I’m in the midst of reading an interesting article looking magic and gender in the Poetic Edda*, because I am that nerd who reads academic papers on my downtime when I get a chance. I’m not going to discuss the article itself so much, since I’m taking a break from reading it to write this blog post, but one of the points it brings up is fascinating:

In other words, we as modern readers of the Norse myths often impose a strict binary system onto the stories and the society they came from. But the myths aren’t black and white like that, and we have no real reason to believe (extrapolating from the mythology into how the Norse cultures might have worked) that gender roles/presentations and sexualities were simple or binary, either. 

I could get into a fanatical gush about how neat it is that someone’s actually written an academic paper looking at these areas of the mythology that have always fascinated me, but I won’t. Because I could literally talk about this stuff for hours. 

I’ll just leave this with a quick reminder to think about things beyond the binary of male/female (or black/white or straight/gay, or, you know, any other binary system you can think of) when you’re writing. We have a tendency to take the lazy way out and utilize the binary systems we grew up with, partially because they’re easier and partially because we just don’t think about this stuff. But if we as creators want to make things that truly resonate with our audience and represent the world in a realistic way (yes, even if you’re writing fantasy), we need to remember that nothing fits into the nice little binary boxes. 

Let’s build more fictional societies where gender identification and presentation isn’t confined to just ‘male’ or ‘female.’ Let’s create more characters that refuse to stay on a spectrum with only two points. Most of all, let’s stretch ourselves as both creators and human beings, and try to look beyond the false binaries all around us. 

As a panelist/presenter at multiple conventions, an audience member at other panels, and someone who happens to be really fond of respect and learning, I’m going to talk about how to be respectful while attending these sorts of events. Because I’ve noticed quite a few people don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept, over the last several conventions I’ve been to. The good news is that it’s pretty simple: 

1. ​Don’t hold side conversations during the panel/discussion/presentation. I know we all have something to say and sometimes you just can’t help but comment on how distracting some panelist’s hat is or something. But talking at normal volume or in a stage whisper while in the audience is both distracting to the panelists (trust me, we can hear you) and disrespectful for other audience members, who might not be able to hear over your chatter. 
2. Silence your cell phones. This actually goes for people on the panel, too. There’s nothing as distracting as a phone going off in the middle of a discussion! If you absolutely have to get notifications or something (I know there are situations where this happens), put it on vibrate/silent and hold it in your lap if you need to, but please turn the ringer off. 
3. If you’re coming in late or leaving early, don’t make a big deal of it. Try not to let the door slam. Don’t have a conversation with your buddy in the next row while you’re leaving. If you know you’ll have to leave early, try and sit on the edge of a row so you don’t have to disturb others while you’re getting out. 
4. Let other audience members speak. This panel isn’t about you--it’s about the panelists and the information they have to share. Other people in the audience will probably have questions and comments they want to say, too, so let them have a chance. 
5. Try to keep your questions/comments relevant to the panel topic and on the broader side. I get irritated when audience members start asking specific “this is exactly what I’m doing, can you give me individualized advice?” type questions in the middle of the panel. I understand the impulse, but giving you specific advice often derails the panel discussion and isn’t helpful or interesting for other people in the audience. Most panelists will be more than happy to discuss your specific question or concern afterward, as long as they have the time (since a lot of us are on multiple panels, sometimes back-to-back). This includes keeping personal stories and long background setups to a minimum--most questions don’t actually require as much context as we think they do, and if more context is needed, panelists will ask for it. 
6. Don’t interrupt other people. There’s a tendency for some people to interrupt either panelists or other audience members because they’re so eager to say what they want to say. Honestly, these tend to be a lot of the same people who are guilty of violating point number five. Panelists will get to your question or comment as soon as they can, if there’s time. If there’s no time left and your comment is important to you, feel free to try and talk to the panelist(s) afterward (again, if we have time to stick around). 
7. If you know the topic of a panel makes you uncomfortable/angry/etc., please don’t go to it just to argue about it. Other people are going to that panel because they’re interested in the topic. Especially if the panel is something regarding representation, diversity, or other more sensitive topics, having someone come in to argue about it can be extremely hurtful for other audience members, or panelists. If you want to go to something that makes you uncomfortable in order to learn, good on you--just be aware that doing so and then expressing that discomfort with anger or frustration could be hurting the people around you, who might already experience those volatile emotions aimed in their direction on a regular basis. 

​Basically, it boils down to remembering that you are not the only person in the panel. Everyone’s there because they’re interested in the topic and trying to make the discussion all about you by chatting during the presentation or asking very specific, rambling questions makes the experience less fun for everyone. 

