October came and went – I can’t believe it’s already November! October was a really busy month for me – I traveled to Utica New York to read from Lost Boi and to talk about writing with students on the Utica College campus. I had a really great time and it was a fun way to get back into touring (I haven’t done much book traveling since touring with Lost Boi when it released in 2014) and to remember that while I don’t love being away from home, I do really adore the opportunity to connect with readers and writers out in the world
Autumn is one of my favorite times of year – and thankfully the weather in brooklyn has started to cool down. October was a busy month of seasonal outings: apple picking, and pumpkin patch, and corn maze, and to an exhibit of 5000 carved pumpkins in the shapes of dinosaurs, and I even got to go to Disneyland in California and see all the amazing halloween decorations! I dressed up as Winnie the Pooh, and the dogs dressed up as cute Brooklyn wildlife! I also have been receiving awesome pictures of readers cosplaying as Pan for Halloween!!!! If you follow me on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter you’ve already seen a lot of those pictures — please friend me!
I was in California last week giving a keynote at the EDGY conference for LGBTQ youth and families in LA. I had never been to the EDGY conference before and had an absolutely amazing time. My keynote “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30 (even me): LGBTQ Youth Homelessness and Programs that Work) talked about being a runaway, what queer culture and community has meant to me, the first representations I saw of runaways, and a little bit of what I’ve learned over the years about nonprofits and LGBTQ homeless youth. I had an incredible time at the conference, my keynote was very well received and most fun of all were the conversations I got to have with so many queer runaways (both current youth, and staff of various service provider organizations). The theme of this years conference was “Embracing Identities” and I feel so privileged that I got to spend the day with so many awesome LGBTQ folks!
Silly Updates:
I have been waiting for the release of the My Little Pony movie for basically a year – I got to go and see it opening weekend, but was SUPER disappointed in the movie. I felt like it just didn’t capture anything about what is so fun and magical about those little ponies! I did however read the newly released chapter book “Ponyville Mysteries: Riddle of the Rusty Horseshoe” which where we see a little bit about Scootaloo’s ( my favorites of the youngest ponies) family life – she lives with her lesbian aunts! Queer content in official pony canon!
Reading:
I’m still keeping up with my GoodReads goal of reading a book a week! I read 5 books in the month of October and the best book I read this month has to be Sherman Alexie’s new memoir “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.” this book was heartbreaking and gorgeous and really just the book that I need to read this month on so many levels. If you haven’t read it yet I definitely recommend it. I also read the first book in the ‘Ever After High’ series and am newly obsessed! As you probably know I love basically all things fairy tales and this series has surprised me by how clever it is in the retellings! Really looking forward to reading more of these books!
Writing:
I did a lot of writing this month – articles on Dogster about everything from: canine flu, crate training, and kennel cough, to my monthly pet column at Curve magazine with my favorite ideas for feminist dog costumes!
I’m still waiting on news about the future of my next novel ‘Foam’ but also got really inspired to get to work on a big new nonfiction book – thanks to a really exciting meeting with a publisher here in NYC. Hopefully I’ll have more news about that, and the re-release of ‘Leather Ever After’ soon!
Now that Halloween is over Christmas is really just right around the corner! If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer for a special someone, your roommate, or that cutie you keep flirting with on instagram consider the gift of books, queer books! Last year I released my first holiday novella ‘A Little Queermas Carol’ – this story is a retelling was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist – I hope you’ll like it! You can order signed print copies & ebooks here
xoxo
Sassafras