SeaHeart

Today, I finished The Bone Girl. For four years of my life, this beautiful creature has been with me, has stayed, curled and unfolding in my heart and head.

It's over. The last line has been written, the edits have gone through, the final edits need to be made. I feel like I stand in a castle, all built and beautiful, and now I must move out again, vagabond that I am, to move to another land, where the foundation for another castle rests, walls of stories ready and waiting to be erected. Waiting for me.

Goodbye, beloved book. I have loved you, and I have loved you fiercely. Thank you for being kind to me, your storyteller, for staying with me as I spun you. I love you. Go forth and be good and be read.

<3

The Bone Girl is coming August 28th, 2012. <3 <3 <3

Today, I unveiled the shiny book trailer for my upcoming YA release The Bone Girl. I am inordinately proud of something so small and simple, because it's the first video I've ever made. I worked super hard on it (NOT THAT YOU CAN TELL *laughing*), and I kind of cackled in glee and waved my legs a lot (EXACTLY LIKE THIS) when I finally got it the way I wanted it. THIS MEANS THAT EVERYTHING GETS A BOOK TRAILER NOW. SERIOUSLY. EVERY. THING. :D :D :D

And now, a day of writing! Probably the last. <3

( THE BONE GIRL... )

Add The Bone Girl on Goodreads!

Today is, perhaps, the second to last day of living in the world of The Bone Girl. Perhaps the last day. These moments are always bittersweet in a story you've spent so long in--I began incarnations of The Bone Girl in 2008...for four years, I have lived with its characters, its concerns, its dreams and metaphors and monsters. I have lived with the love between Mara and Lutese, and soon, soon, she will launch like a ship into the ocean of the world, and the author will be left behind, as the author always is.

I hang on more to the "sweet" end of the bittersweet process of finishing a novel. I have loved it so much. I have loved its world, and my girls, so, so dearly. Lu has been fascinating to write--so cowardly in the beginning, so single minded and selfish, and for her to evolve into someone much less cowardly, to blossom and grow through hardship into a girl who wants, more than anything, really, to save the world, has been a magical thing. I love Mara. I love Mara. She is so loyal and courageous and cares so, so deeply for Lu, that--together, as you will see--they can accomplish anything.

I wanted, at the very end of the day, to write a story about a girl who learned empathy. About the differences that we all possess, and how they can be used to evolve the world, not destroy it. I wanted to write about hate, and how it can be overcome, about violence, and how it can be transformed, about lies and how you shouldn't believe everything you're told, or your parents were told, or your grandparents were told. I wanted to write a story about a girl who sifted through all of the tradition and stereotypes and superstitions, in a dying world, and who could finally discern for herself what was worth believing in:

Love. Kindness. Courage. And herself.

It's a very weird story. People trade skins like books. The animals speak, and Skin Peddlers have blue hands. The Church of the Skinned will try to save your body, and End City will try to steal it, and the ocean holds so very many secrets that always, eventually, wash ashore.

And I can't wait to share its story with the world. And with you. <3

I'm wearing one of my favorite writing talismans today, for the fine magic required of finishing a novel. My Glamourkin that says "beneath her skin ran ink." <3

- So, my award-winning (THAT IS JUST SO SPARKLY, GAH. *JOY FOREVER*) short story, "The Witch Sea," has FINALLY been changed to free on Amazon (after a two month wait!), but it's just in time for the holiday weekend, and I'm glad it's finally done! :) (Don't ask--I had to do technical things to subvert the system and make it free, and technology is not that easy to subvert, lemme tell ya!) It's about a lonely witch, a sea god, and a selkie, and I'd love to see it get pretty high on the free charts, because everyone needs a little lesbian fiction in their lives! If you have a Kindle, please consider downloading the short story, and if you don't have a Kindle, please consider spreading the word--every little bit helps, and is much appreciated! ♥

Download "The Witch Sea" for FREE!


