I had the honour of being invited by Canadian dark fantasy author Dianna Gunn to moderate a panel called Accessibility in Worldbuilding as part of her Worldbuilding Deep Dive con in February of this year.
This is a topic that’s dear to my heart as a disabled, hard-of-hearing, and autistic reader and a writer (Iris and the Crew is totally about this type of worldbuilding). So, I jumped at the chance!
The panelists are just stars: Dianna Gunn, Stephen Graham King, and Mary Kit Caelsto.
You can watch it here!
Closed captions are available for this video.
Cait Gordon is a disability advocate who wants everyone to be wise and think of others as we battle COVID-19!
Cait is also the author of humorous space opera novels Life in the ’Cosm and The Stealth Lovers, and she is the co-editor of the Prix Aurora Award nominated anthology Nothing Without Us. When Cait’s not writing, she’s editing manuscripts and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions. Her latest new adventure is hosting the In the ’Cosm podcast, which is really an excuse to gush over authors she admires.
“My life is equal parts awful and awesome. As long as the awesome is really awesome, it wins.”
To be completely honest, though, it’s difficult for me to write this post because I’m currently managing a depression. Still, sometimes it’s good to examine one’s life, even in this state.
Right. So, what happened in 2020 for me, other than the pandemic?
I decided to curate a flash fiction challenge for the year
In January, I followed in Canadian romance and speculative fiction author ’Nathan Burgoine’s footsteps to curate a monthly flash fiction challenge, where the genre, setting, and an object that must appear in the story are all determined by drawing cards of different suits. Despite all the trials that this year brought, I was delighted by my small but faithful band of writers who stepped up to the challenge each month. It was also pretty hilarious how awful I was at choosing cards. Note to self: never gamble. You can find links to my and their entries in my Free Reads, Flash Fiction menu!
A work I co-edited was nominated for a Prix Aurora Award
That was a massive surprise. Nothing Without Us received the nomination, and Talia and I almost fell off our perches. This was the first anthology we had ever co-edited as editors-in-chief, but thanks to the encouragement of Renaissance and our supremely talented authors, it happened. It’s so important that disabled, d/Deaf, Mad, and neurodivergent creatives are recognized for their work in this industry. We couldn’t have been prouder of them and this project.
That same work was taught in a disability studies course at Trent University
Billionty-times Prix Aurora Award winner and academic Derek Newman-Stille included Nothing Without Us as part of the syllabus of a disability studies course at Trent this past winter semester. Talia and I even spoke to the students one session. I can’t even tell you how cool that was. It had been a dream of mine for that collection to be taught in university, so this was like winning a thousand awards in my mind.
I attempted a work of microfiction for the first time, and it was accepted for publication
It’s amazing how my brain keeps adapting to fewer and fewer words and can still tell a story. Years ago, I thought I could only write tomes, but the writing community kept challenging me, and I’ve grown so much. With My Kind is an escape story starring a disabled protagonist, and it’s included in AE Science Fiction’s STARGAZERS: Microtales from the Cosmos.
A nonfiction essay of mine was published by Wordgathering
I’d documented my experience with sound and hearing in a short work called Gorgeously Hard of Hearing, and was simply thrilled for it to be included in Wordgathering’s spring/summer issue. You can find it in my Free Reads, Tales from the Crip menu!
I teamed up with Dianna Gunn, and the Spoonie Authors Network has a podcast
No longer a lone Spoonie, I invited Canadian fantasy author Dianna Gunn to merge her Spoonie Authors Podcast idea with the Spoonie Authors Network, and she hit it out of the park right away. There’s one season done and we’re into the second season. So, it’s lovely she’s doing that while I continue to edit the blog part of the website. The best part of this is I get to listen to even more authors in my community. I just recently learned how to create transcripts for the podcast, too, so a new skill is emerging! You can find out how to listen to or read the transcripts about the Spoonie Authors Podcast at spoonieauthorsnetwork.com.
Drawing came back into my life
Nat and Kat Squidbling make a cameo appearance in Episode 4 of Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space.
A triple or maybe quadruple health scare thing plus frozen shoulder caused me to buy an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. I didn’t know what lay ahead of me with regards to tests and treatments, so I figured that if I had to be alone in hospitals, I need to be immersed in creativity.
It turned out that all four health scares resulted in no cancer and a liver that just needed to be happier at me. My frozen shoulder is still on the mend, but while all the things were happening, I bought the Procreate app and started drawing a ton. It’s something I hadn’t been able to do in an age because of how fibromyalgia and arthritis have affected my fingers, but the device and pencil act like assistive tech!
