K.G. MacGregor's Blog, page 11

Dear Dairy

Who writes to a cow? Perhaps when you’re up pasture bedtime and in the mood to share something you herd. Udder nonsense. Turns out Spellcheck isn’t a perfect editor. Many years ago, I came within a curly hair of turning in a dissertation that contained three references to pubic opinion. Lucky I didn’t muff that […]

Real lesbians don’t do that

(UPDATED BELOW) What does it even mean to be an “authentic” lesbian in an era when sexuality is increasingly believed to reside on a fluid continuum? When societal taboos against same-sex behavior no longer carry an intensely prohibitive stigma? When relationships between women are considered by some to be part of natural sexual development? I […]

2.1 :: Alice B!!!

 

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The writer struggles ... I've been poking around for days looking for the words to express how humbled I was last week to receive the 2012 Alice B. Medal from their Reader Appreciation Awards Committee. What makes this such a tremendous honor is knowing how much the award means to those who bestow it. It isn't just this spiffy medal, but also a generous cash award, all from the kindness of a group of readers who truly celebrate lesbian stories. That's ... just ... so ... For twenty minutes or so, all I could manage was, "Wow," over and over.

The Award's founder, Roberta "Sandy" Sandburg, passed away a couple of years ago, but she left a legacy for all of us -- a tangible reminder that writers plus readers make a community. I hope to honor her memory by always keeping in mind the very real people on the other end of my books. Thank you to the Awards Committee for this wonderful, wonderful honor!

It was great to see so many familiar faces again in Burbank at the Xena convention. There was some noise about this being the "Final Journey" but the organizers have decided to reconvene one more time next year. I'm not sure any of the Xena fans I know will ever think of their personal Xena journey as final. It sounds trite, but I truly feel the Xena spirit lives inside us all in the way we care for one another and see the good inside everyone.

Thanks to all who came by the Bedazzled Book Peddler table to buy books. Sorry I ran out of Mother Load. I promise if they do this convention again, I'll bring lots of copies of all my new ones.

Speaking of new ones ... Rhapsody. We're in the home stretch, going through the final pass in the editor's hands. I'll tell you all about it in my next update, which will come in a couple of weeks when this site gets a bit of a facelift. Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovers!

 

1.15 :: Year of the Cat

Happy New Year to all! Normally I save this space to talk about book things because I figure that's why most people visit my website. I'll have some book news very soon but today I want to blog about a topic that stirs my passions like few others: Pets.

Nothing brings a smile to my face as quickly as seeing someone fussing over their beloved cat, dog, bird, horse, llama, pig ... whatever. If you're an animal lover, you've probably read the research about how pet owners live longer & healthier lives, but we all know that's just a side effect. The real benefit is joy. I've always believed that we shouldn't judge others, but I can't help myself when it comes to animals. I think we can tell a lot about people by the way they treat animals, and I often write pets into my books because I like them (and I think most of you do too), and it enables me to show the compassionate side of my characters.

In 1984 I adopted a pair of sibling cats -- born on MLK's birthday, January 15th -- which I named Katie (for Hepburn) and Grace (Jones). I didn't know much about cats back then, like the fact that kittens didn't tolerate flea baths very well. I nearly lost both of them to raging fevers but they battled back and forgave me. Then when Grace was 4 months old, she swallowed a needle & thread, and it lodged in her intestine. She survived the surgery just fine and forgave me for stupidly leaving such a tempting hazard lying around. I didn't have a lot of cash back then but I spared no expense when it came to taking care of my babies. In 1989 I found growth on Gracie's back that turned out to be malignant. More surgery followed, and this time, chemotherapy. She probably thought that was my fault too, but she loved me just the same. The cancer came back three times over the years and finally claimed her, but not until 2003. Since she was 19 years old, I'll score that one for Gracie. Katie's life was less complicated, though her last two years were marked by twice-weekly subcutaneous fluids to do the work for her ailing kidneys. She never met a lap she didn't like, but Jenny's was her favorite. She was just shy of her 20th birthday when she left to join Grace. That was about the time I started writing, in case anyone should wonder where I got the pseudonym KG.