- After an awesome conversation with Rachel last night that energized and FILLED ME WITH SPARKLE, I stayed up until four thirty in the morning finishing the redesign of my author site, Oceanid.org. I wanted it SUPER SIMPLIFIED, while still giving important information, and be a portal for the book links on their various sellers, our blog and my various social media presences. I THINK IT DOES ITS DUTY. AND IS ALSO PINK WHILE DOING IT. I am pleased. (The graphic at the top is actually a stock image I purchased forever and a day ago--it'll be used for a cover, eventually, too, but it looks so happy up there! :) *pets it*)

- I kind of feel like the father of an about-to-be-born child. Jenn has gone into the bedroom with her laptop, to finish the end of her novella, Seven: A Lesbian Snow White, and I'm out here, in the living room, working on my own writing, hoping its going well for her. :D *fret* *chews nail* This is the first piece of writing she'll have finished in...well...a very long time. And it wasn't easy. And she's worked so hard on it, and it is so fucking brilliant, and I'm so proud of her and so nervous for her, and just...gah! :D *paces* *waits to hear imaginary-baby-of-a-novella cry*

- I'm currently working on a short story for an anthology I was invited to! <3 I went past the deadline, and they were awesome and had already granted me wiggle room if I needed it, and I am FINALLY finishing it up today, and am very happy with it~ I'll talk a little more about it after it's absolute in all ways. :D

- SPEAKING of novels, I should be finished-finished-finished with The Bone Girl tomorrow, ready to send it off to the Women of Lovely Feedback, and then the final edits will be flying, and it should definitely hit its tentative release date (which is slowly shaping up to be a definite release date!) of June 26th! I worked very hard on this novel, but it's been super kind to its author (UNLIKE OTHER NOVELS I COULD NAME), so it was kind of a breeze to get everything down. :) I love the main character, Lutese, love her love interest, Mara (she's so awesome and kick ass~ <3), I love Ozz and Roar and Valienne, and I hope that people are going to enjoy it as much as I did. :) <3 It's a strange little novel--Twixt and Ragged are much more edgy in obvious ways, but The Bone Girl has its own kind of edge to it. The whole basis of the book is how far are you going to go to be true to yourself, and if you have no empathy, what will you do to find it? Lu starts out in the story really caring about no one but herself, and--at the end of the novel--we see a marked shift in her perceptions and empathy. She's fallen in love with an outcast, and she (possibly!) is the bone girl of the prophecies, and the world is dying, and people need help, and she always closed to her eyes to every last bit of other people's suffering...until she can't, anymore. There are elemental spirits, shape-shifting Low, Animal Balls of grandeur and beauty, and a one hundred year dead spell where nothing grows, and Skin Peddlers who steal and buy and sell skins, and a Priest of the Church of the Skinned who doesn't necessarily believe that having your original skin means you're pure (blasphemy!) and a fire and, and... courage. And hope. And love. <3 I can't wait to share it with you!

- After finishing The Bone Girl, I'm turning right back around and finishing The Dream Queen (The graphic novel/web comic of the lesbian Midsummer Night's Dream!), and then I have to typeset the first volume of Sappho's Fables, which so many people are excited about! <3 <3 <3 I'm excited about it, too~ :) Tentative release dates on Seven are THIS WEDNESDAY, OMG!, and then next week Wednesday for the first volume. :D

- Also, this Wednesday, the next Fable Tribe update! <3

- If you haven't noticed, I wanted this to be a post of other! Exciting! Things!, but we don't really have much going on right now besides WRITING FOREVER AND EVER HOORAY. There are a lot of looming deadlines, but we're very excited about all of them, because once the novels and novellas and volumes are out, things can slow down a tiny bit. As you know, we make all of our moolahs from our novels, novellas and short stories and the Fable Tribe, and we work very, very hard to be able to do this. Inhumanly hard, honestly. :) We never take breaks, we put in nineteen hour days OFTEN. NORMALLY. Mortal humans can't live at that speed. Soon, though, we're going to make almost ALL of our monthly budget from books, freeing us up from having to put out a Fable Tribe update every two weeks AND write, AND edit AND... :) And then our lives will ALSO be my FAVORITE WORD: SUSTAINABLE. When all I want to do is write, THAT IS WHAT I SHALL DO. When all I want to do is glue glitter to things, THAT IS WHAT I SHALL DO. And SOME DAYS? SOME DAYS I AM GOING TO FINALLY BE ABLE TO SLEEP IN. :D OH, GLORIOUS SLEEP. *writes an Ode to it* I want so very little from life, and I have everything I need--now, I just need to order it so that I can occasionally take breaks and be a little gentler with myself. :) We're almost there, baby!!! <--PSYCHED

- I got a fan letter that made me cry yesterday. :) It was so heartfelt and vulnerable and beautiful, and I felt so humbled after reading it. I know that some people think that when someone pours out their heart to an author, explaining what their books meant to them, an author might not pay attention or be touched by it, but I promise you: that's not true. We are changed by the love given to our stories, as the stories themselves are changed when they are read with that much love. <3 I had a moment of deep, boundless gratitude for that letter, and I'm never going to forget it.