And I will be illustrating my first Bedtime Stories for Grownups book, which I hope to publish in 2021. Also, I will be doing one illustration for each episode of Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space.
So, yay!
Iris and the Crew is underway!
My burnout made it difficult to read and write this year. Thankfully, I’m back in the saddle for Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space. It has its own challenges, but with the help of sensitivity editors, I hope it will be read and loved. I feel that as autistic and disabled SFF author, I needed to world-build an accommodating and accessible galaxy with diversity of disability and brains braining in various ways.
I will never have my own Netflix series, so I’ll just write one, in book form!
So. Many. Cons.
This was shocking but really great. I moderated a couple of panels and sat on others at Renaissance’s RenVCon in the spring and fall. I also sat on a humour panel at When Words Collide, after being invited by moderator Ira Nayman. And in between those, I attended reading series. All from home.
I was also delighted when Madona Skaff asked me to be her interviewer for the launch of her second book, Death by Association. We did that online and live as well.
Truthfully, I hope there will still be virtual access to cons when the pandemic is over. It really helps me attend more things.
I went back to church
COVID also allowed me to attend church more regularly because it, too, is online. I really like the leadership and community at St. Alban’s Ottawa. Very committed to welcoming everyone and actually doing things for people, not just being performative. I appreciate the sincerity. Because it’s been quite the spiritual journey for me, lemme tell ya.
Oh yeah, I came out!
I wish I could find the folks who created the pride flag for cryptosexual, but I guess that meaning has to be hidden, too! For a while now I’ve known I wasn’t heteronormative, even though I’ve dated men and have been married to my Very Straight Husband™ (a joke of ours) for almost 30 years. But whenever I tried to define my queer identity, my mind would go boggle boggle boggle. But Canadian SFF author Stephen Graham King randomly posted about the different sexual identities of postmodern sexuality, and there was cryptosexual. It’s defined as a person who has trouble claiming currently-defined identities.
Funny enough, for me, in a dream, a deep voice cut through a conversation I was having about sexual identity with my BFF, and the voice said, “YOU ARE SWIRLY!”
I remember waking up and thinking, “Swirly! YES! That fits!” This was before I discovered the word cryptosexual. I kept it only between myself and a couple of friends, but then felt I could say it out loud this year.
And my Very Straight Husband™? He loved it. Accepted me right away and called me his Swirly Girly. I like it. I’m a cis woman, and I swirl about when it comes to my sexuality. It feels relaxing and calming not to identify it any further than that. I do say queer so other folks will know what the heck I’m talking about. But Talia and I (in real life) said that queer can also a swirly word, so it’s cool.
So, what’sahead for this Crip?
Well, if I tell you now, it’ll spoil things for next December’s post, won’t it? Suffice to say that I have plans and goals, but will take things one step and one day at a time.
Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best in 2021. We could use the best. Yes, more of the best, please!
Cait Gordon is a disability advocate who wants everyone to do everything possible to stop the spread of COVID-19, not only for yourselves, but also for those of us who have been in lockdown since March 2020.
She’s also the author of Life in the ’Cosmand The Stealth Lovers. When Cait’s not writing, she’s editing manuscripts and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions. She also teamed up with Kohenet Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the Nothing Without Us anthology (a 2020 Prix Aurora Award finalist for Best Related Work) in an attempt to take over the world.
I’m going to be participating in two panels, which should be kinda awesome. (I pretend that I know stuff but really, I just want to learn from the other panelists. Don’t tell anyone, okay?)
Panel description: Ableist language and narratives are incredibly pervasive. This panel explores how even disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse authors have to unlearn ableist narratives that influence the everyday terms we use.
My lovely panelists will be Dianna Gunn, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Jamieson Wolf, Madona Skaff-Koren, and Talia C. Johnson.
This has been a panel I’ve wanted to do for some time. Ableist expressions are so entrenched in our everyday language that even I—a professional sensitivity editor—mess up. Often. What ableist narratives spawned these terms in our language anyway?
The purpose of this panel will be to educate, discuss, and provide resources. I’m hoping to do it in a fun way, too. It’s not about bashing, but learning!
Building worlds
I’ll also be a panelist on Building worlds! (Saturday Oct 25 from 7:00-8:00 PM EDT!)
Panel description: In speculative fiction, the setting tends to become central to the conflict. But how do you build a world from scratch? What elements go into building a believable world? How do we decide?