Jenny had a couple of wonderful sibling cats too, Smokey & Cody (also born somewhere around January 15th), who lived to 16 and 17, respectively. Their passing two years ago left a void in our lives but we weren't in a hurry to replace them, not with me facing back surgery and a move to California.

But now we're settled again, so after a couple of years of being catless, we visited the animal shelter in Palm Springs in early November in search of new joy. There were literally hundreds of cats to choose from and we took our time strolling from one row of windows to the next. Lots & lots of kittens, but we wanted a young adult, specifically one that didn't look like Katie, Grace, Cody or Smokey. One of the cats spoke to us, not because she ran toward the window or played with a toy, but because she was quiet. Turns out she was quite sick, and needed us as much as we needed her. The moment she curled up in my lap, I knew she was the one. We named her Roz (Russell, the star of my favorite film Auntie Mame), and learned she had been dumped at the shelter last August, just in time to deliver 5 kittens. She was only a year old herself, but was a good mom, raising her kittens to 8 weeks when all were adopted. We would have taken Roz that very day but the feline side of the shelter was under quarantine because of a respiratory virus, and she was suffering terribly with it. A week later she had taken a turn for the worse and I wanted so badly to take her home so she wouldn't meet her fate all alone in a sterile cage. The state of CA wouldn't allow that, though, not until she had been spayed, and that couldn't happen until she was well. I visited her twice more, and on the Saturday after Thanksgiving arrived at the shelter to find it packed with folks looking to adopt. Roz wasn't in her usual window and I started to panic, but then found her a few rows down with her belly shaved. That meant she was over the virus, spayed & ready to go home.

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Needless to add, Roz is now Queen of the House.She eats whatever we feed her, fetches her toys when we throw them, screams each time someone wakes her up and has zero interest in running outside when the door's open. Since this is coyote country, that last bit is a major plus.

The Palm Springs Animal Shelter is dedicated to finding homes for all adoptable pets. This type of shelter -- known in shorthand as "no-kill" -- is more than an institution or organization. It's a covenant that says we as a community believe there's a better solution to animal control than euthanizing 3 to 4 million adoptable pets every year. It sends a shudder through me to know that had Roz landed elsewhere last August, she probably wouldn't have been there for me in November, certainly not after a virus swept through the kennel. My heart wants to adopt them all, and I know many of you who are reading this feel the same way. If adoption isn't practical, there are other ways to help. We can recommend shelter pets to people you know who are looking for a best friend. Find out which veterinarians donate their services to the local animal shelter and give them your business. Consider volunteering at the shelter or becoming a foster parent for an animal that needs special care or socialization. Drop off a bag of food, or those toys your pet didn't like. Or just write a check. Every little bit helps us keep this covenant.

Back in 2007, I published Sumter Point, in which one of my main characters worked at the local animal shelter. A couple of years later, I wrote a short story spinoff that featured another vet tech in Sumter County, one with big dreams of turning the animal shelter into a no-kill facility. It was never published, but I posted it as part of the 2010 Valentine Special at the Royal Academy of Bards. It's good for a smile -- Luck of the Irish -- but not safe for work. ;-)

 

 

 

12.23 :: The Top Ten for 2011

After kicking off the year in January by skipping my first Xena convention this century, I have to admit my expectations for 2011 were rather low. No books on the horizon and a lot of uncertainty about when I would start writing again. Now I look back and realize it's been a fabulous year!

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#10. I swore I'd never do this. Nonetheless I made my singing debut along with my partner on Karaoke Night at the GCLS with our rendition of These Boots are Made for Walkin'. Yes, there is video.

#9. Any trip to the Castro is going to make my Top 10 list. This year I traveled to San Francisco to do a reading at the Duboce Park Café with the women from Betty's List. You just can't beat organic lesbians.

#8. The Tulsa Lesbian Book Club rocks! Thanks for having me via Skype to talk about Without Warning. Next time we'll do it in person. ;-)

#7. This wasn't my year for publishing – not a single title. But I finished a book (Rhapsody) which will be ready for release at next year's GCLS. It feels great to be writing again.

