William C. Tracy's Blog: Meanderings of my noggin

Just a quick update that I will be a judge/reviewer for the first ever Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC), going on now! We’ve got over 300 entries, and through the next year, we’re going to be whittling them down to the top 30, then the top 10, then the one winner next July!

So stay tuned. I’m going to start posting reviews to this site as I read through books, and hopefully I’ll find some really good ones to recommend to you!

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So…I had a writing plan for early 2021, and it’s already changed, five days in (it was actually by two days in…). I figured I’d write a little here on the writerly reach for excellence (and possibly masochism).

I’ve just come off recording two audiobooks between October and December 2020. These are the sequels to The Seeds of Dissolution, which I recorded in 2019. Seeds was a decent recording. It gets the job done. I had a few complaints about the sound quality.

You can find it here, if you’re interested (although it may be an updated version if you read this a while after it’s posted).

Then I recorded the next two books, Facets of the Nether and Fall of the Imperium. You can find those below and wherever else you consume audiobooks. What better thing to accompany this thread than listening to the end product!

Facets of the Nether

Fall of the Imperium

While recording, I got a better microphone, I learned how to control my breathing and pacing better, and most importantly, I started recording in our walk-in closet with blankets covering the door and window.

(I got a lot of jokes from friends about how I was going back in the closet…)

The resulting audiobooks are MUCH better than the original, so much so that I worried readers listening to The Seeds of Dissolution might be turned off by the sound quality and not want to continue listening to the rest of the series.

Here’s a sample of the difference in quality, with the first chapter of Seeds, and the first chapter of Facets (beware the chapter of Facets has some spoilers for the end of Seeds).

The Seeds of Dissolution audio sample

First chapter of Facets of the Nether

The recording for Seeds is very hollow sounding and there’s a strange echo, because I recorded in a larger room. There are also a lot of incidental sounds, clicks and even a few road noises.

It also took a LOT of effort to get it just to this sound quality. The original was terrible. It took me and my spouse several weeks of constant work editing all the files to clean them up. I don’t regard that as wasted time, because it served its purpose. But I wish I knew then what I know now.

So, fast forward to October 2020, when I started recording Facets of the Nether. It went a lot better, and I improved through recording that book and into Fall of the Imperium.

(Oh yeah, I also have some outtakes, if you want to listen. There could be some minor spoilers in here, but mostly it’s me just tripping over lines.)

Facets of the Nether Chapter 2 Outtakes

Facets of the Nether Chapter 6 Outtakes

Facets of the Nether Chapter 10 Outtakes

Facets of the Nether Chapter 18 Outtakes

Fall of the Imperium Chapter 5 Outtakes

I uploaded Facets and Fall primarily to Findaway because of the whole Audiblegate hubbub going on. Basically, Audible isn’t paying authors or narrators if readers return books, even after listening to the book. They’re also pushing for listeners to use the exchange function. The new books will be available on Audible eventually, but I’m no longer exclusive.

At this point, I knew the sound quality in Seeds was bad, but was determined to clean it up a bit and then also upload that one to Findaway.

Reader, it took me seven chapters of editing before I broke. It was taking me almost as much time to clean up the files as it did to originally edit them, and the end product still wasn’t that great.

So, being me, what did I do? I decided to re-record The Seeds of Dissolution. I was already in the groove from the last two books. (This was the big change in my schedule for 2021)

And you know what? I’m about six chapters in now, and it’s actually pretty fun. I think I’m getting better at voices, too.

The raw files are pretty darn clean too, because I’ve spent the last three months improving my recording quality and learning how to edit files much more efficiently.

I can basically record, which takes about 1.5 times the chapter length, then edit, which takes only a little longer than listening to the chapter again.

I get a recording to my new benchmark of satisfaction, get a better recording for readers, and it takes only a little longer than trying to edit the original files.

So the files I upload to Findaway, when I finish, will be much better quality than the files originally uploaded to Audible. I’m going to update those files too, but it will take longer to get them approved.