Dianna Gunn is our moderator and the other lovely panelists are Christian Baines, S. M. Carrière, Stephen Graham King, and E. C. Ambrose!
Full disclosure: I wanted to sign up for panels and saw this one and thought, “Ooo, I’d like to go to this!” Then I realized I’m on the panel. YEEPS! But I do build worlds and think I can contribute.
Hope you can join us! Please spread the word! We’re a little con, but full of heart!
Cait Gordon is a disability advocate who wants everyone to pummel that curve!
She’s also the author of Life in the ’Cosmand The Stealth Lovers. When Cait’s not writing, she’s editing manuscripts and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions. She also teamed up with Kohenet Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the Nothing Without Us anthology (a 2020 Prix Aurora Award finalist for Best Related Work) in an attempt to take over the world.
Save the date! I’ll be moderating a panel called Ableist, me? That’s cr*zy! on Saturday October 24 at 1:00 PM EST for RenVCon, a virtual writers conference hosted by Renaissance. Sign up here!
This has been a panel I’ve wanted to do for some time. Ableist expressions are so entrenched in our everyday language that even I—a professional sensitivity editor—mess up. Often. What ableist narratives spawned these terms in our language anyway?
The purpose of this panel will be to educate, discuss, and provide resources. I’m hoping to do it in a fun way, too. It’s not about bashing, but learning!
Hope you can join us! The panelists are Dianna Gunn, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Jamieson Wolf, and Madona Skaff-Koren.
Cait Gordon is a disability advocate who wants everyone to pummel that curve!
She’s also the author of Life in the ’Cosmand The Stealth Lovers. When Cait’s not writing, she’s editing manuscripts and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions. She also teamed up with Kohenet Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the Nothing Without Us anthology (a 2020 Prix Aurora Award finalist for Best Related Work) in an attempt to take over the world.
So, some cool things happening for my birthday weekend.
Saturday August 15, starting at 7pm (EDT): The 2020 Prix Aurora Awards
My BFF and co-editor Talia C. Johnson and I will be virtually attending this award ceremony as first-time nominees. Our anthology, Nothing Without Us is up for Best Related Work. You can watch the awards live on YouTube at:
Sunday August 16, 4pm (EDT), Injecting Humour into Speculative Fiction
Ira Nayman from Amazing Stories magazine will moderate this panel, featuring guest authors Jen Frankel, Timothy Carter, Hugh Spencer, Zachry Wheeler, and lil’ ol’ me.
From WWC's panel description: You got your humour in my science fiction! No, you got your science fiction in my humour! For this panel, people who write humorous speculative fiction will explain how the magic is performed. The good news: understanding how humour works will not spoil your enjoyment of it. The better news: you don’t have to understand the ancient cultural reference at the beginning of this description to enjoy, and even learn something, at this panel!
You don’t know how freeing it is to write that. Every single time I do, I feel like a little more of that burden I’ve been carrying for decades is being lifted off my shoulders. I’m one of those cases (as happens to many autistic cisgender women) where I only discovered this last year at age 49. Yup, I went my whole life knowing that my brain operated in its own way; not much at all like my friends or teachers at school, nor my work colleagues as an adult. I had a unique way of perceiving my surroundings and often wondered why people didn’t get where I was coming from.
I was on the fringes in school—the misunderstood musician. I was loud and passionate (yay for being extroverted and neurodiverse), but I didn’t understand many social constructs. If social rules made no sense to me, I dismissed them. And I’m talking about ridiculous made-up things that cause the exclusion of others. I also rebelled on a religious level at age 15. (I am not really into the adulation of “human heroes”—I don’t care how famous they are. So, I never went to see the Pope in Montreal in the mid-80s. My Catholic parents were shocked, but they didn’t stop me.)
Sensory overload and the need to withdraw into quiet spaces has probably always been there with me. With the invention of the Sony Walkman™ back in the day, I found solace in listening to music, so I could focus on a singular, comforting sound. Even today, I rarely go outside without my headphones on. However, I’ve not worn them at crowded events. The onslaught of noise from cons, for example, can make me feel like someone is beating up my brain from the inside. Last year, I had to flee, in what felt like desperation, to a place of solitude in a less populated part of a hotel at a writers’ convention. I was shaking from The Overwhelm. It never occurred to me that I needed to upgrade to noise-cancelling headphones as an aid in sensory crises.
I need my space opera, but I also need a quiet space!