Normally there is no Number 6. In this case, there are two.

#6. Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice Award for Photographs of Claudia (Romance). Thank you!

#6. Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice Award for Mother Load (General Fiction). Thank you again! It's a great thrill to be recognized by readers, and I appreciate the folks behind the scenes who promote our books with these types of awards.

#5. I became a *star* on the night of the Our Stars event at the Stonewall National Museum & Archive in Ft. Lauderdale. Speaking of boots … the boots I wore to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2001 (the trek that inspired Worth Every Step) are now enshrined in the museum alongside items donated by Martina Navratilova, Lily Tomlin, Melissa Etheridge & others.

#4. In June I picked up a Goldie Award for Romance for Photographs of Claudia. Many thanks to the GCLS for a first-class event.

#3. I joined the board of trustees for the Lambda Literary Foundation and began working my tail off immediately. Fortunately that's just an expression. My tail is still there.

I really struggled trying to choose which of these last two highlights deserved to be my top moment of the year. I concluded that it was MY list and I could make both of them #1 if I wanted to, so I did.

#1. I was incredibly honored to give the keynote speech at the 2011 GCLS Convention in Orlando, a gathering of hundreds of women who know exactly what it means to feel driven to write these stories of our lives. In case you missed it, my blog from 7.5 has the links to YouTube, and Nann Dunne published it in her fall issue of Just About Write. Putting together that speech helped me understand what I wanted from this writing life of mine, and it was truly a privilege to share that with so many of you.

#1. If anyone had told me 10 years ago that I would quit my job in market research to write lesbian novels, I would have laughed them out of the room. Then I got hooked on a website called the Royal Academy of Bards, a collection of thousands of stories written by fans of Xena: Warrior Princess and I realized what a wonderful, creative & generous community our fandom was. It didn't take long to go from reading to wanting to write, and to be honored this year with the ROAB's Lifetime Achievement Award put me over the moon.

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Thanks for sticking with me another year. I look forward to sharing TWO books with you in 2012, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks with an idea for anyone still looking for a resolution. Best of holidays to all, and safe travels wherever you go.

11.6 :: Long time no blog

Yes, it's been ages and I'm so ashamed. Since my last blog 3 months ago, I've completed my move to CA and am loving it! To all you Californians who have welcomed me, thank you! And watch out, because I drive just like you.

I've also completed something else, a new book called Rhapsody, now in the hands of my hitwoman editor. It's always a marvelous feeling to get a book off my desk, but this one felt even better than most because it's the first in a long, long time.

A few things going on eventwise:

November 8, 6:30 CT: I'll be calling in to the Tulsa Book Club via Skype to talk about Without Warning, Book 1 in the Shaken Series. Those of you within shouting distance of Tulsa need to get there ... if the ground isn't rocking & rolling, that is. Seriously, how ironic is it they picked my earthquake book weeks ago? So you can blame all that shaking on Heather! Email bookclub@tulsalesbinnetwork.org for directions.


November 14, 6:00 ET: The Stonewall National Museum & Archive in Ft. Lauderdale opens its exhibition, Our Stars, celebrating celebrities (that's what you do with celebrities, right?) in the LGBT community. On display are historic & personal artifacts from the likes of Melissa Etheridge, Lily Tomlin, Elaine Noble and ... me! The request was for something out of the ordinary and unique that would help museum visitors connect with me on a personal level. You all know how much I love hiking ... I donated the ragged boots I wore to the summit of Kilimanjaro in 2001 along with a signed copy of Worth Every Step. Yup, they'll be right there in a display case.  Let's hope they're hermetically sealed ... wouldn't want them to peel the paint off Melissa Etheridge's guitar.


November 16, 6:00 PT: I'll be reading & chatting with Betty's List Book Salon at Duboce Park Cafe in the Castro. (That's in San Francisco, at 2 Sanchez.) If I find out later you were nearby and didn't come ... :-(

Now that I'm settled into my new place (though my sofa hasn't shipped yet) and finished with my book, I'm looking forward to a new adventure. It's time to get myself down to the shelter for a new cat! Wish me luck!!