My schedule for the beginning of 2021 *had been* to start on a new SF trilogy I’ve been looking forward to. But instead, I’m going back to recording. I don’t think it will be wasted time.

To top it off, I have one other book in the Dissolutionverse that I was planning on recording later on, because I was running out of steam.

But now I’m just going to do all four books. You can look forward to Tales of the Dissolutionverse in audio format in a few months!

So what does all this mean, in terms of sticking to a schedule and settling for something that’s not top quality?

As we all progress in the things we want/are paid to do in life, we get better. Sometimes you look back and leave the things that were not so great behind you.

Other times, you get a unique chance to make something better that you were never quite happy with. I’m glad to get this chance to re-record The Seeds of Dissolution with better sound quality and better voice acting.

I hope you will get that chance too at some point. It’s nice to look at something and say “I can do better,” and then have the chance to do exactly that. So I’ll leave you with links, if you want to listen along with my journey as an audiobook narrator!

The Seeds of Dissolution

Facets of the Nether (also available wherever you consume audiobooks)

Fall of the Imperium (also available wherever you consume audiobooks)

If you want to see more behind-the-scenes on how I write books and record audio, check out my Patreon! There are outtakes for each chapter of Facets, and nearly half the full book is posted as well. I’ll likely post some more comparisons of Seeds v1 and Seeds v2, once I get more chapters complete.

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Just a quick update: my Kickstarter for books 2 and 3 of the Dissolution Cycle is almost over! If you haven’t backed yet, now’s the time because it ends on May 8th and there’s only three days left! You can get Facets of the Nether and Fall of the Imperium before they are available! Not only that, you can become a character in the story, or even get a personalized Dissolutionverse story.

I’m very happy to show off the new cover for Facets of the Nether!

And of course, I have to show off another of Cory Godbey’s excellent illustrations. If you’ve read The Seeds of Dissolution, this is Rey. But what is he doing and what are those things around him? Go back the campaign!

See you around!

-William C. Tracy

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Hey folks! I haven’t update my blog posts in quite a while. I’ve been chugging through these two (yes, two!) new books in the Dissolutionverse.

However, that brings me to some exciting news: my Kickstarter for books 2 and 3 of the Dissolution Cycle is live and almost fully funded already! You can continue The Seeds of Dissolution with Facets of the Nether and Fall of the Imperium.

There’s more music-based magic, more aliens, and more LGBTQ+ content! This will conclude the first arc of the Dissolution Cycle, where Sam, the bisexual protagonist, tries to save the universe with his girlfriend and boyfriend.

The Kickstarter will pay for a new cover for the first book, plus covers for the next two books, and interior illustrations. If you back it, you can get the books early, become a character, or even get a short story written just for you! I’m also offering two manuscript editing spots, if you’re looking for someone to tidy up your story.

Here’ s the new cover for The Seeds of Dissolution. The others are coming soon!

Also here’s the first illustration, of Gompt (who you may know if you’ve read The Society of Two Houses). Yes, he’s got a sentient steampunk chair! Want to know how he got it? Go back the campaign!

See you around!

-William C. Tracy

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Caterday posts

So, you want to see more of my snuggly babies? You’ll get a Caturday post (can you guess on which day?), that may possibly include the other critters that live around my house. Stay Tuned!

Here are all three being hip cats! Marlowe (left image, brown), Kippy (left picture, black and white), and Dickens (Right picture) with stealth Marlowe in the corner.

Yes, they’re all named after English authors

https://4thewords.com/home

Are you gearing up for NaNoWriMo next month? If so, I’ve got a great tool for you to use: 4thewords. 4thewords in an online writing platform that gamifies your writing and helps increase word count by fighting monsters, going on quests, and leveling up your character. It’s really fun, and I’ve been using it for over a year to make sure I write every day. All throughout October, you can unlock hidden items using special code words, found on online writing resources (like this one). If you haven’t tried 4thewords before, use the code word hidden in this article to unlock a surprise and a free month of play time!

