In 2016 I’m committing to more regularly updating my website, and am aiming for at
least monthly. I used to be such an active blogger, and miss it! January is always a bit of a strange month for me because it means that Christmas (my favorite time of the year) is truly over, this year it also included some drop from our special vacation to Disney World and Christmas at the same time. I got 2016 off to a really fun start though. I rang in the New Year in the polar swim jumping into the ocean at Coney Island here in Brooklyn. This was my 6th year doing the polar swim, so it’s become quite a tradition and definitely leaves you feeling refreshed!
I’ve started (gingerly) writing again! After Lost Boi released last spring I took the rest of the year off to concentrate on releasing the book, touring, and now am slowly feeling the desire to start writing again. I had a whole novel outlined and then fell out of love with it, we broke up and I put it In a box. Maybe I’ll come back to it someday, maybe I won’t. One of the things I think I may be destined to learn and relearn is that the pressure I put on myself is my own creation and ultimately not very helpful. Just because I outlined a book doesn’t mean I have to write it- writing is supposed to be fun and that means I get to go where my passions lead me. Once I put that outline away, I immediately found myself inspired and hammered out a solid chunk of words on a story I’m much more inspired by. That story and I are spending some quality time tenderly getting to know one another. I’m continuing to write articles for a few publications (mostly Curve Magazine and dogster.com).
I’ve been reading a lot of books and have seriously committed myself to the goal of finishing a book a week. I started this somewhat informally when I got home from tour last spring and found it to be a really great self-care practice. I committed in earnest to reading a book a week for 2016, and am tracking my progress on Goodreads. So far I’ve been averaging about two books a week- and as a result replaced my expired library card (I didn’t know they could expire!) and have gotten really friendly with my local library! Last week one of the books I read was Amanda Palmer’s “The Art Of Asking.” I definitely don’t agree with everything in the book, but it gave me a lot to think about. Please friend me on Goodreads, I love to see what other people are reading!
This month I had the opportunity I to attend the Beyond Housing conference which is a national convening of activists and service providers working on issues of homelessness around the country. I co-presented a workshop “Formerly Homeless LGBTQ Youth: Today and Tomorrow’s Movement Leadership” with Jama Shelton who I worked with on the Advocate magazine pride feature with a couple of years ago on the same topic. We had intended the workshop was going to be spaces for formerly homeless queer youth advocates and service providers to talk amongst ourselves. Unfortunately we ended up being the only LGBTQ programming on the conference schedule so had to turn our workshop into a much-needed LGBTQ 101 training. While I’m glad we were able to provide those resources to conference attendees, it definitely was disappointing that the safe space we had designed to give advocates and providers who are formerly homeless queer youth a place to strategize from couldn’t happen.
In less serious January news I had one of the legendary Brooklyn rainbow bagels – SO YUMMY and ADORABLE! Much to the judgment of my three real cats, this month I have discovered and gotten completely sucked into the incredibly cute game Neko 
Atsume. Basically, it’s a super advanced tamagotchi (which I was super obsessed with in the 90s- why can’t you still buy those?!) Lots of folks I know online have gotten really into the game too, are you playing Neko Atsume? Right now I’m on a quest to try to get Sassy Fran to come visit my kitty 
cafe, but so far she hasn’t visited. This January I also went to see Star Wars twice, I think BB-8 is the cutest robot ever, and follow the Skywalker theory (though I think the Kenobi theory is interesting too). I also have been spending a lot of time in toy store isles searching for the mostly absent Rey action figures- finally today I was successful!
After some really warm (for us) weather around Christmas, it seems that winter has FINALLY arrived in NYC currently we are buried under about 30 inches of snow. I love 
winter so you won’t be hearing any complaints from me! All of this snow fell over about 24 hours. I happily spent the storm eating yummy snacks, playing video games, binging on cartoons and reading a bunch. I’ve also been having loads of fun playing in the snow with my pup Charlotte. Snow is her favorite so she’s pretty blessed out by getting to
bound into snow banks taller than she is! My Chihuahua mix is channeling his inner Disgust
(have you seen Disney’s Inside Out?! – it’s my new favorite movie and I’ve been watching it probably at least once a week since I got it for Christmas).
Neko Atsume and snow aside, by far, the most exciting part of January came last week when I got the news that Lost Boi has been included on the American Library Association’s “over the rainbow” list of top LGBTQ books for adults!!!! It is such an honor to have Lost Boi included amongst so many other awesome books that came out in 2015!!! You can check out the whole list here
Upcoming:’
- I have a short story published in the newly released Glitter & Grit Queer Performance from the Heels on Wheels Femme Galaxy anthology and will be reading at the Brooklyn release event at JACK on February 5th if you are local I hope to see you there!!! Event info here on Facebook
- This spring I will be back to present/read at Saints & Sinners queer literary festival in New Orleans! Just got my plane tickets last night and am super excited to be back at the festival and getting to spend time with some of my favorite queer authors!
I’m committed to more frequent updating of my website in 2016 but for more frequent (like really really frequent) updates on what I’m working on, micro blogging, what kind of bubble tea I’m drinking, pictures i’m coloring, quarter machine toys, and cute dog pictures please friend me on Facebook, Twitter Instagram and/or Fetlife!
xoxo