This type of overload, accompanied by the brain fog associated with fibromyalgia, takes over my ability to concentrate and hear. I cannot pick out human voices very well. One time on a writers’ panel, my friend had stated their pronoun was they, and when I immediately forgot (I’m like Dory the fish), they tried whispering it to me, and I couldn’t hear it until my other friend to the right cried: “They!” How embarrassing. I have now learned the ASL for the word, by the way. And at home, the Closed Captions are always on. Human voices have been a challenge for me, again, for decades.
Most of my life I’ve pretended to hear words when I could not. Most of my life I’ve tried to blend in to the constructs around me when I figured it might be easier that way, but I could not mask that long, and my true self always came back. Sometimes I’d completely burn out from just “trying all the time.” I also cannot often accept the status quo and/or injustices. A Québecois expression roughly translated is: I don’t keep my tongue in my pocket. (Thanks to my friend Nate for that one.) It’s really difficult for me to say nothing while myself or others are being excluded, and these days my passions are focused on accessibility and the inclusion of all the humans who identify with the Disabled/Deaf/Neurodiverse/Spoonie/Mad culture.
If you meet me in person, there might be a good chance my words might seem disjointed, or I have a difficult time collecting them. My brain is constantly processing the load of chronic pain stimuli, as well as trying to navigate speech through whatever is going on with my neurodiversity on that particular day. I’m just saying this as a fact—not to incur sympathy. I do not feel sorry for myself in the least. I know I’m intelligent and that my voice matters, regardless of whether my brain is fully braining or out of spoons.
There are people who might not want our voices heard, or they want them curtailed to fit into neurotypical boxes or even into ableist perceptions of how we should be. Don’t subscribe to that. My internalized ableism has held me back for so long. It was responsible for me waiting years to get a mobility device, and it kept me masking my neurodiversity.
You can’t really fake things. Faking puts such a strain on a person and you’re basically living a lie. I totally get sometimes we mask for survival, so I won’t judge anyone who still feels they need to mask. I’ve been in that place, too. Be safe, by all means.
But if you feel you can, do connect with other autistic and neurodiverse people. There are so many on Twitter, for example. And for the most part, they are extremely supportive.
It feels good to remove the mask.
And these days, instead of faking it, I’ll say a phrase my BFF uses a lot: “My brain isn’t braining today.” That expression really works for me. Perhaps you have one that suits you even better.
Cheers!
Cait Gordon
Cait Gordon is a disability advocate and the author of Life in the ’Cosmand The Stealth Lovers (September 2019). When she’s not writing, Cait’s editing manuscripts and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions. She’s also teamed up with co-editor Talia C. Johnson on the Nothing Without Us anthology (September 2019.)
I wish you a safe and peaceful holiday season and all the best for the new year. This year had its challenges, but knowing you were out there supporting me gave me the motivation to continue writing and doing all the things!
In 2017, some cool writer stuff happened:
My first book, Life in the ’Cosm, had a second print round. (The latest edition includes words of praise on the back cover by two authors I really respect!) ..
Speculating Canada’s Derek Newman-Stille interviewed me on Trent Radio. We talked about writing characters with disabilities, cosplaying, Life in the ’Cosm, and then spent the rest of the time laughing. ..
I discovered a new joy with writing short stories. Two of my stories are awaiting a verdict as to whether they’ll appear in anthologies! ..
I moderated my first panel at Limestone Genre Expo called When to Listen to and When to Ignore Writing Advice. I also sat on two other panels. ..
My poem Invisible was published in Lady literary magazine. ..
I participated in a couple of super-cool panels at Can-Con 2017: Spooning with Spoonies: Disability and Sexuality (a Spoonie Authors Network panel) and Absurdist British Humour in Speculative Fiction. ..
Author and presenter Mony Dojeiji interviewed me on The Author’s Journey. We talked about my story as a writer and other cool things, like The Spoonie Authors Network. (Video coming in early 2018!) ..
Renaissance press invited me to provide words of praise for S.M. Carrière’s Daughters of Britain and John Haas’ The Reluctant Barbarian. (It made me feel so important, like my opinion mattered!) ..
I had mad fun at the Renaissance table during Ottawa Geek Market, Ottawa Comiccon, and Queer Between the Covers in Montreal. It’s fun meeting people and being silly with my fellow authors and the Renaissance press staff. ..
I met or got to know more authors this year who I am proud to call my friends, like Jamieson Wolf, Stephen Graham King, and ’Nathan Burgoine, to name a few. (Meeting authors is FUN!) ..
