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Introducing The Girls of Summer series
So, remember those sweet romances we read as teenagers in the 1980s an 1990s? The ones with lesbian main characters who fell for other girls and had fun adventures and happily-ever-after endings? No? Me neither. I do, however, remember those sweet teen romances from Silhouette First Love, Dolly Fiction, Sweet Valley High… The list goes on. I remember hiding in the stacks in the library at high school reading those books, never checking them out lest they appear on my borrowing record. Though I loved sci-fi and fantasy (Day of the Triffids and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are still two of my all-time favourite books), when I hit…
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Diversity in YA and what I’m doing to change it
In sport, particularly when playing finals, we have a saying: “Leave nothing in the tank” In other words, play your absolute best today. Leave nothing for tomorrow. Today, it counts. In writing terms, it would be “Do your best work now.” Don’t wait for tomorrow or next week or next year to work on projects that are close to your heart. I think it’s entirely appropriate for the way I’m feeling about my writing at this point in time. Why? Because I’ve just completed my half-yearly review of my business plan and writing goals and, among other things, I’ve decided to ditch some projects I’ve been working on (for now),…
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Lesbian does not always equal sex
(Admit it. All you saw in the heading was “lesbian sex”). Now that I’ve got your attention, I wanted to chat about a couple of things that have been annoying me no end the last few weeks. I’ve been doing some research on an idea I have for some steampunky type characters and plots, and having some real fun checking out some of the steampunk websites around the place. (Check these cool gadgets out) The first one I seem to be encountering whenever I search for lesbian steampunk. There doesn’t appear to be too much around, which is great for me in a way, because I can tap into a fresh market.…
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What I have in common with Beccy Cole
(Apart from stunning good looks and singing ability). 2012 seems to be the “year of coming out” for some reason. I’m not exactly sure why that’s so, but I’m happy to run with it. So far, we’ve seen the likes of Magda Szubanski, Queen Latifah, and Anderson Cooper come out, and last night I watched as Beccy Cole came out on the ABCs Australian Story. It was a wonderful program to watch – raw and honest and funny. I suspect much like Beccy herself. One of the most common questions I see asked in comments threads about any news story that has anything to do with being gay or lesbian is why is…
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What’s my value?
(Apologies for the length of this post. I really wanted to be brief but once I get started, I just can’t seem to stop.) In Queensland, we currently have Civil Partnership Laws enabling couples (hetero and same-sex) to register their relationships. It’s a step down from marriage, and isn’t recognised in all states or federally, but it’s a start. The new LNP government has decided to leave the registration part of the law as it stands, which is a sigh of relief for those of us (609 couples at last count) who registered. The LNP have decided, however, that the bit that upsets the Christians (the Premier’s words) is the…