The incredible character of “Auntie Mame” from the novel by Patrick Dennis, which was turned into a movie (with Rosalind Russell in the title role), a Broadway musical (with Angela Lansbury), and a movie based on that musical (with Lucille Ball) is someone everyone should have in their life, but chief among them should be authors. The signature saying of this fictional icon is:

            “Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!”
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Often times when I was working on “The Role” I’d deny myself the luxury of going for a walk outside, or attending a party, or meeting my husband and his co-workers for drinks. I did this in the hopes that by denying myself this pleasure, I’d feel compelled to get some “real work” done. Ultimately, I usually ended up sad about missing out, and annoyed at my manuscript. Whenever I’d decide to do the opposite and go, despite being behind, the results were always better. The reason for this is, as authors, if you go out into our great big world, you can bring some piece of it back to the page.
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Now that Spring is in the air, and my daughter is one year old, the social calendar is starting to fill up months in advance. I keep thinking “I should keep some weekends free, I’ve got a book coming out!” While I certainly make time for author events, I’m also determined to get out there and live. That way I can make the most of my writing time, by living a life worth writing about! 

   As I wait for The Role to hit shelves, I finally have the opportunity to work on something new. Generally, I adore beginning new projects, but there is a little more pressure as a soon-to-be published author to make sure that whatever I write next is as good (and hopefully better) than The Role. I was having trouble getting started until I downloaded a game called Terraria, basically a 2D version of Minecraft. I bought it mostly because I love playing video games, though I could claim it was “research” as I hope to write about gaymers in my next book. I’m happy to report that over the past two weeks, Terraria has really helped me jumpstart my creative process.
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  What makes Terraria perfect for an author starting on a new book is that it has all the tropes of a traditional RPG, but allows the player to manipulate the in-game world at will. I’ve found I personally play better when I’ve crafted a story to explain why I’m building a sky highway to nowhere or summoning the Brain of Cthulu. Once I was confronting a boss to prove my character’s worth as a hero, rather than because I’d finished my sky highway and was bored, my skills instantly improved. Playing Terraria is similar to dreaming for me. It allows my brain to relax by shifting my focus from the blank page on my computer to something concrete that I know I can do. With each tiny micro-achievement I complete, I feel bits and pieces of my new novel fall into place. Like all forms of author “research” there is always the risk that I’ll get lost down a hole (which could be quite literal in this game!) so I’m happy to have my husband and daughter around to assure that I don’t spend all of my free time gaming and devote at least some of that time to writing.

 
Twenty years ago the movie “The Birdcage” was released in theaters across the country, and my life was forever changed. I remember going to this movie with my mother in Little Rock, Arkansas, and people gasping loudly when one of the drag queens ripped off her shirt to change clothes. It took most people in the theater a second to figure out that this was slightly less scandalous as the actor was actually a man. I remember laughing very hard at everything, but also wanting desperately to be Nathan Lane (to be fair, I still want to be Nathan Lane) because he was having all the fun. As an obviously gay 14 year-old, seeing a movie depict two gay parents as role-models was really groundbreaking.
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The movie does have some issues, particularly given how much the world has changed in 20 years, but in many ways it shows just how far we’ve come. Even back in 1996, audiences could feel for Albert (Nathan Lane’s character) when is asked to leave to avoid causing a scene. Nowadays that kind of thing seems insane, because gay parents are more common. However, as problematic as some of the stuff in the movie may be, I don’t think that the movie was ever intended to depict the quintessential LGBT life. I think it was mainly designed to entertain, and while there are things that might not be perfect about it, it was and will always be a movie close to my heart.