So
you’ve heard all about how you’re supposed to be inclusive when you write and
include a diverse cast of characters, right? But now you’re staring at that
page, wondering how you put this into practice. Or maybe you’ve written three
chapters and you realize all your characters are male. Or white. Or straight.
What you do?

Furthermore,
why are you now listening to a white dude “well, actually” you about your
writing? I hope to provide a good example, and also give you a little
information that might help you on your way to writing while including a more
disparate cast of characters.

First
off, appearances are deceiving. I’m a cisgender white male, I’ve been married
to a cisgender woman for fifteen years, and until recently, I never really
thought I had any say in the social issues where some people have to work to be
accepted in society.

Except,
we all face marginalization in some way or another, though it may not be in as
large a manner as others. For example, I’m vegetarian. I’ve been vegetarian my
whole life. I dealt with a lot of bullying and derision in lower school because
I was the odd one out, and brought my lunch every day. While this isn’t as extreme
an example as, say growing up a person of color in the United States, it’s a
start. While vegetarianism is a lot more commonplace nowadays, I still have to
deal with others saying “well, we have to find somewhere where you can eat,” even though several of my
friends are pickier eaters than I am.

However,
I’ve started to understand the distinctions of scale in diversity a lot more in
the last couple years. In June of this year (2019), I came out as bisexual. I’m
still happily married and I don’t plan to change that, but as I’ve gotten older
I decided I no longer want to bend over backwards for society to hold up a
“norm.” I want to be myself. I can be bisexual, and in a committed
relationship, and happy.

Enough about me, though hopefully I’ve convinced you that I do at least have some worthwhile opinions on the subject. (And hey—if you want to read a space opera series with symphonic, music-based magic, a whole cast of diverse characters including a bisexual main character, and a bunch of cool aliens with multiple genders, you can check out my books here!)

I’m
sure you can find something about yourself that is different from the “norm” of
society, whether it’s a very small detail or something that defines your
everyday life. No matter how small it is, it can help you start to understand
what people facing pressing social issues of, for example, trans rights, LGBT
acceptance, or racial inequality might feel like.

Look
back at the work you’re writing. Let’s address the gender balance first, as
this is one of the simplest things to correct. How many people in your story
are male, and how many are female? And no, I’m not forgetting non-binary
people. That’s the next step.

Even
if you identify as female, you may end up putting a lot of male characters in
your story, where there’s no need to have most or all male characters. Pick a
male character at random. Why are they male? Do they need to be? Even if you
think they do need to be specifically male, try this exercise: change their
gender to female, or non-binary, or trans. continue writing the same character,
with no changes to their personality. I bet you’ll find you have to do very
little editing of your story. Continue to do this with characters in your
story, until you have a more balanced set of genders. Even if you think you’re
not capturing different nuances of character because of a different gender,
keep going. Remember, you can always add more detail or change things later. The
first step is to try it out. You won’t get anywhere if you don’t do the
exercise at all.

You
can do the same challenge for other features of your characters, though keep in
mind this may have a greater effect on the tone of your story and your
character’s choices (more on that in a minute). Are they all the same skin
color as you? Do they have the same sexuality? Do they have the same gender? Do
they have the same/any religion? Are they on the same monetary level as you
are? Do they come from the same geographical area? Are they all neurotypical,
or neurodiverse? You can think about all of these attributes as sliders,
because few people are fully at one end or the other of a range—they’re usually
somewhere in the middle. There are a lot more sliders you can come up with, if
you think about it. Not all of them will always be applicable to what you’re
writing, so pick a few that are more pertinent.

If
it helps, you can even make a chart of these axes or sliders for each of your
characters. Remember, I only gave you some examples. There are always more.
Each character you write will be in a different place on at least one of these
sliders. That’s how it is in the real world. You can find somebody who is a lot
like you, but you’re never going to find somebody who is exactly like you. The differences are what make us interesting.