The last weekend of March is AnomalyCon here in Denver. This will be my second year attending with my podcast, Beyond the Trope, and I’m psyched. For those of you who don’t know, AnomalyCon is a smaller convention focusing on steampunk and alternative history. One of my favorite parts of this con (besides getting to sit on amazingly fun panels) is the emphasis on inclusivity. 
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​While Denver Comic Con has a diversity panel track, AnomalyCon is a diversity track. It is the first convention I’ve been to with a stringently upheld non-discrimination and non-harrassment policy. Most cons have them in place, but AC was the first place I actually heard it talked about in the opening ceremonies, and saw it posted around the convention. This year, the organizer even talked the hosting hotel into having at least one gender neutral bathroom during the event! (Words cannot express how thrilled I am with this development.) Plus the organizer(s) go out of their way to find and invite diverse panelists, presenters, and performers--people of color, GLBTQ folks, women creators, and other marginalized groups are not only welcome, but often celebrated. Because, let’s be honest, we’re pretty awesome, and we’re just as nerdy as the straight, cisgender white guys who want to tell us we’re not. 

It’s a convention that is extremely welcoming for cosplayers and costumers of any skill level--even us casual/closet cosplayers--and actually feels like a safe space for us female-presenting folks to wear a costume, regardless of body type or how much skin we’re showing (if you’ve ever tried to wear a revealing costume to most cons, you know how many comments you can get about “only cosplaying for the attention” or other similar bull). 

This year, I’m thrilled to be on four panels at AnomalyCon, plus some interviews on the main stage: 

Tropes 101 (with Beyond the Trope) 
The Legend of Korra fan panel 
Pirates! And the Rouges Who Love Them 
Queer Identities After the Apocalypse

Basically, I’m going to be busy all weekend. And I’m really looking forward to it! If you’re coming, drop by the Beyond the Trope table or swing by one of the panels above and say hello, or talk to me about gay pirates. I will always be excited to talk about the historical accuracy of gay pirates. 

(And don’t forget that Kitsune Tales is now available for the Kindle! Help me afford to bring home some lovely Dryad Tea from con!) 

Kitsune Tales is now available on Amazon (only for Kindle). It's a collection of two urban fantasy short stories following a young Japanese fox spirit as she works to protect humanity from other supernatural creatures that might just destroy the world.

In “Colfax Kitsune,” Yuri must attempt to save Denver, Colorado from a sanity-eating sphinx in her first solo mission.

In “Kitsune Song,” Yuri’s vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a siren looking to cause trouble. She's helped this time by a mysterious water dragon and some old friends.

Pick up your copy today!

I’m thrilled to finally reveal the cover for the Kitsune Tales short story duo! 

Kitsune Tales includes two short stories: “Colfax Kitsune” and “Kistune Song,” both of which follow a young Japanese fox spirit named Yuri. In “Colfax Kitsune,” Yuri must attempt to save Denver, Colorado from a sanity-eating sphinx in her first solo mission. In “Kitsune Song,” Yuri’s vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a siren looking to cause trouble. 

This duet of short stories will be available for the Kindle by the end of the month. For now, take a look at the cover, and keep your eyes open for pre-order information! 

I’m one of those people who can be very affected by music. In particular, when I’m having trouble remembering why I write what I write, or why I struggle to create particular things, the right song can help get me back on my feet. So this week, I figured I’d share three of the songs that make me feel warm and fuzzy and inspired. Because why not?
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Here we are in the second full week of January and it already feels like I'm running out of time! So far, I'm doing pretty well at plugging away on my goals: I'm nearing 25,000 words (out of a 60-80k goal) on my steampunk novel in progress, I've turned in the rough of a short story to my critique group, and I'm slogging through preparing to self-publish the two Kitsune short stories. So huzzah for all that!

For those of you unaware, the Kitsune stories are two short stories that follow Yuri, a Japanese trickster fox spirit called a Kitsune, as she tries to save the world from supernatural threats like a sanity-eating sphinx and a soul-sucking siren. "Colfax Kitsune" was published in the Crossing Colfax anthology through Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, but "Kitsune Song" hasn't been published before anywhere.

Since I have regained the rights to "Colfax Kitsune," I will be putting the two stories out together in an ebook entitled Kitsune Tales.  As I said above, I'm still working on getting the stories ready for launch, but it will be available no later than mid-March, probably sooner. I'll put an announcement out when it's up on Amazon (as of right now, it will only be available for the Kindle, but I may expand that later on). Also keep your eyes out for a cover reveal coming soon.

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's January again. 2015 feels like it flew by, with little progress. But I accomplished my goals to write and submit two short stories (I actually submitted three, only one of which got picked up), so yay!

