Hey, Outward listeners, happy Pride Month.

Producer June Thomas here with some news.

Once again, this year, we're going to

celebrate pride by providing our wonderful listeners with some extra queer, extra episodes. This

year, we'll have fresh episodes every Wednesday. You'll still get the biggie on June 21st

with pride and provocations, the gay agenda, all the usual fun, but we'll also

provide short bursts of rainbow content throughout the month, including some really wonderful

conversations with authors and activists and thinkers. And on Saturdays throughout June,

we're also going to share some great LGBTQ content from Around the Slate

podcast network. Today, it's an interview that I did on Working Slate's show about the

creative process. Back in November 2022, I spoke with Harper Bliss, who is a prolific author of

lesbian romance novels. We talked about the secrets of her

productivity, what it's like to work with her wife, and the joys of writing queer love stories.

Take a listen. Harper Bliss, welcome to working. Thank you so much for having me.

So how many books have you written?

Well, I have 37 published, but I've written a few more. Some of them ended up in the trash,

obviously. So I've written a couple. So over what period did you write 37 books? Well, I started writing in 2011. I published my first book in 2012, early 2012. So coming up to, what is that then, 11 years, I guess. Wow, that is

a prodigious rate, more even than I thought. I'm really determined to learn the secret of your productivity. So I hope that will emerge over the course of our conversation. But I'm curious, do you feel like a very productive writer?

Well, definitely not always.

I guess when it comes to writing, like just pure first draft writing, I am pretty productive.

Because once I start a book, I'm in it and I just, I go, right?

I just, I need to finish it.

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