We're finally three-quarters gay this episode!

My first-ever video guest is Chatham Greenfield, Reese’s Book Club inaugural LitUp fellow, Stonewall Honor recipient, Lambda Literary nominee, and author of the unputdownable lesbian YA romance TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

Or, as I have dubbed them: Gay of the Year.

Watch our candid conversation on writing while disabled, the guilt that comes with chronic illness, and why Chatham is honored to be your next favorite bathroom read.

We dive into:

• How disability shapes our creative and practical writing process

• Why Chatham sleeps 18 hours and I don't sleep at all—and neither is enviable

• The physical reality of being a writer: wrist braces, shoulder pain, and eye strain

• Learning to pace vs. riding the creative wave until you crash

• Authentic disability rep: Why Chatham doesn't write magical cure endings

• New book alert: TRY YOUR WORST drops September 23rd with dual narrator audiobook

Best Quotes from our talk:

"I always say I'm Jewish and Catholic, so I'm like a perfect storm of guilt."

"People think our pain is on a scale of 0 to 10. Our pain is on a scale of 5 to 10."

"I try to make my endings hopeful, but still with the hint of realism of like, you don't know what's gonna happen. And sometimes the only certainty is the pain."

Pre-order TRY YOUR WORST and get exclusive access to the alternate ending of TIME AND TIME AGAIN: on Amazon https://amzn.to/48gswah

Audible: you can use your credit on the pre-order! https://amzn.to/47Hl1Jl

Or your favorite retailer including B&N, Bookshop, and more: https://chatgreenfield.com/tyw

Follow Chatham: @ChatGreenfield (all platforms)

WATCH the Video of today's episode: https://bit.ly/chathaminterview

Timestamps:

00:08 Meet Chatham Greenfield: Author and fellow LitUp Fellow

03:05 Writing While Disabled

07:32 Pushing our bodies past our limits

11:37 Writer's Guilt, Jewish Guilt, Asian Guilt, We all get a guilt

14:05 Writing About Bathroom Woes While Running for the Toilet

17:27 Aspirational Writing and Open-Ended Endings

19:24 Pre-Order Information

Follow this podcast for a bonus episode next week with more Chatham goodness!

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