 

8.12 :: The Royal Academy of Bards

I've talked a lot here on my blog about how I got my start in writing by dabbling in the fanfiction world of the Xenaverse. If you've missed it, a lot of the details are in the Behind the Book section for Without Warning, which happened to be the first piece of fiction I ever wrote, but I called it Shaken back then. I posted it on a website called The Royal Academy of Bards, a name adapted from an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess in which Gabrielle goes off to bard college.

The Academy embodies the spirit of the Xenaverse, which is hands down the most generous community I've ever been a part of. Going on 12 years now, they've hosted and archived a massive collection of fanfiction that still grows today. And just a couple of days ago they honored me with their Lifetime Achievement Award, which enlarged my head so much I can barely travel from room to room. You can see their announcement here on August 11, 2011. I replied to the Academy today, and I'm reposting it here because I want everyone who follows my blog to know what the Academy means, not just to me, but to all of us.

Gobsmacked! It's a term I'd never even heard until I ventured into the Xenaverse and began chattering with new friends from across the pond. Now I can't imagine how else I'd describe the sense of surprise and joy I felt at receiving this honor. All of you readers who have visited here and taken the time to drop me a note about a story or a character have done more to make me a writer than all the writing classes, workshops & how-to books combined. The Royal Academy of Bards is such a special place, a true cornerstone of our fandom. In addition to keeping the essence of Xena & Gabrielle alive in our hearts, the Academy has given thousands of storytellers like me a creative outlet to nurture and grow their skills as writers, a sense of community, and arguably millions of hours of utter delight for readers worldwide. What touches me most is that it also gives a remote audience in rural settings and oppressive societies the opportunity to read stories they might not otherwise ever see. I'm so very proud to be recognized by the wonderful (& satanic) people behind the curtain of the magnificent RAOB, and truly grateful to join the company of the others who have won this award. Like I said, gobsmacked!

If you don't know of the Academy, prepare to get hooked. There are literally thousands of stories in their archives, most of them lesbian. A lot of us earned our writing stripes here, posting early versions of stories, collecting feedback that went into polishing lots and lots and lots of books. You can read those draft versions for free, along with short stories and novels that were never published. If you find something you like, know that a quick note of thanks to the bard goes a long way toward encouraging her (or him) to keep writing. If not for the notes I got from readers, I doubt I'd be writing today.

And I am writing today! I'm up to Chapter 12 or 13 of my next book, Rhapsody. Stay tuned.

7.5 :: Summer is flying by

What happened to June? I spent most of the month in Tennessee visiting family, but evidence I was also in Orlando has surfaced all over the web. Erica Lawson has posted video that purportedly shows me speaking at GCLS. It was all a haze, but there you have it -- sure looks like me. If you have an hour of your life that you won't want back, good hearing and a strong Internet connection:

Part 1... Part 2 ... Part 3 ... Part 4

[image error]Here also is a pic someone sent of the First Dance after the Goldie awards. For those who've never attended GCLS, it's become tradition to raise money for GCLS scholarships by auctioning off certain authors who will take to the floor with the highest bidder. It's easily the most anxious moment of the whole summer, waiting to see if someone will bid and for how much. Then there are the catcalls to "Take it off!" I let auctioneer Lois Glenn remove a sandal one year, but that's the limit of my exhibitionism.

I was thrilled to be won -- for the second time -- by Rosa Moran, a wonderfully generous fan of lesbian fiction. I've known Rosa since the old Xenaverse days, and indeed she's one of those lovely people I talk about in my keynote, someone who steps up for others in the lesbian fiction community, and also helps to keep the Xenaverse fandom alive. She was honored in 2010 with the Director's Award for her support of the GCLS, and I was very proud to win this dance. You can't really tell from this photo (thanks, Nancy!), but I promise you we're both having fun.   

I posted a note last week on Facebook that I had started my next book, Rhapsody. I'm several chapters deep now and the chemistry of my main characters is starting to take shape. I'll be taking on all three of those challenges I mentioned in my speech.  

Hope your summer is grand!

