» Writers and Writing

TOASTED–a Lambda Literary Award Finalist

Josie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:53:51 +0000

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!

Slow and Steady

Josie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:08:55 +0000

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?

New Blue Year (and Decade)

Josie — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:32:52 +0000

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.

Maira Kalman “For Goodness’ Sake”

Josie — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:36:42 +0000

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.

Toasting Independent Booksellers and Readers!

Josie — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:08:57 +0000

While I was in northern Michigan last week I visted the most fantastic bookstore in Gaylord: Saturn Booksellers. The staff eagerly chatted books with anyone who wanted to and left others alone to browse in silence. I watched as several customers who didn’t know each other picked up a lively conversation over a “staff recommendation” display. I sat in a comfy chair and browsed. I visited the coffee shop. I laughed over hilarious t-shirts and bumper stickers. I loved the stellar selection of books and marveled at the impressive programs of visiting authors. In fact, the author signing that night was Wade Rouse,whose memoir At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream chronicles his move with his partner from the city to the “wilds” near Saugatuck, Michigan.

So hear I am in Gaylord, a small town up north known for hunting and fishing and snow machines and the featured visiting author is and openly gay memoirist. And they were expecting a big crowd! Wow! I fell in love with this town, with this bookstore.

I couldn’t find WHACKED on the shelves, not even in the Michigan author section, which was sort of a bummer. But when I asked, it turned out they did have it, only mis-shelved. I signed it, promoted TOASTED and then had a good time spending some money. It’s the kind of place you want to buy stuff just to support them.

And then I noticed what I think is the best marketing approach I’ve ever seen for a bookstore: “Helping to keep Gaylord interesting . . . “. Not only do they claim their own value to the local community, but they also remind their customers of their own personal value to the community. It made me think, “Yeah! I as a smart, independent reader, am a natural resource for my hometown!”

Cool huh?

We discerning readers, who read beyond the stuff selected by the big chains’ corporate buyers, bring extra value to our worlds by keeping things interesting with our alive minds, the different things we know and have encountered, the unusual connections we can weave between ideas. We are percolators. In addition, we keep independent businesses alive– both local independent bookstores and specialty presses like Bella Books. These are business, voices, and perspectives that could disappear if we weren’t spending our time and money enjoying what they have to offer. Their presence keeps diverse possibilities open for ourselves and for those who come after us.

It’s a smart marketing campaign because it enlists buyers to be part of an effort to do well for their hometown by purchasing books, but it’s also smart because it’s true.

Researching the next Lonnie Squires Mystery

Josie — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:00:10 +0000

Just returned from a lovely relaxing trip into the “wilds” of northern Michigan (that’s the northern part of the lower peninsula) that was both vacation and research for the third Lonnie Squires mystery, DITCHED. Mancelona, Gaylord, Topinabee, Cheboygan, Mackinaw City and other wonderful places. I’m not going to say much else about it for now except that the Nun Doll Museum is something quite wonderful, as is the fudge in Mackinaw City, though in a different way. I think Lonnie would be interested in both. Still, who knows where that book will take her? At this point, I still don’t!

Come on, Get TOASTED!

Josie — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:31:55 +0000

The second Lonnie Squires mystery, TOASTED, available September 1!

Cousin Donna Hancock’s Loaves and Fishes Culinary Ministries evangelical cooking school road show–think about it. Lonnie Squires has to.

Trying to redeem her good name in the little town of Middelburg, Lonnie volunteers as additional security for Cousin Donna’s traveling program. Her ultimate goal is supporting her own sanity with her beloved soccer. But she can’t play by herself and no one will play with her if people are trash talking behind her back. A good deed might just restore social harmony.

It’s a good plan, until someone partakes of Cousin Donna’s Tasty Toast Points with Sunny Spirit Salmon Spread and ends up decidedly deceased. People in high places decide it’s Lonnie’s job to prove that the toast wasn’t tainted.

Cousin Donna and her entourage are hiding secrets, but is one of them the secret recipe for murder? Is Lonnie right to be suspicious of every morsel she eats, wondering if it will be her personal last supper?

Sleuth Lonnie Squires once again discovers that doing the right thing can go very wrong. This the second title in Josie Gordon’s Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery series combines culinary mayhem with big politics in a small town.

Whoo hoo! It is exciting to hold a new book in your hands, though I have to confess I’m always a little mystified: “did I really write that???” Especially when I’m so embroiled in the next book.

You can order your copy now from your local independent bookstore. Be sure to tell them this is the second in a series and that the first, WHACKED, won a Lambda Literary Award for best Lesbian mystery of 2008.

Can wait to get a taste of the new story? Read more about it, including the first two chapters to whet your appetite.

Episcopal Church Triennial Opens

Josie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:20:03 +0000

Why in heaven’s name am I writing about a heckuva big church meeting?

