I Can't Even Write Straight 🏳️🌈
Pride Month musings & upcoming events
Happy Pride Month! In case you were unaware, I am extremely bisexual, and so are my books (even when they feature hetero characters; more on that below).
But first, I’ve got several Chicago-area book events lined up in June, so here’s where you can find my gay ass during this, the gayest month of the year:
On Saturday June 20th, I’ll be participating in the Arlington Heights Memorial Library’s annual Lit Stroll event, along with fellow local authors Sandra Jackson-Opoku and (actual Pulitzer Prize winner!) Daniel Kraus.
On Thursday June 25th, catch me at the Oakbrook Center Barnes & Noble chatting with Jennifer Iacopelli and Liz Lincoln about all things sports romance (including why I don’t think The Favorites, despite involving both sports and romance, quite fits into this genre label).
On Sunday June 28th, Courtney Kocak, my hot bi bestie Lauren Emily Whalen, and I will be in conversation at Three Avenues Bookshop to celebrate the release of Courtney’s memoir Girl Gone Wild.
And finally, on Tuesday June 30th, I have the honor of being Tia Williams’s conversation partner for her The Missed Connection launch event at Matchmaker Books. Tia is a top-tier autobuy author for me, so I fear there will be fangirling.
(note that these events are not up on my website yet, because I am very behind on updating it… but you can’t be mad at me this month, that’s 🦄biphobic🦄)
Every year when Pride rolls around, I see Much Discourse about bisexuals, specifically bisexuals like me who are in relationships with straight men. I’ve been with my partner since college, for over 20 years now, and guess what? I am still bi as hell, and our marriage, straight-presenting though it may be, is extremely queer. My whole identity and worldview is queer, and that impacts everything: my relationships, my self-presentation, and of course, my art.
The Favorites is, on the surface, my straightest book. Though there are several pivotal queer side characters, the story centers on the messy romantic entanglements of a heterosexual couple. When readers ask if Kat could be bisexual, I often jokingly respond, sure — if the two genders were Heath Rocha and ice dance. (Full disclosure, I tried to make her bi in several drafts, and she simply would not cooperate. Baby girl is tragically heterosexual, alas for her.) ((And yes, I know there are way more than two genders, it’s a joke babes ✌️))
All that said, I still consider The Favorites a queer book, because a) I am queer and I wrote it, and b) I intentionally infused my own queer values into the narrative. Yes, ‘tis true, my ice dance x Wuthering Heights novel is part of the 🌈Gay Agenda🌈.
Kat may be straight, but she’s constantly questioning the cultural scripts she’s expected to follow as a straight woman. She doesn’t want to have kids, she doesn’t care about marriage. She loves a sport more than she could ever love any man. And ultimately, she and Heath throw out society’s rulebook about what their happy ending should look like to create a relationship structure that works for them, which is about the queerest thing you can do regardless of where your attractions lie.
I don’t think I could write a straight book if I tried. My weird gay brain will always queer it up, in both conscious and subconscious ways. And honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
With that, it’s time to get back to work on The Ice Queens, which centers on messy romantic sapphic entanglements (maybe more than one… maybe involving characters you met in The Favorites who you might be surprised by 😈).
You had me at messy sapphic engagements (brb writing my Yelena/Francesca fanfic)
Full disclosure: Kat sounded so demisexual coded to me when I read the novel. Which obvs, ace identity is a spectrum on another spectrum, but I think that if anyone gave the choice of ice dance or Heath to her, she'd have to think long and hard.
So in my head, she's queer, just a different flavor of queer.