Happy Pride! (Mid-Year Check-in)
Welcome to Pride Month 2025 and a check-in on goal progress
June 2025
Hey Friend!
It’s June! Happy Pride, Everybody! ❤️🩷🧡💛💚🩵💚 I hope this Pride, if you haven’t recently, you donate to my trans and enby family who are being attacked at the moment. If you still have more dollars to spare then you can more on to the rest of the rainbow and to queer artists. Do it for me, please and thanks.
June also means that we’ve made it to the midway point of the year. It feels unbelievable that we’ve made it to the middle already. Just yesterday, I was so excited to share my goals for the year with you all, and now the year is halfway done. As we enter the summer months (and this midway point), I’m envisioning what the rest of the year will look like. All those lovely plans, and what have we got to show for them? What is there left to do with the year?
And what still feels necessary and what no longer does?
This is the hard thing about setting goals I think. Once you set them it’s hard to forget them. I can feel failure creeping up my throat even though I still have plenty of time to try. And also for some goals, there’s no reason to try. You’re looking at the remainder of the year and thinking, “oh actually doing 500 panels simply isn’t realistic anymore” (was it ever?) and you’re stuck between two voices.
Voice one is a familiar voice, comforting in her consistency: “You’re just not trying hard enough. Other people are doing X all the time, you’re not working hard enough and that’s why it’s not working.”
The other voice is quieter and weaker, not because the message is weaker but because she’s not used to being listened to: “You can adjust your goals. You set them, so you can also change them.”
If you’re like me, you’re probably shushing that quieter voice. Not because it’s wrong but because it doesn’t feel possible. Change a goal? Adjust what counts toward a goal? Make new rules in the middle of the game I’m only playing with myself???
That’s the part I forget (do you too, or is this my unique brand of weird?). That I created this game. I set the rules for myself. I get to decide how many novellas I’ll read this year or how many can count toward specific categories, etc. I get to decide if I should change that 500 panel goal for a 5 panel one or a 2 panel one.
It doesn’t actually make me weak. It makes me kind to myself. And as much as it’s hard to believe, sometimes I deserve that kindness.
So as we’re heading into June, I hope you’ll take a step back. Look at what you hoped to accomplish, look at what still feels doable and what no longer does. And make adjustments. The hardest thing you have to do if you do that: don’t beat yourself up. Give yourself a break and rewrite the rules. You can always surprise yourself and achieve what you’ve changed, but why not take a little pressure off, huh? It can’t hurt.
It’s been a busy month. I’ve spent the bulk of this month on editing, and it’s been kind of nice not to have the pressure of needing to get a word count written down every day. It’s so motivating to see your word count goal met or to know you have more words than yesterday, AND it can make you feel bad about yourself when you don’t find the words. You feel guilty when you skip. Editing is hard, but it’s kind of the softer, more laid-back version of writing, at least when you don’t have a deadline.
I did have a deadline this month, but I still felt pretty good about meeting that goal. The last thing I worked on for the month (besides this newsletter) was writing a new short. I got started on something and will try to finish it up early this month.
As you can see, my writing goals are in a good place right now. My plan for the rest of this quarter is to write a new story (or novelette), which is already in progress, and to edit one other short story. Technically, I’ve done two rounds of edits on one short, but I’m not ready to count that yet. If I can manage that, then my goal would be to spend Q3 and Q4 writing two new novels. At the moment, this feels totally doable, and I’m very celebratory.
Goals Review:
Write Shorts/Novelettes: 4/5
Write novels: 0/2
Edit shorts/Novelettes: 4/5
Edit Novel: 1/1
Beta Novel: 1/1
Last month I was at the Queer Writers Salon sharing about literary magazines. I also did a little panel about Graduate school for a non-profit program I went through in high school. It’s always nice to give back even in such a small way.
Elk Grove Pride! I’ll be a featured author at the A Seat At The Table Bookstore table at Elk Grove Pride on June 21st. Looking forward to sharing Stone and Steel and talking about the amazing bookstore!
I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but my goal for this year was to do five writing-related events (panels, readings, etc.) So far this year, I’ve done two. The event for Elk Grove Pride is going to be number three, and I really think I could get at least one more event this year. Maayyybe two. So I’m going to leave this goal as is.
Reading
 | Have I told you lately how much I love Suzan’s work? Before I gush I should say that I know Suzan and she’s an incredible human being and she happens to be one of the lucky ones who is both an amazing human and amazing writer. Countess is the Count of Monte Cristo but Caribbean, sapphic and in space. Its a novella so a relatively quick read and really good. Check it out if you haven’t yet! |
 | I had a hard time getting started on this one but eventually it scratched an itch. We have a society of blood workers (lots folks are calling them vampires and yet thats not a perfect sense of what they are) and three people who are trying to navigate this society from its margins, even with wealth and power at their disposal. I loved the cultural aspects (our FMC is half-Filipina) and we have a throuple. A bit slow burn but enjoyed that as well. |
 | I decided to read this because it was teeny tiny (3hrs 5 mins in audiobook time) and I love S.T. Gibson’s longer work (queer vampires? The answer is always yes, babe. It just is). This was cute and I only realized it was a bit of a prequel for the recent release Evocation. I liked the characters and their way of playing with magic and it definitely made me interested in reading Evocation. Adding it to the TBR ASAP. |
Also are you on StoryGraph? That’s where I’m doing all my tracking. Come find me.
Watching
 | I am a huge fan of Muderbot (shipping Murderbot and ART since before it was cool) and I was very nervous about this series. While I like Alexander Skarsgård he isn’t what I envisioned for the character. That being said I watched the first few episodes and I am enjoying the series so far. We still get my lovely sarcastic, traumatized little baby Murderbot and I like the other characters and the way the show is playing up their stories is fun. Whether you’ve read the books or not, I think this Apple+ show is very fun. |
 | I know, you’ve all watched this before and had a great time and moved on but I’m doing my first watch through and having an amazing time. The quipy, quick dialogue, the corny jokes. The way we can go from talking about which turkey will be pardoned to fighting with congress about bills. This show is of a very particular era and its an era that i love. It’s a warm hug. |
 | You remember CinemaSins, right? Ruining every movie you’ve ever loved? Well CinemaWins is the exact opposite and I love the positive takes on the movies, often showing me things I hadn’t even realized were pretty cool in the first place. |
Listening
Here is my Spring playlist. Loving the songs on this, some crossover from the last playlist and some new songs I found on TikTok which is where I get most of my new music.