- ...And that is all the sparkle that is fit to print. <3 <3 <3

A lot of people ask me: "Sarah, I'm really excited about your XXXX novel(la), when is it coming out?" I am HELLA HAPPY that you're so psyched about something my crazy-and-slightly-unicorn-filled mind came up with, so I thought to myself: SELF, PERHAPS YOU SHOULD MAKE A USEFUL LIST OF SPARKLY THINGS WITH TENTATIVE DATES ON THEM SO THE PEEPS CAN BE KEEPING TRACK INSTEAD OF HAVING TO SEARCH OUT INFORMATION LIKE AN EASTER EGG HUNT.

Hence, this list was born. <3

I hope to put this out on a bi-weekly, status-type-thingy basis, so people can keep track of the novels/novellas/short stories/sparkly bits they're most looking forward to!

If you have any questions, ask me! I'd love to answer. :)

Coming Soon (As Sarah Diemer):

The Bone Girl (Novel) -- Gay YA, dystopia/dark speculative fiction. Will hopefully be released at the end of June--a tentative date we're shooting for is June 26th. Read the synopsis/add it on Goodreads here!

Marrow Moon (Novella) -- Lesbian fantasy. Second in the Maja Trilogy, shooting for a June release date!

Sparkle Princess Were-Unicorn (Short Story Collection) -- Gay YA, speculative fiction. Shooting for a release date on my birthday, July 6th. :) Read the synopsis/add it on Goodreads here!

The Dream Queen (Graphic Novel/web comic) -- Gay YA, speculative fiction--a lesbian retelling of "A Midsummer Night's Dream!" Written by me and illustrated by the incomparable Stephanie Blackwell, the collaboration begins (the first page is released) on Midsummer, June 20th!

Coming Soon (As Elora Bishop):

Sappho's Fables, Volume 1 (Novella Collection) -- Lesbian Fairy Tales! This collection will contain Crumbs (Hansel and Gretel), Braided (Rapunzel), and Seven--both Crumbs and Braided are released, and Seven should be released at the end of May, so that's when we're hoping to release the collection, too! :)

Shimmer: A Lesbian Rumpelstiltskin (Novella) -- Part of the Sappho's Fables series, fairy tales retold from a lesbian perspective! We're shooting for a June release for Shimmer-- it starts the second volume of Sappho's Fables!

In the Farther Out Stages (As Sarah Diemer):

Ragged: A Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tale (Novel) -- Gay YA, dystopia. I'm actually (crazily) re-re-re-writing this with a July release date in my head. Lesbians, fairies, the end of the world--it's my most anticipated release, and the one that I've worked the hardest on, and I'm hoping it continues to be nice to its author. ;D <3

Twixt (Novel) -- Gay YA, dark speculative fiction. Twixt is The Bone Girl's sister novel--not that they're in the same universe or are remotely similar, but I came up with their plots I think...two days apart? And have been working on both for roughly the same length of time (about five years). I have a tentative release date for August for this one, and it will probably be pushed back--out of everything I've ever written, this is my absolute favorite.

Burning Moon (Novella) -- the third in the Maja Trilogy! Shooting for an August release date!

Keeping the Moon (Novella Compilation) -- Sugar Moon, Marrow Moon and Burning Moon (in other words, all three novellas of the Maja Trilogy), gathered in one volume--this will include a print release! Coming August 31st!

Love Devours (Short Story Collection) -- Dark Speculative Fiction. I'm about half-way through with the stories for this volume, but keep pushing off the release date, due to other projects. I'm hoping September or August on this one!

In the Farther Out Stages (As Elora Bishop):

One Midsummer Day (Novella) -- Lesbian Fantasy/original fairy tale. The second installment of The Benevolence Tales! I'm looking to a June release date on this one, but it may have to be pushed back--I'm hoping not to!

(Please note: these are just projects that I've announced--there are actually lots of other things I'm working on, but haven't made a peep about yet! Watch this space for other sparkly things~)

(Originally posted at Muse Rising~!)