Well, because one of the main reasons I chose to focus my mystery series around the life of a lesbian Episcopal priest stems from my witnessing of the LGBT community’s struggles for full inclusion in the Episcopal Church. I’m not a particularly churchy person, though I believe I am a faithful one. However, I have several close friends who are churchy–who, in fact, are priests. And gay. And while I have not cared much about what churches officially think of me in decades (because I long ago gave them up as hubs for judgmental hazing), my friends do care. So I started paying attention.

Six years ago, I visited the convention just as Gene Robinson’s election as Bishop of New Hampshire was confirmed. Many of you know Gene is the first openly gay person to reach that office and his selection as bishop kicked off a firestorm of anti-gay sentiment around the globe. But on the evening in which he celebrated his first Eucharist as the newly confirmed Bishop-Elect, I stood in the crowd and wept. My emotions stunned me. I didn’t think I cared. I’m still not particularly churchy, but it is an amazing thing to walk into a place that has always “hated” you and realize here, now, you are not hated. I think that was the first time in my life I stood inside a mainline Christian church that had accepted me and others like me, without any “love the sinner, hate the sin” caveats.

Three years ago I witnessed the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop, the first female “primate” of the Anglican Communion. It kicked off a firestorm of anger around the globe. I was also present as the governing bodies debated–often in horrific hate-filled terms–the full inclusion of baptized LGBT folks in the sacraments of the church. That was the first time I’d ever been in a room with that level of hate (I guess I can count myself lucky that until then I’d only seen it on TV.) In my opinion, there was little of the Good News of the Gospel evident in what transpired for LGBT folks as the delegates adopted a moratorium on giving full inclusion to the LGBT community. We wept again, only this time in sadness at the victory of hate and fear and sin. Change had seemed so possible; hope made the continued discrimination even more horrible to bear.

It was after this experience that I decided to write about a priest wrestling with these issues in her own life, trying so very very hard to be a person of faith holding to a religion which she just knows grows from something other than the narrowness that defines it for so many. I actually dreamt about Lonnie Squires and the folks of Middelburg. They came swirling whole out of the mists of my own life-long querulous relationship with the church. I’d like to be contented with religion some day. I’d like for it to be contented with me. But maybe that’s not how dynamic spirituality works. I don’t know. That’s why I explore it through Lonnie’s investigations of mysteries.

So, I look forward to this next triennial convention with no expectations for a good or a bad outcome for the LGBT faithful. I only know that heroes will step forward again, working to change the world. That hate and love will clash, both in the name of Christ. That hearts will be wrung out and broken no matter what happens. Everyone cannot be kept happy. So what “good” will those in power choose? What will the nature of the “loss” be? Will some be kept out so that others will continue to come? Or will all be invited, perhaps moving others to choose to leave?

To me, these are easy questions and the path that should be chosen is clear. I’d be a lousy politician in a situation like this convention. But that’s why I’m a novelist and others, thank God, are doing the hard work of transforming hearts and minds right there in the Anaheim Convention Center. I’m not going this year, by the way. I don’t think I could take it if things go badly. I can’t stand watching my friends’ hearts broken again in the name of Christ. Those who are there are so very much braver than I!

In my next post, I’ll list some websites of interest in case you want to keep up on all of this with me.

Facebook Willies

Josie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:18:54 +0000

I recently set up a facebook account. I love the idea of using it to help readers find out more about me and my books. But ultimately I hope folks will visit the blog. It’s all I can do to keep one thing updated! But I recently read an article that 65% of lesbians use facebook (slightly less for gay men, both compared to less than 50% of the heterosexual population). At first this surprised me, but once I thought about it, it made a lot of sense. After all, many folks dare not be open about their sexuality where they live and work for fear of job loss and social troubles. And even if they do dare, it can be hard to make connections with others.

These are things my protagonist Lonnie Squires faces constantly–the fear of having her life go all to hell if she outs herself. The belief as she looks around her that even if she did come out, she’d be the only one. A serious lack of community.

Maybe Lonnie needs to get a facebook account. That could provide plenty of scary stuff for an upcoming book! What would I call it? Faced. Booked. Networked to Death.

Anybody have any ideas about why homosexuals use social networks so much more than straight folks?

Writing Extravaganza

Josie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:44:35 +0000

This week I’ve hooked up with a group of writers with one shared goal: to write for 30 hours between Monday morning and Friday dinner. That may not sound like a lot, but that’s on top of “real life.” We aren’t a writing group, in that we aren’t sharing any of our work with each other, though that’s not prohibited. We’re just getting together to keep each other at the keyboard and off of email and the phone. I think it will be good. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll be working on some nonfiction, stuff I’ve had in my head that wants to be put on paper.