Dill Werner

Yesterday, I saw a re-post of a chalkboard sign that was taken outside of a bookstore. It listed “Women + Books News,” which included a list of female authors in SFF. I was thrilled. One of my favorite authors scored a well-earned seven-figure deal with TOR. An author from my agency won her second Hugo back-to-back. But then…my heart sank and I heard that evil dysphoric voice whispering in my ear: This will never include you. You’re non-binary trans*. I don’t fit. It would be easy to have lists say “Female and Non-Binary Authors.” However, the cisgaze means cis people don't think about these things. They don't think about  us,  the third genders. I'm not saying this solely for my comfort. More young people are identifying under the non-binary umbrella. We need to set an example for teens and young adults and provide a safe environment where they can express their gender without fear of exclusion. I personally want to set an example for my younger readers. It

I've tried to make myself scarce with good reason. I'm eyeball-deep in edits on the Adult Fantasy (aka the circus book) while my first YA manuscript is out on subs. For those who don't know, this means my agent submitted it editors at publishing houses. This is kind of like querying an agent but more detailed and polished. You send in your pitch, full manuscript, some other information, then wait. And wait. And wait. Editors are currently reading the manuscript and will get back to us with their decision. They can reject, make an offer, ask us to revise or submit something else in the future. We won't know until it happens. That's where I am on that. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the queer af circus book down to 130,000 words so we can make it as marketable as possible. I'm all about that marketing. (Who would've thought?) The highest word count (WC) was--and I'm not joking--153k. Right now, I'm at 133.1k. I started editing this round at 139