Moving and May writing log

Moving day reading

I had a few hours to myself very early in the morning of the move, while I was waiting for the movers at the new place. Since my phone was about to die (a fantastic stratagem in general when you want to focus on reading), I found one of the book boxes that had been moved the night before and randomly pulled out Vanessa Springora's Le consentement (Consent). It was a quick read, which I finished still sitting on the front steps of my new building.

The book's concise shape helps hide what a punch it packs. I've lived through my own share of horror stories, like everyone pretty much, and even I was falling back on that old childish impulse of shutting my eyes while reading, to stop the onslaught of the words as if I was at the cinema and didn't want to watch anything anymore. It's not a reflex that serves well for books: when you shut your eyes, it's too easy for your own memories to blend in with the scenes conjured by the page.

In Québec, we mostly know about the Matzneff affair through an anecdote from the year of my birth, in 1990. That's when celebrated Québecoise writer Denise Bombardier was viciously attacked in the media after she called out Matzneff for being a pedophile on national French television. But it's a whole other experience to read through Springora's eyes what it was really like to be sexually, artistically, and spiritually decimated at 14 years old by an old man who routinely targeted children her age and even younger.

It's such a weighty read, but in my opinion we have to keep reading these stories. The book was published in 2020, took decades to write, and while it feels like maybe progress is in reach when authors like Springora are finally able to share their own stories, I know that out in literary, artistic, and sports circles, very little has truly changed. The world still operates inexorably under patriarchy.

• Le consentement by Vanessa Springora on Millefeuilles.cloud
• Buy Le consentement by Vanessa Springora on LesLibraires.ca (This is an affiliate link, so do know that I get a tiny store credit if you use this link to buy the book.)

Celebrating the five years of a big damn kiss between two ladies that no one can claim are just gal pals (yes I'm going to talk about that She-Ra finale thank you very much)

The fifth year anniversary of the big damn kiss happened right in the middle of our move, so I really did not have the time to do a proper series rewatch. But after Nate Stevenson released an extremely cute webcomic celebrating the finale (linked just below), I took a couple hours that night to reread some favourite fanfic – Don't Go, anyone? Ping me if you want more recs! – and rewatch three or four episodes. (Relatedly, how is Save The Cat still so good!??! The soundtrack of that episode still gives me goosebumps!)

Really, I think there's a good reason that finale still feels pretty special for so many of us queers who grew up around the change of millenium. Xena and Sailor Moon crawled so that Catra and Adora could get together in a way that definitely! is! not! subtext! in the She-Ra finale, and it's genuinely so well-written, and it's so cathartic.

Queer Progress by Tim McCaskell

I had to read this book for my bookclub happening right after the move, and I was completely determined not to miss it. Published in 2016, Tim McCaskell's Queer Progress: from homophobia to homonationalism is such a good read and I think of extreme relevance still today. The book is both the autobiography of a gay liberation activist who came out in the 70s, and a retracing of Toronto's gay community throughout the decades into the 2010s. The meditation on how pinkwashing and homonationalism came into being in the anglo Canadian context is really incisive and persuasive – and what I wouldn't give for a similar book describing the evolution of the queer (lesbian!!!) community in Montréal!

Do I know any older Montréal queers I can bully into producing an equivalent book for us? In French!? I can pay in enthusiasm, social awkwardness, and green tea.

• Queer Progress by Tim McCaskell on Millefeuilles.cloud
• Buy Queer Progress by Tim McCaskell on LesLibraires.ca (This is an affiliate link, so do know that I get a tiny store credit if you use this link to buy the book.)

On writing...

Well, at least I knew well in advance that this month just wasn't going to be a productive one. The move was extremely physically demanding and did not play nice with my health issues. On top of switching pharmacies and medication transfer issues, I also just sort of collapsed from physical exhaustion a few times and had to deal with more than a few migraines. Super fun!

However, while we're certainly not completely finished with the move (I own a very normal amount of books and have a totally adequate number of bookshelves for all of them) I think the physically taxing bits are, at least, over. While I was going through some old artwork of boats the other day, I was reminded of Captain Wentworth from Persuasion (it took me like half an hour to find my paperback copy in all the mess of the move, because I wanted to read a passage), and I just finished the first tome of La Passe-miroir (another affiliate link fyi!), and I just watched some of the more romantic She-Ra episodes, so honestly it's not entirely surprising that I had a lot of enemies-to-lovers and Sapphic Yearning on the brain. An idea for a romance novel burst from my mind, which I'm nicknaming Halfmoon to talk about here on the blog. As of today, I've got almost half an outline sketched out, and a few character scenes done, and a draft of the first ten pages or so.

In fact, the idea behind Halfmoon isn't entirely new. I'm reworking a very old idea of a story I'd worked on back in 2012, which I had actually presented to one of my Creative Writing professors back in early 2014. The prof was completely unimpressed with my offering, sadly (?), but I think I know how to make it sparkle a bit more. Also, well, don't even remind me about how many WIPs I have going on right now. I'm letting inspiration take the wheel.

All right, that's it for now, I still have books to unpack and shelve. I took May off but my regular fortnightly writing logs are coming back as of June. And I've got some Halfmoon-related stuff (sneak previews, process notes, etc.) coming out for my patrons very soon. So, happy writing and until next time!