6.16 :: Walking the Trail

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Freshly home from Orlando after attending the 7th Annual Golden Crown Literary Society Conference. The grumblings about the hotel -- the Buena Vista Palace, for those keeping score at home -- are all true, but that did little to diminish what we came for, a celebration of lesbian writers & readers. I had a special celebration on Saturday night after picking up this here Goldie Award for Photographs of Claudia. If you knew what all I went through turning that story idea into a book, you'd understand why I got choked up on the podium. Special thanks to Katherine Forrest, Karin Kallmaker, the folks at Bella, my eagle-eyed triumvirate Karen, Jenny & Susan Meagher, the Goldie judges and especially all the readers that put this book on the radar. I was honored to share the Contemporary Romance award with Georgia Beers, whose Starting from Scratch also carried off the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award, & newcomer Isabella, who won on her first outing with Always Faithful.

Thanks also to everyone who got up early after a wild night of karaoke to sit in on my keynote speech. As you noticed, I nearly lost it several times down the stretch as I began to express how important our books are, and how much this community means to me. But you did me in when I took off my reading glasses and found you standing, clapping and crying right along with me. I will cherish that moment until the day I die.

I promised last week that I would post some excerpts here on my blog, so I've narrowed that down to two sections. The entire speech, entitled "Walking the Trail," will be posted in the next GCLS newsletter, and in the fall issue of Just About Write.

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When the historians examine this generation of lesbian literature, I think they'll note three profound movements that helped define the age.

First, they'll describe the rise of our community. Thanks to the Internet, we sit here today representing several corners of the world, all in celebration of lesbian work. We gather too in places like New Orleans, Provincetown & York, at readings and promotional events in local communities, and on a host of social networks, blogs & lists.[...] It's a wonderful legacy for our generation, and I think we all should be proud of our role in creating and sustaining it.

Second, the historians will applaud the increased accessibility of our books. Not only did the Internet make ordering more convenient, it made it safe for those who feared consequences for publicly purchasing books with lesbian themes. Our books also became instantaneous, meaning readers were only one click away from downloading and falling into a story.

And third, they'll document the explosion in titles, and the diversity that results when hundreds of authors add their unique voices to the literary landscape. Today we have books about cops, teachers, CEOs, artists, doctors, nurses, rock stars, ranchers, pirates, vampires, warriors and extra-terrestrials … something for every mood & whimsy.

But which particular books will the historians say defined our generation?

Last spring, Bella held an event called the Y-Tour in Ft. Lauderdale that included a reading at the Stonewall Library & Archive. Katherine Forrest kicked it off by reading this passage from the foreword she had written for Lesbian Pulp Fiction, an anthology of books from the 1950s:

The writers of these books laid bare an intimate, hidden part of themselves and they did it under siege […] because there was a desperate urgency inside them to reach out, to put words on the page for women like themselves to read. Their words reached us, they touched us in deeply personal ways, and they helped us all.

In my case, and with specific reference to Ann Bannon, they saved my life.

Katherine's voice cracked with emotion in a way that silenced the room for several moments. Then a woman of about 65 stood and asked to speak. She told of once feeling hopeless, trapped not just in an unhappy marriage, but in a life that wasn't the one she was meant to live. One day nearly thirty years ago she picked up a book – Curious Wine – and it showed her what was possible. She then thanked Katherine for saving her life.

The four of us who were there with Katherine – Karin Kallmaker, Amy Dawson Robertson, Dillon Watson & I – just sat there in awe. I can't speak for any of them, but I felt small in the presence of a writer who had made a mark like that on someone's life.

So what again of our trail? In a column on the general state of today's fiction, Salon's book critic Laura Miller asks: If the value of a voice lies primarily in the fact that it has previously gone unheard, then what's it worth after it's been talking for a while?

Will someone in this room write our generation's Beebo Brinker or Curious Wine? Which of us might create serial characters as intricate & enduring as Kate Delafield, Jane Lawless or Micky Knight? Who's working on 2011's The Swashbuckler, the book that will paint such a vivid portrait of our time that people – 25 years from now – will say, "Yes, that's exactly how it was back then." And which of us will produce such a stunning pile of quality work that we become known as the Queen of our genre?

