for a book?

I know many mystery series do this, notably Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series, but her series was set up that way.   The Lonnie Squires series is established (two books so far with the third under way) as a contemporary “cozy.”  One of the hallmarks of this subgenre is the “fish out of water” character living in a small, closed environment, usually a rural or isolated town of quirky ways and folks.   So, if several books in, the author uprooted the character and took her somewhere else, would that be a fun diversion for series fans?  Or an affront?

I think I’m remembering right that Agatha Christie took Miss Marple out of St. Mary Mead on occasion, but I’m not sure . . .

Ideas, anyone?

There isn’t much as cool as starting the new year–and the new decade– with a full moon, a blue moon, a clear Caribbean sky, temps in the 80s, sea air, family members nearby, and a ginger bush cat with an enormous sense of humor. I’m feeling pretty lucky.

I like to do a review of the year on New Year’s Day. I’m a bit late (blame vacation), but regarding writing, here’s what I’ve learned.

1. I’m a lousy blogger. It seems like something I would be terrific at. I love my computer. I love to talk. I love to write. But the truth is, when I’m done with my “real” job (mostly computer and writing) and then done with my “writing” job (mostly computer and writing) the last thing I want to do is spend another minute on the computer writing! I love answering emails, though.  That I do most any time!  I guess conversations with people are more fun for me than casting thoughts into the blogosphere.

2. Undisciplined ideas can wreck a novel draft the way an untrained German Shepherd can wreck a house. I’ve hadboth, so I know!  I think that’s why I’ve struggled so on Lonnie Squires novel # 3. Too many ideas full of energy running around tearing up the carpet. Gotta get that under control and soon.

3. You never know how your work will affect even the most unlikely people! I’m more mindful now than ever of the importance of writing “true.”

There’s more, of course, but I’m still on vacation on that Caribbean Island and don’t want to think about it all too hard!

Happy New Year to all! I’ll blog when I can. You can always contact me via email.

I just got a new itouch.  So, yes, I admit quite frankly that I’m in love.

But I’m also in love with this great idea from featherproof books:

It is our most whiz-bangy thing-a-ma-jig yet. The TripleQuick Fiction iPhone app.

What’s that you ask? Well, simply put: stories by some of today’s most exciting young writers delivered straight to your iPhone or IPod touch. With the TripleQuick Fiction app you can download new stories in seconds and read them on the go, wherever you are.

And we’re not calling it TripleQuick just cause we like how it rolls off the tongue. These short shorts are only 333 words long. That’s just 3 iPhone screens. You can read one in 3 minutes or less. They were all written with the mobile attention span in mind.

And the app is there, just a buck ninety-nine.

Anyone tried it?

A friend sent me this quote today:

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

-Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)

It has set me thinking.

I can think of many instances from my own life when I’m sure this is true.  Times when I’ve observed someone condemn as immoral a book or film or even an idea, when I know that  person is really trying to avoid facing their own shame, their own knowledge that they have done or thought or felt something that they consider “wrong.”   You probably can think of such instances too.

As a writer of fiction with a lesbian protagonist, I’m especially sensitive to it.  Just featuring such a character in a positive light can be viewed as “advocating” the “homosexual lifestyle”–which, I suppose, it is–which I know plenty of people find immoral.  So I like jumping up on my imaginary soapbox and pointing an imaginary finger at such people and shouting, “Yeah, you, buddy.  Calling me immoral, are you?  Well, have a good look at what you’re really ashamed of inside yourself!”

But I think the rich value of this quote comes in this: I wonder how often I do this as well?   It strikes me as a little suspicious that I can’t think of a single time when I’ve called something immoral just to deflect my own sense of shame.  This probably means I’ve done it for sure!  I mean, if you’re deep in the throes of denying your own shame as you toss about the word “immoral,” then you surely won’t realize it, right?

Hmmm . . . do any of us escape this?

Today I’m going to give that some thought.  What book or film do I find immoral?  Would I actually use that label?  What is it I do when I confront ideas that show me my own shame?

What do you think of all of this?

Maira Kalman is a “graphic” essayist/memoirist–her form isn’t standard comics, but a mixture of painting and photos.  I adore her work, her use of color, her upbeat ways of making meaning.

And if you want to feel good about ways to move forward with our communities–even when it comes to sewage in New York City–your time reading her latest blog couldn’t be better spent.

Thanks to the return of SNL’s Weekend Update Thursday last week, September 17, I’m reminded how much I just love “Really?! With Seth and Amy.”  Something about their angry indignation just appeals to my spirit.  They didn’t do it last night (September 24), and most of the earlier installments are out there on the web.  But if I did this right, this link should take you to the latest episode.

Sept 2009 Really

In the last week I found myself walking through life and writing “Really?!” scripts to everything that bugged me.  That made me laugh, which probably kept my blood pressure down.