Happy Wednesday!
I hope everyone had a fab and safe Halloween.
In case you didn’t know, today is November first. Due to an upcoming move, I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo. If you are, I’m cheering you on!
Brianna Kienitz is here to chat about writing conferences and the world of lesfic.
She’s giving away an e-book copy of Off Pitch. More details about the book and giveaway are below.
Please welcome Brianna.
QUEER-MMUNITY
I recently attended my first writing conference. It was a dream. I got to spend time with old friends and new ones, explore a new city, and gain new skills that I’ve already put to good use. Every time I get the opportunity to participate in the writing community in person it is delightful and affirming. However, there is one thing I’m craving that seems to be elusive.
I started writing just over a year ago after I had fished out my available lesfic reading ponds. Desperate for more (and with a little prodding from a dear friend), I decided to create new stories myself, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. It has been a surprising whirlwind of an adventure, and I am so happy I took that first step.
The thing that I feel I’m missing from my writing experience is a solid queer women’s fiction community. Don’t get me wrong, the work that organizations like I Heart Lesfic do for our community is awe inspiring, and I’ve connected with so many wonderful people writing beautiful stories through social media. But it seems like a lot of excellent queer women stories fall by the wayside for one reason or another.
I find this particularly unsettling because these stories are so important. People need to feel seen and heard, they need representation in stories they love. These stories can even save lives. These seem like noble goals to me, but how do we un-bury them in the great wide world of publishing?
As readers, we keep doing what we do best: reading, reviewing, celebrating stories we love, and lifting them up for all to see. Authors can keep creating, keep striving to be the best artists we can be, and keep shouting about each other’s work from the rooftops. Last but not least, agents and publishers, we need to take a chance, champion the greats, give queer women a platform.
The conference I went to was incredible, but it showed me that queer women still have a long way to go in the writing world. We all deserve a community, but the only way to build it up is for each of us to participate in online communities, demand representation at events, and be readers, reviewers, and creators of queer women’s fiction. Because we deserve to go to bookstores and libraries and see ourselves represented, we deserve to go to events where networking doesn’t always feel like a giant “coming out” fest, and we deserve to read things that make us happy.
OFF PITCH (Pitch Prodigies Book 1)
E-book $6.99
Paperback $11.99
Release date: October 9, 2017
Romance / Sports
Soccer star Adeline Fahey has never taken an interest in the world outside of the pitch. The daughter of wealthy Irish immigrants, and a straight-A student, she sees nothing but the goal—finish her last two years of school and join a professional soccer team—no ifs, ands, or buts.
Then Gabriella Soto, a cello prodigy in her own right and the teaching assistant in Adeline’s dreaded Beginning Spanish class, walks onto her playing field.
After a drunken night in a T-rex costume boots their hearts onto a collision course, Adeline and Gabriella must tackle a field of school scandal, homophobic parents, and their own passionate career goals to have a shot at something more. In the face of so many obstacles, Adeline and Gabriella fear that their love may not be strong enough to score them the championship relationship they never knew they wanted.
Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS
MEET THE AUTHOR
Brianna Kienitz (pronounced Kee-nits) started out as an avid reader of lesbian fiction. When reading no longer sated her appetite, she turned to writing the stories she craved. Brianna believes a good story should make you feel every moment deeply, whether it be laughing until it hurts, crying yourself dry, or screaming with unbridled rage. Her Wattpad works have been widely read and have received multiple awards from the Wattpad community. Her current project, Off Pitch, was named Wattpad LGBT Book of the Month in March 2017.
Brianna lives in Missoula, Montana, where she works as a slayer of transit demons, and a dance instructor. She spends most of her down time hiding in her Hobbit Hole with her wife and cat, curating T-rex costume GIF’s and pretending not to be socially awkward on the internet.
CONNECT WITH
GIVEAWAY
Enter here for a chance to win a copy of
OFF PITCH
All you need to do is enter your email, check that you aren’t a robot, and click enter.
Thanks so much Brianna for stopping by today.
Best of luck to everyone who enters the giveaway.
Before I go, I want to say my thoughts are with everyone in New York.
Ooo, this looks awesome!