The Letter Q

I want this book.

It's called The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves, and it's just what it sounds like: Things queer authors would say to their younger selves if they had the chance. As a queer writer myself, I can only imagine how amazing it would be to read stories of people who were once, very much in my boat. A bit like It Gets Better, only for writers. (On that note, there is actually a book of It Gets Better stories, if you didn't know. I didn't. I might get that one, too. It even got better reviews.)

This quote is on the Amazon page, attributed to Sarah Moon:

"Just between you and me, we both know that the weirdest thing about coming out on your first day of high school in this tiny cow-town is that you haven't even kissed a girl, yet. All you're going on is that feeling in your stomach when you see those pictures of the Spice Girls. It feels a little strange to go around proclaiming that you're a lesbian when you're not even sure that, you know, you'll like it. That quiet fear that this isn't the right thing, that you're going through all of this trouble for nothing, that if you had Angelina Jolie right there in front of you, you wouldn't know what to do with her, it's very scary. I have good news for you: The trouble is worth it, and you'll learn what to do; and that will be fun."

This speaks exactly to me. This is a fear I have had. This is a fear I still have. Although I don't live in a 'tiny cow-town', and I don't stare at pictures of the Spice Girls or Angelina Jolie, this could be a letter from MY future self. That, I think, is one of the things that binds us together. We have had the same fears, the same thoughts, the same problems, even though we are very different people living very different lives. Sarah Moon and I have never met. She has never heard of me (unless by some very strange coincidence, she knows one of my teachers or something) and I had never heard of her until today, though I love her name. But Sarah Moon knows exactly what I'm thinking, because she has been there too.