Contrary to belief (in myself), I wrote just over 50,000 words during my first-ever NaNoWriMo for the Xax and Viv biography, The Stealth Lovers. Once again, I engaged on a “well, I’ll try this” journey, and so far, I am loving the manuscript. What’s really been nice is that people have volunteered to beta-read it, and I’m not even done! That makes me happy.
While I loved discovering short stories, NaNoWriMo helped light the fire back under my butt for novel writing. My plan is to submit (God-willing) The Stealth Lovers in 2018, and then go back to Life in Another ’Cosm.
But in the meantime, I am going to enjoy my holidays, eat perhaps a little too much cake, and chill like an ice cube at the North Pole.
Again, all the best to you! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! My best hopes for you and yours in 2018. ❤
Cait Gordon is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, a comedic space opera where boy meets girl, but girl doesn’t notice boy because she’s sharing a body with another boy. She is also the creator and editor of the Spoonie Authors Network. You can follow Cait on Facebook and Twitter.
My bio is listed on the Can-Con website! (Also note awesome emerging author Dianna Gunn. Her novel, Keeper of the Dawn, is way cool. Go buy it. I’ll wait.)
Here’s the text of my bio, if you cannot read the image:
Cait (like ‘cat’) Gordon is an Irish-Canadian princess and the author of Life in the ’Cosm, a space opera with an appalling amount of dessert. She is originally from Verdun, Québec, and has been living in the suburbs of Ottawa since 1998. Cait worked for over two decades as a technical writer and is now a freelance editor for indie authors. She is also the editor of the Spoonie Authors Network, a blog solely featuring writers who manage disabilities and/or chronic illness. http://caitgordon.com Twitter: @CaitGAuthor
What a difference just over a year makes. Last September I attended my first-ever Can-Con, after being prodded by my BFF to go. We registered on March 33, 2016. Yes, you read that right. (Inside joke. Best typo ever.) This was before I knew Renaissance would publish my book.
Then, June 1, 2016 changed everything. I was offered a book contract! Renaissance asked me if I would be willing to spend the summer editing so we could have Life in the ’Cosm ready by September 9, so the book could be ready for Can-Con 2016. UM . . . YES!!!
Can-Con 2016 captured all my authory firsts. I saw my book in print, I signed my book, and I did a reading there. That was pretty epic. But I also learned so much from the panels I attended. I still remember what the writers and editors taught me from those sessions! This is amazing, because I have a memory like Dory from Finding Nemo. I even met the most fantastic people and call them my friends today!
Fast forward to right now. I will be a panellist myself this year (stay tuned for details). I’m also really looking forward to spending time with the authors I’ve met over the course of the year. Can-Con kinda of feels like a class reunion that doesn’t suck. Having the honour to share ideas on a panel with other alphabet arrangers is going to be a great experience. It’s so wonderful that I can contribute to the discussion. I gots things to say!
What I can mention is that because of the shocking take-off of the Spoonie Authors Network, I will participate on a panel where all the authors manage disabilities and/or chronic illnesses. ALL OF US. No tokenism here. And the best part is that the panel is about sex. Yup. Spooning with Spoonies: Disability and Sexuality, is going to be moderated by the incomparable Derek Newman-Stille, my spoonie fiend. But the notion of all these panellists teaching other writers to remember that we, too, are sexual beings, is so important. I cannot wait!
Anyhoo, it’s a very squeeful situation. Will keep you updated.
If you’re interested in going to Can-Con 2017, it’s from October 13-15 at the Sheraton, downtown Ottawa. See Can-Con’s website for more info!
And if you do go, say hi to me! I’ll be with Noola, my rollator, rolling about the place.
Cait Gordon is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, a comedic space opera where boy meets girl, but girl doesn’t notice boy because she’s sharing a body with another boy. She is also the creator and editor of the Spoonie Authors Network. You can follow Cait on Facebook and Twitter.
Once upon a time, I was not a Child of the Enlightened. Yes, there was a period in my life where I didnae understand cosplay or cosplayers. I didn’t even know it was called cosplay. I refer to my ignorance as The Dark Times.
Then in the fall of 2015 at the tender age of 45, I would attend my first con, Ottawa Pop Expo. My friends wanted to dress up as a group, in Doctor Who cosplay. I inwardly groaned and barked, “I refuse to go unless I can be a Fashionista Dalek!” Everyone said, “Okay!” So then I was like, Crap, I need to figure out how to become a fashionista dalek.
I own a craft biz where I make jewellery and handmade cards. I love working with my hands and being artistically creative. When I sat down to work on my dalek costume, I had an epiphany—cosplay was crafting! Once I realised that, I couldn’t get enough of it!