Once
you do this, you may find a character at a very different place on these
sliders from you will make completely different choices on their arc than you
intended. Just as with any character, you will need to consider their
background and what affects their choices. You may need to include things you
haven’t thought about, like a family with darker skin doing an activity that
may have been historically restricted in the U.S., or how a person wanting a
same sex relationship would look for a partner versus one wanting a
heterosexual relationship.

That
brings me to my last point. While these are really good exercises to try when
you’re still in the drafting or writing phase, I’ll leave you with a word of
warning. You should strive to place characters that come from many diverse
backgrounds in your writing, but you also need to do your research. You can’t
be familiar with every single part of these sliders I’ve been talking about—that’s
the whole point of diversity and including others. The danger, then, is to
write somebody on the other side of the slider than you, and get it wrong, or
even worse, write something that another person finds offensive. You want
people to enjoy your stories, after all, don’t you?

So
do your research. Put in as many diverse characters as you possibly can, but if
it’s a characteristic you don’t have any experience with, find someone who
represents that characteristic and is willing to help you learn about it. Offer
to pay for their time and emotional labor. Be aware they may refuse. Please
don’t randomly go up to people you don’t know and expect them to share
information with you. It may be best to look for online sources first (and not
just Wikipedia) about the culture a person different from you experiences,
whether that is sexuality, skin color, neuro-diverse issues, or whatever. Take
a stab at trying to portray the character correctly. Again, remember that you
can always go back and change the words you’ve written. I’ve done my fair share
of badly-depicted characters that my writing group helped identify and improve.
Don’t throw it in the graveyard if
you get it wrong. You have to be willing to accept that if you do make
mistakes, and are called on them, that you can accept the criticism in the
style that was given and let it help you become a better writer.

The
more diverse people you know, the easier it is for you to observe how they
think and act. This also means you may have more people willing to help your
writing become better. But if you simply cannot find somebody who is able or
willing, or cannot find a good source of research for what you’re trying to do,
there are people called sensitivity readers. A lot of them are similar to paid
editors, where they will read your work and giving feedback on the type of
issue that you are having trouble with.

So
in conclusion, be diverse in your writing! Include people of every different
persuasion. Your stories will become more colorful and more exciting in
consequence. Your plots will go to places you’ve never thought of before. Don’t
be afraid to try new things, but also be aware that you will probably get
things wrong. Just keep trying. The only real failure is not trying to be
inclusive at all.

Hey! You made it to the end! If you didn’t spot it already, your code word is: graveyard. You can redeem your code in the 4thewords dashboard section on the Account Page

Also,
if you do want to do some research, here are a few helpful places around the
web I’ve used personally:

Sensitivity readers

Guide to skin color descriptors

Information and research on autism

Information on sensory processing disorder

Information on nonbinary people

Cultural Appropriation

Writing Excuses podcasts on these topics (about 15-20 minutes long):

14.21: Writing The Other — Yes, You Can!

14.03: Writing the Other—Bisexual Characters

13.24: What Writers Get Wrong, with Piper, Aliette, and Wesley, with special guest Ken Liu

11.48: Elemental Issue Q&A, with DongWon Song

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Hello everyone! Today, NineStar Press releases Fruits of the Gods, my first non-Dissolutionverse book. This is an epic fantasy, a little darker in tone than my previous books. It was certainly the hardest book to write so far.
Sisters Kisare and Belili uproot an ancient box in their owner’s orchard and find a miracle inside: a fifth godfruit in a society that knows only four.







Click the picture to check it out! There are already some great reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, so I’ll let them speak for themselves…


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I’m very excited to show off the cover for my new book, coming out from NineStar Press on April 22nd! I also have a little 4 minute video I put together talking about the cover and my inspiration for the book. You can view it here.

I’m very happy with how this cover turned out. Many thanks to Natasha Snow, their cover designer. Most of the time, authors have very little input into their cover, but with NineStar being a small press, I got to suggest a few things as well.

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In between finishing up the first draft of the sequel to The Seeds of Dissolution, and starting in on the second draft, I wrote up a quick adventure dealing with Origon Cyrysi when he was a young, fresh majus, looking for adventure.

