Once upon a time, I had a tumor. Yes, an actual tumor located in my left breast. The word is frightening (as it should be), but the definition of a tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue within the body. It was a golf ball sized mass that I knew about for a two years, but ignored because, pfft, it was probably nothing. Right? Then, in the Fall semester of my Sophomore year at college, I woke up on the first morning after finals to intense pain and the feeling like I was laying on a ball. I looked around my dorm room bed to find it empty. Only when I started getting up did I realize the ball was inside of me. I knew something was serious when I called the health center, calmly told them my symptoms, and received the response, “Come in NOW.” Our student health center didn’t do “now” appointments. Those were for emergenc- oh, crap. As I was walking the two blocks over there, it hit me; this could be serious. All of those months of ignoring this mass, thinking it was just some dense tissue,
A genderqueer young adult and adult debut science fiction and fantasy author, Dill Werner writes for The Knight Agency under president and senior agent, NYT bestselling author Deidre Knight. They focus on diverse, nonbinary and/or trans* characters that validate the identities, sexualities, and genders of both teens and adults a like.