Welcome to the Sparkle Party! This week marks the one year anniversary of my debut novel, The Dark Wife's publication. (If you're just tuning in, The Dark Wife is a YA, lesbian retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth.) My life has changed drastically in one year, and I owe everything to the little novel that could, and to the incredible people who have supported it. This week is in celebration of that fact, and I thought we'd get the Sparkle Party started off with--well--SPARKLE!, by placing my next novel's announcement (and cover reveal) on the very first day!

So, it is with a ton of excitement and MORE GLITTER than this world has ROOM for, that I announce The Bone Girl as my next YA novel. <3 Coming late June, it's a dark speculative fiction/dystopia about a girl made of bones and a band of misfits and freaks, and I'm deeply excited about it, and hope you will be, too~ <3 (It's a novel I've been working on for about five years now, so I'm ecstatic to be so close to releasing it!)

The cover was drawn by the supremely amazing and talented Laura Diemer, who also illustrated The Dark Wife's cover. <3



In a world where snow never falls and flowers never grow, the animals have learned to speak, and the people change their skins as easily as they change their clothes. But while Skin Peddlers sell fleshy wares in corner shops, the radical Church of the Skinned preaches against the impurity of selling one's most precious possession.

One night, a greedy Skin Peddler steals the most beautiful skin he's ever seen, leaving a girl of bones behind. Lutese wakes up skinless--and though other people would simply buy and slip into another skin, Lu refuses. As a bone girl, as a freak, she ventures into the wild, dying world to get her skin back.

Unbeknownst to Lu, there is a prophecy about a bone girl whispered among the animals. It foretells of an ending to the world, of an everlasting winter. As Lu draws closer to End City, the rumors grow stronger, following in her wake. But she doesn't care about anything besides getting her skin back...

Until she falls in love with an outcast girl named Mara, one of the reviled Low. This simple act sets events into motion that could destroy the world...or save it.

Add The Bone Girl on Goodreads!

I spent all day jurying for the Pullman Memorial Alternative Craft Fair, and am just so ecstatic and grateful for the talent that's taking part in the fair. There are some amazing, amazing local artisans, and--as I knew it would be--putting on a show is very different from just being in one. When you're in a show, the sense of community is strong and vital--everyone wants to help, whether you need a tent stake or you left the tablecloth at home. You make acquaintances, and then--even faster--you make friends. You're surrounded by people who are selling the art of their passion, the crafts of their dreams, and there's this really beautiful sense of ease about it all. It can definitely get stressful if it's an outdoor show, and it rains (am I going to make back the vending fee? Is everyone else going to make back their vending fee?), but even then, it turns into a big joke, because who can control the gods or the weather? Everyone laughs with everyone else, and you make the most of it, because that's what you do, standing around the coffee tent, hands wrapped around warm paper cups, listening to the rain patter on the earth, talking with a friend you didn't know existed before yesterday.

So, when you're building a fair from the ground up, all of the beautiful things you knew as a vendor are magnified. The sense of community is even stronger, because even people who can't participate in the festival are now your acquaintances, and the thing about alternative and indie and art and craft people? They're really fucking nice. They're doing what they dreamed about doing, and that makes them just happy and grateful to be there, centered in themselves, built of the gravity of creation and inspiration. There's nothing else like it in the world. Every time Jenn and I vended at a show or fair or festival, we'd come away from it in awe of that community, that sense of abundance and contentment and joy.

And here and now, we're building it. I'm so humbled and grateful to be leading this project with my incredible wife. I'm making connections and friendships and having moments that are just so fucking splendid. It is hard work--you've gotta keep five-million-bean-bags-in-the-air-at-the-same-time, but you don't really notice how much you're juggling or how fast you're going, because there's this whirlwind of people with you, and it's about buttons and art and paper and string, all creating something new and brilliant and beautiful, and the world opens up, because it needs and wants more art. It's hungry for it. So the universe makes things easier, and the days fly by, and you find yourself spending hours looking at tiny pictures on Etsy and making decisions, and scribbling things down in big notebooks with pink and green gel pens, and drinking your tea and feeling really complete and happy.

Because you're doing something you love doing. And you realize that it's pretty fucking wonderful. And you're just...grateful.

