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- January 1st, 2010
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Dead Fred Is ... Dead!
My friend and writing buddy Carl gave me the Dead Fred pen holder (left) as a Christmas present. It's awesome. Sufficiently dark and twisted for my taste. You can get one for yourself at http://www.th…
- December 29th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Critique Others As You Would Have Them Critique You
When it comes to associates critiquing my work, I have a thick skin. I realize that everyone has different tastes when it comes to style and genre. And I have enough confidence in myself and my work t…
- December 28th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Fleshing Out My Antagonist
This weekend I received some great feedback on the first chapter of my paranormal novel Desert Witch. By great, I don't mean that everyone thought it was a flawless work of genius. Rather, my fellow w…
- December 24th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
I\'m Back
Yes, I haven't posted in a while. But in my defense, I've been writing and editing and bashing my head against the keyboard until I see stars and birdies. And slowly, I'm getting a handle for how to s…
- November 16th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Learning more about Story Structure
As I've mentioned before, one of the areas in which I struggle is structure -- specifically at the scene level. For a long time, I didn't know how to determine whether a scene was advancing the plot o…
- November 13th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Will Equal Rights Issues Date My Fiction?
Change is happening. Slowly. Often with two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes two steps back. Much of New England allows for marriage equality, even though Maine then pulled a "Prop 8" and voted…
- November 12th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Priming the Writing Pump
When it comes to writing a novel, there are "outliners" and there are "discovery writers". "Outliners" create a detailed outline of scenes before beginning the first draft. "Discovery writers" prefer…
- November 10th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Making Changes Mid-draft
When I wrote the original draft of The Skinless Girl two years ago (it was during Nanowrimo and was titled A Sense of Community back then), I wrote it in third person limited. After letting it rest fo…
- November 9th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Stories in Motion
I just mailed off my short story Waffle Shoe Wake to The Georgia Review. It's always an exciting thing to do. Lots of expectations and hopes, tempered with the reality that I face a lot of competition…
- November 8th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Ready to Launch
Yesterday, I spent a couple hours at the main Phoenix Library in order to get a feel for some of the literary magazines I'm considering sending on of my short stories. They only had a few of the ones…
- November 4th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Doing My Research
Yesterday, after a few weeks of editing, I put the final polish on my story "Waffle Shoe Wake" (weird title, I know, but it makes sense once you read the story). Now I need to start submitting it. But…
- November 3rd, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Here I go again
What Happened Here? If you're looking for the Transgender Survival Guide blog, I regret to say it died a quiet, peaceful death. Let us observe a moment of silence in honor of its passing.*sigh*New Dir…
- October 7th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Three Secrets in the Art of Passing (MTF)
While this blog is for all gender variant people, today's post is mostly for trans women. Sorry, guys. If a trans guy is willing to share his wisdom, I'd be happy to share some tips on passing for FT…
- October 2nd, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Wisconsin Trans Organization Wins Grant
The Wisconsin-based FORGE has received its second grant in nearly a month to help provide services on behalf of victims of trans-related violence nationwide.You can read their press release on the en|…
- October 1st, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
New Documentary Explores LGBT Bullying
Two education professors at the University of Georgia, Corey Johnson (pictured) and Anneliese Singh, have produced a new film that looks into the lives of LGBT high school students who are bullied bec…
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Relationships: The First Casualty of Transitioning
The decision to change gender is not an easy one. For those of us who make this decision while in a romantic relationship, it can be more difficult. It is a Catch-22. We risk either hurting (and losin…
- September 15th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Starts and Stops and Starts Again
My transition did not begin smoothly. For starters, I didn't know what I was dealing with. Why did I identify so strongly as a woman? What was wrong with me? It was the beginning of the 1990s. I lived…
- September 9th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Changes coming
With all the options of social media, it's hard to decide which outlets to use and how to use them. I've used Twitter, Facebook, blogs (obviously) and podcasts. All of this in addition to being a regu…
- August 16th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Who Am I? Who Decides?
Before I begin, let me state that this post is a sociological observation of identity politics within various minority communities. It is not a judgment of anyone's inherent worth. We are all sacred b…
- August 6th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Digging A Little Deeper
Earlier today, I read something on the Joe.My.God blog about Julia Child that bothered me. Then I followed Joe's link to the original story in Boston Magazine for the full story, and what I discovered…
- July 30th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Forget the Medals, Give Us the Freedom
It has been announced that Harvey Milk has been posthumously given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in recognition for leading the charge on LGBT rights. Billie Jean King and Sen.…
- July 27th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Activism Overwhelm
There are so many fantastic organizations working hard to protect gay and gender-variant people and to secure our equality. This, in addition to all of the other wonderful non-profits working for othe…
- June 21st, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Unspoken Support?
I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and was surprised to see that host Charles Osgood (pictured left) was sporting a rainbow bow tie (not pictured). While I am certainly no paragon of fashion sense (mor…
- June 20th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
The Next Star Trek Movie
There are unconfirmed rumors that the next Star Trek movie involves lesbian Captain Janeway and the LGBT crew of the Federation Starship Voyager on a quest to find Barack Obama, after it was discovere…
- June 18th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Codependent No More
I was once married to a man who claimed to love me, but then turned around and abused me and cheated on me. I was so codependent at the time (12+ years ago), so desperate for the love he promised that…
- June 17th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Orbitz Ad Features HRC T-shirt and Pride Flag
I just happened to catch this Orbitz commercial on MSNBC. Note the HRC logo on the light blue shirt and the rainbow flag on one of the golf bags. Way to go Orbitz!
- June 5th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Arizona Takes Away Rights to Save A Few Bucks
This just in from Equality Arizona...HB2641 passed the [Arizona] House last night, and is on Governor Brewer’s desk for signature or veto. Inclusion of HB2641 in the general budget seeks to elimi…
- May 20th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Bridgebuilder/Storyteller: Peterson Toscano
I had the fortune of meeting Peterson Toscano a few months ago at the Transgender Leadership Summit. What makes that remarkable is that Peterson Toscano isn't transgender. He is a multi-talented gay m…
- May 17th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Changing the Conversation
As President Obama stands by idly watching Lt. Dan Choi get kicked out of the military for being gay (after continuously promising to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"), I am reminded once again how importa…
- May 16th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Transgender Survival Guide
Transitioning (changing gender) is tough. When I transitioned last century (okay, it was the 1990s) in Newt Gingrich-country, I didn't have resources like the internet. Even these days, with online…
- May 15th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
A World of Progress
In case you missed my update on Twitter and Facebook, I am now a contributing writer for the online magazine A World of Progress. Recently, they published my essay A Space of One's Own. I will also be…
- May 14th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Cutting Through the Walls of Rhetoric
A few weeks ago, I was having a discussion with someone about the "tea parties" (or "teabagging parties", if you prefer). At the beginning of the discussion, we appeared to be on opposite ends of the…
- May 13th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Building Bridges Between Communities
Recently, I have been invited to participate in an event (details to come at a later date), the goal of which is to build bridges between the GLB (gay/lesbian/bi) communities and the transgender commu…
- May 10th, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
- May 3rd, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Story Overcomes Prejudice
I grew up in a small town outside of Atlanta during the civil rights era. Racial prejudice was so rampant, I remember seeing the Ku Klux Klan passing out their hate literature on street corners. I rem…
- April 23rd, 2009
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dharmashanti has posted a new entry on: Dharma's Blog
Storytellers Rise Up!
When the story is more compelling than the facts, people believe the story. It's sad, but true. It doesn't matter if the story is a complete fabrication. It doesn't even matter how illogical or fantas…
