I’m an editor who’s also a writer who’s also queer and living in San Francisco. I’m a dog dad, too, which probably should’ve come first.
Book editing is an intimate way to get to know people, through the rough drafts of their stories. It’s very sensitive work, I have to rely on a really wide range of reading, and I get to work with people who are passionate about what they’re doing. My clients are genuinely inspiring, and I feel honored to be trusted with their work.
I’ve earned that trust, I think, through my experience as senior editor/publisher at Outpost19 Books. Way back in 2013, I launched the indie imprint as an editor-driven project and always aimed for an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction books. Over the years, I’ve worked with dozens of debut and established authors from around the country, publishing over 100 titles and earning praise from literary reviews, like Electric Lit and Heavy Feather, as well as mainstream media, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly and dozens of others. Along the way, I launched a sister imprint, The Shortish Project, a series dedicated to original short novels. Both imprints strive to cover a lot of styles and genres, and I’m in awe of the voices I’ve been able to champion.
But when I sit down to write, I put my editing shoes out in the hallway. By which I mean, I take them off and give my toes air to breathe, but I still keep those particular shoes in view. The dog, the current one, inherited from my dad, circulates as needed.
Mother in the Sun in Puerto Vallarta follows a queer misfit trying to navigate a hypersexualized gay world while searching for his elusive celebrity mother. It is not autobiographical in any literal sense, and it’s not particularly close to any of my clients’ work or the books I’ve published over the years. But MITSIPV is a story about better understanding others so we can better understand ourselves.
Out in the hallway, my dog, as I understand him, seems happy enough with it. And I have a minute now to get him to the beach.
