This blog is about to get personal
Since starting this blog I’ve tried to keep it just focused on the writing. But the longer this blog goes on, the less this division makes sense. I’m not interested in branding myself as an author unless that brand authentically represents who I am. The reason is because within me the distinction of “B Sanders, writer” and “B Sanders, person” doesn’t truly exist. I can’t parcel myself off that way, and when I do this blog devolves into nothing but book reviews and random quippy updates about my works in progress.
I want this to be a blog with some meat to it. And some bite to it. I’d like to write more about my life and personal experiences, not just out of some navel-gazey introspective overshare impulse but because my personal experiences directly inform my fiction writing.
The truth is that nothing ever comes from a vacuum. I am post-modern enough to acknowledge that the meaning of any piece of art varies and is ultimately forged by the audience. But it’s also true that both the creator and the audience for a piece of art are mired deeply in their respective social positions with the norms and social conditioning and lived experience that go with those respective social positions. My life informs how I write a book as much as a reader’s life informs how they read that same book.
And more than that, a big piece of why I write what I do is to give representation and voice to experiences and identities that are typically silenced and stigmatized. So, I write about queer love and gender variance and disability and class. But it shouldn’t just stop there. I hope, too, by making this blog more personal that I can help shift conversations around gender and sexuality and disability and class in real-time, in this world in which you and I both live.
Because I think best in lists, I’ll be working on the following post series in addition to the more writing-focused content I’ve produced thus far:
Disability Diary – I’ll tag any and all posts about my experiences with mental and physical disabilities here. I deal with anxiety, depression and migraines.
The Hearthstone – I’ll tag any and all posts about living and growing a nontraditional family here.
Transistor Radio – I’ll tag any and all posts about my gender identity, trans* experiences, etc here.
Feel free to read or ignore as you see fit.