Look around. It could be the writer sitting next to you, or even the aspiring writer in the row behind. Or it could be you.

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Over the past year I've had a lot of time to think about what I'd like to do next, not just in terms of which book to write, but where I want to go as a writer. I've come to the sad realization that one cannot simply decide to pen a classic.

But one can decide – as Voltaire would say – not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. I believe that while we can't choose to write great novels, we can – and should – choose to write good ones.

We live in a time where anyone can call herself a published author, and for that matter, a publisher or editor. It goes, then, without saying that such labels are no guarantee of quality. Even if we have the best of the best in our corner, it's still up to us as writers to be the gatekeepers of our collective body of work.

I hope you'll indulge me while I drag you back to my [earlier] metaphor, "walking the trail." Ten years ago this month, I set out on what would be the trip of a lifetime, my personal quest to hike to the top of Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro. Like my character in Worth Every Step, I did a lot of research before deciding which route to take. Most trekkers choose the Marangu Route; in fact, it's generally referred to as the tourist route. It's the shortest, most direct trail to the summit; it's relatively wide and straight; and it even has cushy bunkhouses at each of the overnight camps. Not surprisingly, it's the route of choice for those looking for the quickest way to cross one of the world's highest peaks off their bucket list. However, it has a very low success rate to the top, because all that speed & ease means your body has less time to acclimate to the altitude.

In contrast, Kili's western routes take two to three days longer, and they're filled with hardships, like the rocks beneath your sleeping bag, the bitter winds of the Shira Plateau, and the 600-foot Barranco Wall. But if you're willing to meet these challenges, your chances of reaching the summit are doubled.

Whether you're climbing mountains or writing books, success is never certain no matter which route you take. But I firmly believe our odds are better when we take the tougher trail.

I'd like to put forward three challenges to the writers and aspiring writers in the room, not as a road map to success, but as a framework for thinking about which books will represent our generation, regardless of who publishes them, or in what format they're delivered.

Readers, I'm not leaving you out, not by a long shot. It's ultimately up to you to determine how well we meet these challenges, and I hope you'll hold us – all of us – to a very high standard.

First, I think we must continually raise the bar on the technical quality of our writing. In preparation for today's remarks, I began following a number of blogs & lists in order to learn what issues were important to those who make up the lesbian book community. I've seen a position put forth, not only by readers, but by reviewers & authors as well – that as long as a story is interesting, things like typos & grammatical errors will be forgiven.

Have we grown so used to poor writing that we're now willing to overlook it? I hope not. We expect umpires to know the rules of the game; architects to understand structural engineering; and bank tellers to grasp basic mathematics. Shouldn't readers expect us to master the fundamentals of our craft?

As for the stories … well, we aren't just writing stories; we're writing books … books that will be around forever, warts & all. We mustn't squander our gifts of creativity with poor execution, especially when we have the chance to write a generational book.

The second challenge is to go beyond the basics of spelling, grammar & verb tense to embrace the editing process. Think of it as our program for continuing education. Are you the sort of student that seeks easy instructors who will ask little of you and still give you a good grade? Or do you seek tough taskmasters who will challenge you to work hard in order to be better?

Editing is more than striking extra commas and pointing out where someone shuttered when they should have shuddered. A good editor strips clichés & hyperbole from your narrative; points out when your characters are acting out of character; complains about your plot lags, tangents & loose ends; and tells you when the horse died of boredom.

Photographs of Claudia was my 13th book, so one might think I should be an old pro at writing by now. But I really struggled with it, so much that when I turned it in, I told my editor – who happened to be Katherine Forrest – that I wasn't very happy with what I'd written, but I just couldn't seem to fix it.

Each time I hear back from Katherine on a new submission, her notes always begin with something positive & upbeat. I know she does that intentionally in order to cushion the criticisms that will follow. This time was no different. She said, "You have such good instincts. I wasn't happy with it either." She went on to say she really liked the opening line, but as far as she was concerned, I could lose the rest.

