One thing readers who love diverse fiction will tell you is that traditional publishing houses have left some mighty huge holes in the market. “Diversity” is generally a catchphrase for those publishers, more than a real commitment. So if [...]
There are two things that terrify writers: running out of caffeine and writer’s block. The first can be solved with a trip to Starbucks; the second is harder to fix. Writer’s block is an insidious disease that seems to [...]
What makes a perfect kiss? As a lesbian reader, there’s nothing I love more than a perfect fictional kiss. But having to write a good kiss? That scares the hell out of me. Kisses—especially first kisses—are hard to write. [...]
Lesbians over fifty in real life are as commonplace as Cate Blanchett crushes and Miranda Priestly’s steaming-hot lattes. But within the pages of our books, where are the older women? I’m not talking about older, secondary characters—the quirky neighbor, [...]
So this year, I moved from Cape Town to Los Angeles to be with my fiancée. Yes, yes, it’s all very romantic, except when it’s 115 degrees (45 degrees Celsius), or you’re trying to find parking in K-Town, or [...]
Ever want a chill to run up your bones? Study a good villain. Not someone who mustache twirls or cackles, or monologues about why they have to kill the country/planet/universe (spoiler: because they’re evil, bwahaha). Nor someone weak as [...]
Imagine your favourite characters pulled into a universe almost exactly like their own, except in this one, instead of English, they speak German, Italian, Spanish. This is a brave new world where stories are being opened up to a [...]
Languages can be a minefield. It’s hard enough mastering one, let alone telling stories in a different tongue. Obviously translators don’t always get it right and there are so many things that can go wrong with foreign languages…or right, [...]
Lesbians + sport. They go together like beer and jalapeño poppers. And, I firmly believe that tennis is the most lesbian of sports. That rumbling noise in the background? That would be the sound of engines firing up as [...]
When I tell people I write lesbian romance novels for a living, I often get raised eyebrows. What surprises people even more is that I, as a German, write my books in English and then translate them into my [...]