this obviously looks better as a sliding post BUT with all the new figure skating fans post-milano, this is my own journey from post-sochi fan to writing a romance about badass girls who burn down an unfair system💙⛸️🏳️🌈 #figureskating #MilanoCortinaOlympics2026
I will admit I am constantly too distracted by how gorgeous Holly is to pay attention to the details of their skating but YES THAT LIFT
omg don't remind me I love l/q's free 😭
Tonight, a new French ice dance team that exists only because of the investigation and subsequent suspension of an alleged sexual abuser could win the Olympic gold medal. Here is my @usatodaysports story (no paywall):
www.usatoday.com/story/sports...
when you're so pissed about how rigged and racist figure skating scoring is that you accidentally write a book about two lesbian rivals taking down the entire system and falling in love 🤷♀️ happy olympics! #figureskating #MilanoCortinaOlympics2026
every day I oscillate wildly between "it is the end of the world if this book doesn't sell, I want this more than ANYTHING" and "who cares, I can always self-publish forever" like an extremely broken compass
Exactly! And I would rather be silly and lose potential fans over it than try to sound more like a neurotypical grownup to appease the masses, lol
also my characters will always sound silly to some people because aside from being ND, I am chronically online and love whimsy and big swoopy feelings, so 😗 but it's a really interesting discussion, imo.
talking with my author friends and feeling some type of way about neurodivergent characters/authors being told their voices feel "young" or "silly" for an adult space when "growing up" is such a complicated concept for ND people and women especially 😵💫
ahhh I want you to read it!!! it's on submission to publishers as of late last week so I'm really hoping someone will pick it up! thank you so much 💙
love her so much 😍
I told myself "I'll just write the first chunk to experiment and have fun and THEN I'll outline the full book and brainstorm with my agent and writing group and NOT get too ahead of myself while #skatinggirls is on sub" but unfortunately Kolya and Yume fucking RULE and I want to keep going 😳
I'm at 14k words when I should be at like 10k, but I finished the first brainstorm-draft checkpoint of #skatingboys with my most words written in a day this whole year (1500, don't laugh), which means my brain gets to start the new year at a nice clean writing break 🥰⛸️
"where is the lesbian version of heated rivalry" HERE HI I HAVE IT AND IT'S GOING ON SUBMISSION NEXT MONTH BEFORE THE OLYMPICS 🥺⛸️💙
I just want my family to have copies of my first ever series (my grandpa passed before he got to read them because of this woman's incompetency, how fun!!!) and then never speak of this again. And that's why I'm not scared of going on sub or self publishing ❤️❤️❤️
You may ask, why haven't I just taken my rights back and self published, since she's incapable of doing her job and has breached contract in 800 places? Well, you see, I no longer care enough and don't want to put in more work/money on subpar books I wrote when I was 14 :)
We finished the "edits" on the second book (i.e. a bad copyedit that took her 2 years) in October 2024 and I've been asking to see interior pages for a YEAR and just keep getting ghosted and pummeled with excuses.
For reference/rant: for years, I've been trying to locally publish a trilogy I wrote in high school for my family. It took five years for my "publisher" (one woman who should NOT be running a business) to put out the first one with limited editing.
I will take whatever hardships come my way in trad pub or self publishing because I had (and am still having) SUCH a rancid experience with a small local press that nothing will ever scare me again
this post sponsored by kaori sakamoto ogm agenda 🙏
"where is the lesbian version of heated rivalry" HERE HI I HAVE IT AND IT'S GOING ON SUBMISSION NEXT MONTH BEFORE THE OLYMPICS 🥺⛸️💙
I PERHAPS WORK FOR THE COOLEST PLACE ON EARTH!!!! love being a part of this kickass woman-run publisher that does so many impossible and cool things every day 💙
My skater girls were grumpy x grumpy, and I'm delighted to report skater boys will be sunshine x (former) sunshine, except I'm rubbing my evil little hands together like a praying mantis ⛸️😇
the good news is I wrote 500 words of "big gay pirate/mermaid adventure book," which means it is officially a WIP and not a bucket of vibes that lives only in my head ✨
I love my job with all my heart but my god is it demoralizing to work in publishing as an author sometimes. it's less like being on the outside of a fancy restaurant looking in and more like being in the restaurant smelling everything but you can't eat it yourself 😵💫
graphic with art of two figure skating girls that reads "'she's a 10, but she...' Guard Your Blades edition!"
Pictures of a white blond girl figure skating. Dasha Safronova: she's a 10, but she... won’t do anything she can’t do perfectly hates “zombie” by the cranberries would rather be a plant than a person fantasizes about her rivals getting bird flu is still coming to terms with her privilege crosses the street so she doesn’t have to say hi to strangers thinks her twin’s cat is the antichrist isn’t opposed to having friends, just cataclysmically bad at it turns into a broken pinball machine of a person around pretty girls is probably underrotating her quad salchow as we speak
Pictures of a Black curly-haired girl figure skating. Muse Ryan: she's a 10, but she... might steal your skate laces or slash your dress if you accidentally ruin her career will always put her little brother first puts too many onions on hot dogs won’t stop telling the media how biased figure skating judges are has opinions™ on classical music gets glittery eyeshadow all over everything seduces like she skates (sharp-edged and devastating) has the messiest purse in the milky way thinks she’s soooo funny by skating to a song by the band muse takes gigabytes of touristy pictures
a purple, pink, and green moodboard of ice, figure skates, dresses, curly hair, a cityscape, mirrors, etc. that reads "on submission soon, represented by Rebecca Matte at Bradford Literary"
this trend is perfect when you write disaster characters who have no idea how to be functioning humans 😇
GUARD YOUR BLADES is:
⛸ literally yuri on ice
💙 rivals to lovers
⛸ secrets and scandals
💙 self-discovery and found family
⛸ forced proximity
💙 true love = taking down the system together
I so badly need disaster bis in an apocalypse... agents PLEASE
LOVE a complicated second chance romance!!!
Extremely good point!!! I know I sure do
I guess we just make it as bananas as possible so it stands out 👀
