March was a really busy and amazing month – I can’t believe that it’s already April! In March I had the incredible opportunity to do multiple visits to high schools in NYC with Lost Boi. I still honestly can’t believe that I got to visit with English Classes and LGBTQ clubs with this book – and the questions that they asked, the thoughts they had about characters and plot completely blew me away! I’m just in awe at the depth with which the students engaged with the book. The Lambda Literary Writers in Schools program is so fantastic -I’m really honored to have been selected to be part of it this year.
March was a busy month where I needed to also stay close to home a lot. Sirius my 15 month old puppy got spayed + a preventative gastropexy procedure to prevent bloat so I spent a lot of time helping her to recuperate, which was a nice cozy time of reading and writing.
I’ve still been making my little/leather videos on youtube and having a ton of fun with them and the opportunity to connect with leather community in this new way – especailly with other littles who might not have a lot of access to littles community. Also this month was Easter!!! Lots of fun dying eggs and leaving treats out for the easter bunny was had at my house.
The dogs and I played around with fun trick training this month. My dog Charlotte earned her Expert Trick Title, and I had a lot of fun judging trick titles for other dog/people teams (did you know I’m a Certified Trick Dog Instructor? If you ever want to get into the sport of dog tricks let me know!)
I’ve been working really really hard at school. I have surprised myself with how much I have enjoyed being in this MFA program. I’m writing a bunch, taking exciting risks with my creative work, reading a lot a lot and I’m just so grateful that this is the work that I am getting to do right now and that I’m able to dedicate myself to studying.
In March I also learned that I have been selected as a Finalist for the Point Foundation LGBTQ Scholars Program! This has been a super engaged process – I was thrilled to have been a semi-finalist, and to get to the phone round, to make it to being a finalist is really thrilling. Next step is that I along with all of the other Finalists will be flown to LA for two days of interviews and presenting on my work later in April. ::fingers crossed::
I’m deep in my work on my nonfiction book Left Out: How Marriage Equality Abandoned Homeless LGBTQ Youth. I’m really loving how it’s coming together. This book is a new voice for me, and a new writing process – I’m sending each chapter to my editor at the publishing house as I write. I just actually sent Chapter 2 this morning – it’s a fast-paced exciting way to write where I have been finding myself writing/editing/revising multiple chapters at the same time. I’m thrilled to be in a position to write this book and I’m really excited to get it all on paper and out into the world!
Speaking of writing in the world…. In March I did a lot of writing for a few publications. I wrote my monthly gay pets column at Curve Magazine, Several stories for Dogster: Emotional Support Dogs, Airline Safety for Dogs, Cucumbers, Ending The Dog Meat Trade, Dogs and Mushrooms and a piece for Catster about zoomies! I also wrote a flash nonfiction piece about my writing process for my MFA programs blog titled ‘these words can’t wait for spell check’, and a piece for Lambda Literary about being a Queer graduate student and how I selected the right MFA program for me.
Lots of love to my Patrons over at Patreon! I’ve been sharing lots of new work there – and it’s been such a fun new opportunity to share work that’s in development and to connect with readers! Check out all the fun behind the scenes perks!
Coming Soon:
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m going to be teaching a new writing class with LitReactor in June – Leather/Kink/BDSM Writing for a post fifty shades world! Registration for the class is open now!
xoxo