~*~

My novel, The Bone Girl, is coming along beautifully. I write so much, everyday, words, words, words, and I think and I feel and I drink so much tea and I think some more and there's more writing...

Cover art, official blurb and excerpt coming soon. I just wanted to mention that it's being a very good girl to its author, of which I am very grateful. <3 (I AM LOOKING AT YOU, RAGGED.)

~*~

Jenn and I went for a walk last night beneath the grinning sickle moon, and a scattering of glowing, vibrant stars. We talked about our move to Massachusetts, being queer and puppies.

This is my life. <3 <3 <3

I'm so fucking grateful.

It's sunset outside, the time of day that the birds erupt in a chorus of "good nights" to one another. <3 The cats are at the windows, watching with extreme interest as the robins hop across the lawn and meadow, and the sunshine streaks the tops of the pines with glittering gold. It is a beautiful, beautiful evening. <3

Jenn and I have been editing non-stop. Jenn was doing the final edits of Braided, which was released today, and I've been working on the broad-sword-chopping-edition-of-edits on The Tea Spell, which should be released later this month. <3 I wrote The Tea Spell (Book One of the Moonrun Chronicles!) the month of and the month after our wedding, and it's taken this long to be able to tackle it for edits. It's a joy to work through, because I keep remembering specific days in which I wrote specific scenes, like our trying-on-our-wedding-dresses-day. There's so much of the joy of our wedding suffused into that little book. It makes me very happy~ <3



The Tea Spell is a novel, not a novella (YOU ARE SHOCKED, I KNOW), and is book one of the Moonrun Chronicles. Moonrun is this magical little town on the New England coast where the weird of the world end up. It has pond monsters and flying horses and zombies and werewolves and Krakens, and it's into this bizarre place that Amy now finds herself. Amy is an Actual Witch (TM), of the Goddess worshiping, composting, Sabbat ritual, Pagan variety. When she moves to Moonrun, it's discovered that the last witch could actually ride a broomstick and wore a pointy black hat.

Amy's a little in over her head.

She's also falling deeply in love with this wise-cracking, red-headed werewolf chick named Morgan, who happens to be the daughter of the Moonrun werewolf patriarch, Allen...who may have the best of intentions for the town, but a really crappy way of showing them. As Halloween approaches (of course, the biggest night of the year for the denizens of Moonrun), it's clear that Strange Things could not only put a damper on the celebrations...Amy could actually lose her girlfriend to something sinister and dark. And possibly fairy-like.

DURING THIS TIME, she also opens up a tea room named The Tea Spell, sets up a ghost ball for her resident ghost-lady, helps her girlfriend keep an evil mermaid from invading the town and helps rescue baby pond monsters from Certain Doom.

Life is never dull in Moonrun. <3

It's the rompiest romp I've ever written and never, ever, ever takes itself seriously, and is my last hoorah before I dive back into Ragged's editing surgery, and the writing of The Bone Girl. :D So THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO. I have also been TERRIBLY BORING because of it. See? ALL I CAN TALK ABOUT IS WRITING, I HAVE TURNED INTO THAT WRITER, OH GODS.

WHAT ELSE. Hopefully (hah!), our next Fable Tribe update will be this coming Wednesday--a week from today! :)

This weekend, we're going down to PA for Jenn's sister's baby shower (IT IS MONKEY THEMED. WE WENT A LITTLE OVERBOARD ON THE THEME), which should be a lot of monkey-induced fun!

My laptop is an ancient, but lovable Macbook G4, and it DOES NOT like Livejournal, which is why I haven't been around. :( Jenn has been doing a lot of transcription, which involves this laptop that I'm typing on, and she actually needs it back right now because she got an assignment. IF YOU HAVE BEEN WONDERING: WHERE DID THE CRAZY PINK-HAIRED LADY GO? I'm here! Just not that much on the interwebs! :D I wanted to say: I aten't dead!

SOON, when the debt has been paid off, I will get a GLORIOUS, SHINY AND INEXPENSIVE NEW LAPTOP, which will actually let me do more than just type things (and sometimes not even that--my beloved little Macbook, when she's In A Mood, will simply not type every other letter while emitting a VERY LOUD BEEP. XD I HAVE A LOT OF PATIENCE. SOMETIMES.). :D THAT will be a GLORIOUS DAY.

<3 *LOVE*!