I had a lot of fun with this one, and I’ll be giving it away for free, to help people get into the Dissolutionverse. So, I contacted Justin Donaldson, the artist for Journey to the Top of the Nether, to put together a cover for me. I thought it came out really well!

If you want to download a copy, just go here to get it!

In other news, I’ve also got an update in non-Dissolutionverse news. The book I sold to NineStar Press last year is coming out, most likely in late April 2019!

Here’s the premise:

FRUITS OF THE GODS is set in a land where magic literally grows on trees, fed by the bodies of dead magic users. Mistborn’s magic meets Ancillary Justice’s identity crisis, inspired by Babylonian mythology.

When sisters Kisare and Belili uproot an ancient box in their owner’s orchard, they find a miracle inside: a fifth godfruit in a society that knows only four fruits blessed by the faded gods of the seasons. Slaves of self-titled nobles—men and women who can gain magic from godfruit—are forbidden by death to eat godfruit, but Belili has a secret hidden even from her sister: she can use magic. Emboldened by their treasure, the sisters escape their servitude and must depend on each other to survive in a society that cares little for those with no wealth or authority. With the help of a people slowly losing their culture and technology to the powerful nobles, the sisters lead an infiltration of the highest levels of noble society. The fifth godfruit may bring harmony to the world, but the sister’s only hope of succeeding lies in deciphering ancient mythologies surrounding the gods’ original plan for their people.

I hope to get lots of eyes on it, and if you want to be an ARC reader for this book (or any of my books), just send me an email at wctracy@williamctracy.com

That’s all for now! To get even more updates about what I’m doing, and some behind-the-scenes updates about where I’ll be, what I’m doing, status of books, and even character sketches and deleted chapters, you can sign up for my newsletter (hint: if you download that novelette above, I’ll put you on the list).

So, I am fighting a fever on Christmas Eve, and decided to conserve my energy (I apologize for future snark, ‘cause I have a feeling there will be a lot of it…), crawl into a warm place, and finish listening to the Audible version of “The Christmas Hirelings.”

This is the free holiday story they’ve given out this year, and I think I have to give props to Audible for choosing this one. It’s beautifully done.

Though I don’t think it was chosen for the reasons I will elucidate, with a Trump shutdown in play and the rich congresscritters nestled snug in their beds, visions of tax writeoffs dancing through their heads…

If you haven’t read or listened to this, it was written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. I think I heard it’s a response to A Christmas Carol though I can’t find the reference. In any case, I’m going to compare it to that other timeless Christmas story. I’m also getting heavily into spoilers, so be warned, not that it requires a lot of brainpower to figure out.

First the review. If you haven’t read this, and you have a membership to Audible, I recommend you download it. Again, nothing against Audible, for choosing a really good, entrancing novel from 1894, and special praise to Richard Armitage, who I could literally listen to for days on end. So I have to say I really enjoyed listening to the book.

I gave it four stars, even though the story is another matter. Really well done, but good lord it did NOT age well compared against A Christmas Carol. I’m going to bring the Victorians into this later, just wait.

The main premise (not a spoiler) is that a rich, old, prideful lord who somehow attracts pleasant, well-meaning folks to his house (probably the breakfast), gets a proposition from some dude who, as far as I can tell, is homeless but lives at everyone else’s house because his Charisma is like +8. He generally does seem to be a good person, we find out later.

So he floats this idea that lord grumpypants is down and out this Christmas season, and what he really needs is a boatload of 4-6 year old children to make him feel better. I know that does it for me. But not just any children! We can’t have ones that are too well-to-do, and definitely not the shivering orphans on the street. No that bunch can go die. It will clean up the place a bit (I kid you not).

So let’s take away some doting children from their parents, right at Christmas, and shove them in a drafty castle with a guy who literally could not care less if they live or die. It’ll be fun! And there’s a wager. Fine? Fine.