I raided dollar stores and bought paint, styrofoam balls, a plunger, some black silk gloves, and rhinestones. I grabbed a red dress I never wear. I bought a red construction helmet and hacked an old flashlight. I glue-gunned to my heart’s delight. I used my Cricut mini, too.
It took several days, but for me it was a craft project, and I got really excited over it!
When I was done, I felt proud and had a blast at Ottawa PopExpo. People took my photo and paid me many compliments. Everyone laughed and seemed happy to see me pass by them. I think I might have had a flirtation with an actual dalek. My husband unit didn’t seem to mind. And my friends were glad that I finally got why this is so majorly fun!
The thing is, you never know who you’re going to meet at these cons. As I was leaving, Caro Fréchette, author and director of Renaissance Press, shouted at me, “Hey, I like your custome!” Next thing, we’re talking about my book and you all know by now that Renaissance is my publisher!
Since then, I’ve loved every opportunity to dress up (and Caro is my cosplay buddy, which is awesome). This is us at our book launch in October 2016! Party on, Wayne!
I also loved cosplaying as Joy from Inside Out. Author Amy M. Young thinks Joy is my natural personality. Welp, I guess she’s not wrong. I wore my Joy cosplay when I was selling my crafts at the Creative Ottawa Nerds (CON) holiday craft fair last November. That was a total blast.
Being an extrovert and having people come up to me to chat is like heaven for me. I adore meeting new people and if cosplaying makes people comfortable enough to approach me, then so be it.
AND NOW, THE THING THAT’S HAPPENED. In these last couple of months, I took on a new challenge. Caro loves the comic, Rat Queens, and really wanted someone to cosplay with them. I’d never heard of the comic before but was immediately drawn to Hannah, who I call the magical sweary elf. I said, “I wanna be Hannah!”
Well, I had no idea what a challenge making that costume would be. I’m just grateful to the creators of Rat Queens that they draw women with realistic bodies. At 47, my body is more realistic than it’s ever been.
But wow, so much actual swearing went into this project. I needed to make those hair buns, which was not as easy as I thought they’d be. (No joke, I wrapped the wig’s hair around black fuzzy socks that were rolled into a ball. This was the only way I could figure it out.) Then there was the bra. OH, THAT BRA! I couldnae find a pink bra to save my life. Also, my boobs cannot go strapless. Them girls need straps. I ended up totally life-hacking a white and grey sports bra and stretched pink underpants fabric over it. I ironed on the ribbon and used dimensional fabric paint for all the swirly designs on it (and the rest of the costume).
I fretted over this cosplay but thankfully Caro talked me off the ledge and a kind Twitter word from an actual artist and the creator of the comic didn’t hurt either! When Kurtis Wiebe tweeted me (tweet not shown), I didn’t even know who he was. How majorly embarrassing. Caro squeed for me and then I was like, “OMIGOSH!”
Owen Gieni retweeted me!
I did take out the first volume of the comic from the library and laughed my butt off. So well written. The characters are truly sassy and badass. Now I want to be Hannah more than ever. And I’m buying the series.
I plan to wear my Hannah costume at the Ottawa Geek Market (Apr 1) and for Comiccon. I also really want to get my Drunk Cersei cosplay going for Comiccon. Will let you know how that turns out.
So, am I too old to cosplay? I will be the moment I’ve died. Until then, I’m gluing, sewing, painting, maybe swearing, and creating costumes to my heart’s content.
I am, as I said, a Child of the Enlightened now.
/cg
Cait Gordon is an Irish-Canadian warrior princess and author of Life in the ’Cosm, a space opera about a little green guy who’s crushing on the female half of his two-headed colleague (Renaissance). Cait’s also the editor of the Spoonie Authors Networkblog.
Cait Gordon is the author of 
I raided dollar stores and bought paint, styrofoam balls, a plunger, some black silk gloves, and rhinestones. I grabbed a red dress I never wear. I bought a red construction helmet and hacked an old flashlight. I glue-gunned to my heart’s delight. I used my Cricut mini, too.
I also loved cosplaying as Joy from Inside Out. Author Amy M. Young thinks Joy is my natural personality. Welp, I guess she’s not wrong. I wore my Joy cosplay when I was selling my crafts at the Creative Ottawa Nerds (CON) holiday craft fair last November. That was a total blast.
Cait Gordon is an Irish-Canadian warrior princess and author of 
Cait Gordon—author and editor 