This year, I'm really going to push myself. I wrote about my goals for this year over on the Beyond the Trope blog a few weeks ago, but the general summary is I'm pretty sure I've bitten off more than I can chew with these. Two drafts of one novel, a full rough of another, and two more short stories for submission. Not to mention I want to self-publish my two companion shorts in a single e-book in the next few months, too.

I'm staring down the barrel of these big goals and, like many people working toward dreams or resolutions or whatever, thinking "man, how the hell am I going to make this happen, especially with everything else going on in my life?"

Now, I'm not exactly the best person in the world to give goal or resolution advice, since I have historically had a bad habit of letting things slide. But here is what I'm doing so far:

• Try to write every day. My goal is 1,000 words a day, before I get started on my day job, but I know that some days that's not going to be possible, and that's okay. So I also have a modified version of this as a weekly word count: trying to hit at least 5,000 words a week, which gives me a little bit of wiggle room on the daily count.
  
• Make deadlines and make them public. I have a history of pushing back or ignoring self-made deadlines, so this year, I wrote them down and posted them on Facebook and Twitter (and here, now, too). Knowing that I have people who are going to ask about my progress and give me a hard time if I don't actually work toward these is helping so far.
• Make it bite-sized. I have a habit of looking at the big picture and feeling overwhelmed. So I have a sticky note on my computer reminding me that if I hit my 1,000 word a day goal, I'll have a 60,000-ish word novel in about two months. Since I'm in rough draft stage right now, that's really all I need to worry about.

Obviously it's too early in the year to know if these are really going to make a difference, but I have a good feeling about it. It's nice to wake up and get right to writing, and I already feel like I accomplished something when I get to the day job (instead of the day job feeling like it's sucking all of my creative juices out and leaving nothing for writing).

So, how do you make and plan to reach your goals or resolutions?

Last night, I reached 15,000 words on my current novel-in-progress (working title The Consortium of Extraordinarily Talented Ladies). To some people, this might sound like a huge number. To others, it's barely scratching the surface. To me, it's a milestone.

You see, over the last few years, I've struggled to write longer pieces. I'd get a few thousand words into a project, foolishly send pages from the rough draft to my critique group, and get discouraged by how much work I had to do, then quit and move on to something else. It's a stupid thing, and I should have known better than to send pages from the "shitty first draft." But I did. And I let myself get overwhelmed by how much needed to change.

So I focused on short stories and just playing with words. Which was fruitful enough--I should have a lesbian super-villain short coming out in an anthology through Northwest Press sometime next year, and a second Kitsune short to put out on my own--but not necessarily fulfilling for the part of me that loves longer stories.

The fact that I've written the Consortium story to 15,000 words so far is big for me. It's the longest I've stuck with a novel-length idea in two years. And I'm still excited about the story idea and the characters, which is huge. I know there will be a lot of work to do to clean it up after this draft, but instead of letting myself get overwhelmed by that prospect, I'm somehow managing to take notes on it and let it go. It helps that I'm not letting other people look at it yet.

Basically, this post is nothing more than a brag about the fact that I'm still here and getting words on the page. I don't know if this story will truly be publishable some day, but I'm trying not to worry about it.

Writing should be enjoyed for the sake of writing, not for some mystical bestseller's list. That's a lesson I'm still re-learning every day.

I've decided to do "Comic Gushes" instead of series reviews, because it's way more fun to recommend things I'm totally in love with.

Let me start out by saying I adore a lot of things Image Comics is doing. Saga, Rat Queens, and now Monstress are among my all-time top favorite comics (the other one being The Sandman, from Vertigo).

From the Image website: "In Monstress, steampunk meets Kaiju in an alternate 1900s Asia, where a teenage girl named Maika begins to unravel her mysterious past, and in the process discovers a psychic connection to a powerful otherworldly creature, one of many that roam the earth—a connection that will transform them both, and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers..."

If that doesn't at least sound intriguing to you, I don't know what to tell you!

Sana Takeda's artwork is breathtakingly beautiful, from the raw emotion on Maika's face to the rich backgrounds. Majorie Liu's writing builds this magical world with just the right blend of overt worldbuilding and continuing mystery to make me crave more. Together, I'm pretty sure these two are going to be unstoppable.

The pros:

• Gorgeous artwork and intriguing writing
• A WoC amputee protagonist and mainly PoC cast
• A triple-sized first issue!
• Characters I'm already seriously invested in
• Unique, beautiful character designs

The cons:

• I need more right now
• A little NSFW--tasteful nudity, blood/violence, mention of cannibalism, etc. (aka, it might be trigger-heavy for some)
  

Monstress #1 is now available from Image Comics. Pick up your copy today!