It's my birthday today. :)
Not that you should feel obligated or anything ha ha, but if you feel inclined to give me a gift, you can buy a copy of FAIREST directly from my site for queer and trans folks of color who would like the book but can’t afford it right now. My local bookstore One Grand has kindly offered copies at 30% OFF and I’m donating $5 from each sale to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, a Black trans organization run by a number of friends.
Also, for folks who missed the workshop with my agent Seth Fishman, here’s a link to the recording!
Here’s a birthdayish picture of me, with a Marsha Johson-inspired flower crown.
My birthday is an opportunity to reflect on a month that was full of chaos and pain, but also joy at the prospect that white America is finally waking up to the grave injustices that Black and other marginalized people experience every day.
Launching a debut in this tumultuous time has been challenging, to say the least. And as someone who’s been conditioned by capitalism for decades, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have those selfish thoughts around wanting to have sold more books, garnered more acclaim had my memoir been released when public attention hadn’t been so diverted.
Though mostly, what I’ve experienced is frustration that my energy has had to be divided because of the need to promote my work, and find myself wishing every day that I could have done more. But I also know that life is not a race, and I look forward to continuing to show up in the future, as I’ve tried to do for many years.
Certainly, one of the biggest personal gifts for me over the past months has been forming our little community, and being helpful to other writers and readers. As I mentioned, we’re taking a workshop hiatus in July and August to recharge and reset, but looking forward to resuming in September and continuing to post ideas about writing and other missives in the meantime.
<3 Meredith