Post originally appeared on http://www.klgallagher.com, August 2021 Opportunity has a way of poking its head out when you least expect it. For me, it happened in July 2020. I was doom scrolling on Facebook when I came across an auction to help a Lesfic author in need of a medical procedure. Numerous wonderfully supportive Lesfic authors donated to the cause, including naming one of Ali Spooner’s characters in a future book. After placing the winning bid, Ali contacted me to r

The old saying, “Life is Stranger than Fiction”, epitomizes my journey this past year. Some days I’m still not sure any of this is real, or if I’m going to sadly wake up from this incredible dream. One year ago today, I discovered GCLS and soon after was accepted into the GCLS Writing Academy 2021. I was not a published author, nor did anybody in the Sapphic writing community know my name. My wife and I lived a quiet existence in the middle of a cornfield where I wrote my sto

Three current Writing Academy students, Tagan Shepard, Kate Gavin, and Cade Haddock Strong, have stories in Bella Books’s upcoming romantic anthology, Save the Date. They’re here to answer questions about all things anthology, including what it was like to be part of Save the Date. Why an anthology? TS: We started this project in the summer of 2020, right when we would normally have been meeting up at the annual GCLS conference. We were all missing that human connection, and

by Tagan Shepard I decided to enroll in GCLS Writing Academy because I knew I had more to learn. I published my first novel, Visiting Hours, with Bella Books in 2017. It was good and my editor made it even better. Each of the four books I’ve published since have been better than the last. I learned with each one, but we always have more to learn, whether we’ve never written a word or published a hundred books. Just as Writing Academy was starting, I began editing my sixth boo

by Joy Van Stralen Today’s blog post will be a little different. The Writing Academy administration asked me, a Writing Academy graduate, to provide an insight into someone who graduated but did not go on to publication. I did complete a manuscript during my year with the WA, but I never completed revisions nor submitted the book for publication. Some reading this may question why take the class, a year-long commitment, if you don’t go on to publication. I had dreams of publi

by Finn Burnett WHAT TO TRY WHEN YOU’RE BLOCKED When that happens, sometimes the best thing to do is take a short break. After the break, come back to your work ready to roll up your sleeves and get back to it. Writer’s block, like death and taxes, happens. We get wrapped up in our own lives, our self-care falls apart, or the creative ideas just don’t come. We reached out to some of our favorite writers in the women-loving-women writing world for their thoughts on writer’s bl

By Cynthia Spurr Writing – daydreaming – fictional people have always been swirling around in my mind. It’s so easy and quick to conjure a story. Stories, however, don’t write themselves. Not matter how hard we try. The GCLS Academy is helping me with that last step to complete my novel, and hopefully the next step forward, to publish them. I took the long slow road here. I remember at my mom’s service I wasn’t going to say anything. I was going to keep the thoughts, real or