June was a busy one. At work we were wrapping up the end of semester, with resit assignments and lots of exam board meetings. The election campaigning got underway in full, and my faith in the state of British politics is now at an all-time low. I’ve been revelling in the joy of seeing my partners thrive, and bonding with my metamours. And somewhere in all of that, I managed to find some time to write.
Summer at last
Despite the consistent coming and going of the weather, it finally feels like summer. For me, in my day job at least, that means I can shake off the stress of teaching and try to focus on the part of my job that I really love—the research. At least, that’s the idea. I got asked to take on a deputy programme leader role, in exchange for a few bit of teaching admin I was going to be doing next year, and that has taken up a fair bit of time already. But, I have been able to look at some papers and start sketching out what I’ll be doing this summer.
When I started teaching three years ago, I knew that my research was going to take a hit. But after a marathon of semesters where I was handling multiple modules, some with over 300 students, I felt more isolated from my work as an astronomer than ever. I hope, at last, that I can get back to what I love, looking at cool pictures of space and working out why they look like that.
Stress Headaches and Political Bullshit
I could probably write thousands of words about how frustrated I’ve been at the campaigns of the two main parties in the UK General Election, but that will probably just give me a migraine again. It will continue to baffle me why Keir Starmer in particular has repeatedly come out batting for the gender critical side of the culture war that Sunak and his cronies stoked into a forest fire. Trans rights are, with the general public, a wildly unpopular talking point. The vast majority of people don’t actually care, and it is the lowest on lists of priorities for voters in this election. And yet, time and again, Keri Starmer and Labour have trotted out the same old cliches about protecting women's spaces, while also trying to say they will treat trans people with respect.
This all came to a head—my head, specifically, I was laid up in bed half the day from the stress—when Starmer decided to tell the times that he thought trans women do not and should not have the right to use women’s only spaces. A point that is plainly wrong in the law. I talked about that in a very sweary thread of BlueSky, which you can read here:
Life is better with metas
One of the biggest struggles I think a lot of people have when they try polyamory for the first time, and even for some veterans, is building real connections with your metamours. A metamour is the partner of your partner—so, for example, my boyfriend lives with his fiancee, and she is my meta. I’ve come to learn that your relationships with you metamours can be as rewarding as your relationships with your partners. They are people in your lives that normally have an ungodly amount in common with you—people have types—and when things are going well there is just this self-sustaining energy between you that feeds success. I’ve got to spend a bunch of time with one of my metas in the last couple months—we went to the D20 live show together, we’ve been shopping and ranting about Dropout tv shows—and it’s just been the absolute best.
Writing…
Last week I got the copy edits for THE POTENT SOLUTION back from Spectrum Books, which I have now reviewed and sent back. I did have to fight a bit to keep some em-dashes in there—particularly in dialogue where I use them as interruptions. But all told I am very happy with the book. Hopefully we will have ARCs formatted in the next week, and I will be recruiting some folks to read and review the book early once that is ready.
But, going through a book I ostensibly finished two years ago gave me a longing for the act of writing. This time last year I was deep in the trenches, burning my way through a first draft of a sci-fi novel about shapeshifting teen supersoldiers. But since I finished that draft I haven’t really had the motivation to write. I have a few projects sitting around that need work, but life stress has held me back.
However, I am proud to say that I did manage to write something fresh and new. I won’t say much yet, but I can promise that THE POTENT SOLUTION won’t be the last time you see Charlotte on the page.
That’s all from me for now. Be sure to keep at eye out on my socials for updates, you might even be able to catch me streaming on twitch…