Hot newsprint poured over ice cream.

Last month I wrote you a lot of gloomy feelings about taking a regular job, but I'm pleased to report that it's better than I expected. I've been writing for the Bay Area Reporter, the longest-running and largest-circulating LGBTQ paper in the United States. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. And I'm writing about interesting problems, like activists trying to get Google removed from SF Pride because of their policies about hate speech on YouTube. I'm feeling plugged-in in a way that I had forgotten existed. I really like the work of journalism. I like the way it feels vital and the tantalizing idea that I might actually make a difference. 

Writing books makes a difference, too, but it's not the same timeline. Books have to be planted and mature slowly. It'll be a year before it bears fruit. Journalism is more like picking fruit and making compote. It's faster, hotter, and melts ice cream seconds later. 

I'm lucky to get to do both. It's a fruit-filled life. Like the picture says. 

I did a lot of touring and traveling in May. I had a spectacular time at the Nebulas. I got to meet the best living longform video cultural essayist, and hear William Gibson give a lifetime achievement speech that included the word "batshit." I got to read alongside incredible writers like Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, Day Al-Mohamed, and Ruthanna Emrys at a bad-ass women-owned DC bookstore, immediately following a tornado warning on the National Mall. That's a day I won't soon forget (even if I was too tired to remember to get a pic.)

I sold my next book in May, as well. It's a young adult contemporary novel based on some of my own experiences, but with the added dimension of the ability kids have to destroy their own lives through sharing videos. The main character isn't me, exactly. She's a lot like you (the dangerous type). I can't wait for you to read it, and I'll update as soon as I have a cover and a publication date. I'm excited to write for a new audience and see what that's like. 

With that in mind, I've been picking and planting some different fruits than usual. I spoke with the SSR Podcast about one of my all-time favorite YA novels: the heartbreaker, "Bridge to Terabithia." It held up better than most books its age, and I was so glad to find it right where I left it. 

I'm speaking with Peter S. Beagle about his prodigious literary life at Kepler's on June 25. I'm going to have to run to catch a train out of SF to make it there on a Tuesday evening, but I hope you can make it, too. 

If you can't make that, this month's Cliterary Salon show is all-lesbian, for Pride month. I'm not qualified to perform, but I will be there as a producer and audience member for a spectacular lineup. 

Even if I don't see you, I hope you have a rainbow of fruits to taste this summer. I hope you have hot compote and cold plums in the icebox. I hope you have work that helps you feel the difference that you make, short term, long term, and always. 

With all the obscenity that it takes to eat a ripe mango and write the news, 

Meg