My problems weren't punctuation errors, misplaced dialogue tags or slippages in point of view. They were deep structural flaws that required a reconceptualization of the presentation, and a massive rewrite. But in the end, I produced a book I was proud of, and yes, just for Katherine, I kept the opening line.

Books, classes, writer groups & workshops like the ones we have here at GCLS will help you hone your craft, but nothing is as personal or relevant as the feedback you get from a good editor. Every mark on the page is an opportunity not just to fix something, but to learn it. Over time that sea of red that once bathed your work will become just the occasional bloody wound. Then you can pat yourself on the back for finally mastering the art of writing; or you can decide you're ready for the demands of a new editor who can teach you even more.

The last challenge: We mustn't shy away from taking our readers on difficult journeys.

Collectively, we seem to write a lot of books on the Marangu Route. The plots are relatively straightforward & predictable; the characters are beautiful and excel at what they do; their flaws are minor; and their conflicts are easily resolved. Yes, these stories can be very pleasing to the genre reader, and when they're well-written, they can also be successful – winning awards, selling well & generating lots of positive reviews from readers who felt satisfied when they reached the end.

It's very tempting as a writer to want those rewards every time, and there is certainly a place for books like that—a rather large place, in case you haven't noticed. After all, popular means people read them, and we should be proud of how well we fulfill that need.

That said, I have a feeling the books for our generation will come from writers who took one of the more challenging, less traveled trails. What kinds of books am I talking about? Perhaps it is those which bring out more of the unheard voices – bisexuals, transgender, people of color, people with disabilities, people of different ages and body types.

Or we can incorporate more demanding subject matters into our stories, themes that will help our readers navigate the problems they increasingly face in their lives – things like grief, illness, addiction, crisis of faith, job loss, sexual dysfunction, depression and aging. These issues are universal, but as lesbians we experience them uniquely, often without family support or society's safety nets. And we face them with anxiety, grace, melodrama and humor.

Readers love these tough stories and will shower you with praise and sterling reviews.

Actually, that isn't generally true, and therein lies one of the reasons we find it so difficult to give up the comforts of the Marangu Route. Chances are you'll take a public beating for any story that pushes readers out of their comfort zone no matter how well you write it, or how happily it ends. You'll hear that real life is tough enough, that books are meant to be an escape. They'll say they don't like stories about – fill in the blank; the list is endless. So yes, it's very tempting to play it safe.

But something marvelous can happen when you choose the more difficult trail.

It may come in the form of an email from an address you don't recognize, a woman you don't know. With great respect, she'll begin Dear Ms. Spangler, Ms. Paynter, Ms. Beers, Ms. Ames, Ms. Badger, and she'll apologize for the intrusion on your time. She's never written a letter like this before, but felt compelled to tell you what your book meant to her. For the first time, she saw someone like herself, someone who felt trapped & hopeless, with special burdens she thought no one else shared. Your book showed her she wasn't alone, and thanks to the brave words you wrote, she now has hope.

And perhaps twenty very short years from now, she'll stand at one of your readings and tell you how your book saved her life.

6.7 :: Off to GCLS

I've just crammed the last item in my suitcase for GCLS -- it was a long-sleeved North Face pullover, an absolute necessity for the arctic blowers that cool the convention halls. Just one more day before I get to catch up with all my pals again. I'm disappointed that some of the regulars won't make it this year, but Patty Schramm says that registration is near the all-time high, which means VIRGINS, lots of VIRGINS!

If you aren't already registered for GCLS, I'm going to assume you won't be coming. Check back here next week for excerpts from my keynote speech.

In other news, I was in New York a couple of weeks ago for the Lammy Awards. Congrats to Cate Culpepper for winning the most competitive category (Lesbian Romance), and to Val McDermid, who won in Lesbian Mystery, and also picked up a much-deserved Pioneer Award. Val's remarks made us all proud to write for the worldwide community of lesbian readers.

While in New York, I also attended my first meeting as a new member of the board of trustees of the Lambda Literary Foundation. It's a very exciting honor to serve on the board, especially alongside some truly talented & dedicated people. I hope in my tenure to build support for the LLF among my readers, but even more than that, to throw the weight & prestige of this literary organization behind our popular stories.