Off the homeless +8 charisma-haver goes, searching for some children to steal from their parents. He’ll arrange it all. From here on out are some spoilers, but I figure if you’ve gotten this far, you’re probably reading on. If not, go listen to the audiobook and come back. It’s only 4 hours long.

(again, it’s really well performed and produced. Nothing against Audible or Richard Armitage. That man can narrate my Facebook page. My spouse literally dreamed about him last night, taking her to Target.

So we descend into a couple chapters of backstory and learn Lord Grumpypants was not always bad. He had two daughters by his first wife, she died, and he let them run free, because Victorians thought it was either brain or brawn. If you had too much of either they would fight like luchadores dating the same person.

So the girls grow up wild, until Lord Grumpypants’ (LGP) sister steps in, and calls it off. They need education. I like her already, but she does go a bit overboard on the brains side. And the girls grow up.

Back to the main story. The older daughter is dead, you know. Wait, you didn’t know that? Well, LGP really didn’t like her as much as his younger daughter, so that’s ok. She is never mentioned again, save for a reference he had two daughters. The other one married a Common Man, of all things, so she is Never Spoken Of. And LGP is all by his lonesome (not entirely without fault).

But that’s fine! Charisma-master has stolen three wild children from their mother! Money can really buy everything! They are introduced, with the expectation that LGP will see them about 2 minutes a day, so save his old tired nerves. I mean, I have to sort of agree, but he did want them. Maybe the best time for that complaint was BEFORE they got here?

The children are: Moppet, Lassy, and Lad. Like really? They don’t even get names? Alright, we learn later there is a SUSPICIOUS REASON but for goodness sake, call them by other real names at least.

They play around the house, and of course the youngest one (who is high on the brain side of the brain/brawn scale) takes to LGP immediately, evidently determined to get some good out of missing her 4th ever Christmas with her mother.

Lad and Lassy are–wait—no one cares? Ok, no one cares. Three children are really too many, after all. Let the servants take care of them. They pop in from time to time to make sure we haven’t forgotten they’re characters.

They have a nice Christmas and all the little girls and boys get presents! How many, you ask? Like 20 or something. These are “cottage children,” who I guess are allowed, for Christmas, in the house their parents supply with income. They will surely someday become the new group of backbreaking labor LGP sits his fat ass on.

Well, things go on, and little Moppet is such a darling girl. Can’t LGP just keep her around? No, she does have to be returned to her mother eventually. I mean, let’s not be cruel.

Aaaaand then she gets pneumonia, which is a Really Bad Thing, though children bounce just like rubber balls when they’re thrown a hard knock! She’s close to death, and so help me God, if she died I would throw my phone against the wall.

But she doesn’t. Again, I have to interject that the story, even by today’s standards, is very well plotted and written. It held my attention. I commend Audible and Richard Armitage on the production.

So, by this time, LGP has figured out the three are his grandchildren (GASP!). The mother (the daughter in exile) is called because Moppet is on death’s door and killing a kid you stole from her (widowed) mother over Christmas is Bad Sport (Hrmm Hrmm, don’tcha’know).

Of course the child finally makes LGP get the stick out of his butt, only because he really can’t see the child again without some interaction with her mother. I GUESS he can put aside his wounded pride and the grudge he’s been holding for 5 years. Geez, LGP.

You might see where I start to have problems with the plot of this story. Of course everything is resolved, LGP and his daughter and his grandchildren live together for ever after, and Charisma-drifter is a fast friend, his mooching lifestyle guaranteed.

Oh yeah, and LGP was gracious enough to even give his daughter 250 pounds a year to live on, when he happened to read the husband died. But she couldn’t ever talk to him until now. This was one of the final nails in the coffin for the story for me.

 (End Review, now some commentary)

Let’s take A Christmas Carol as a contrast. We know Scrooge is a Bad Man—it’s in his name. But through the book we start to see him start to become a better man, and by the end he is resolved, and helps out those lesser than him. Also, and this is key, the story takes place at the very beginning of the Victorian Age.

The Christmas Hirelings, alternately, takes an idle bet with a bored rich white guy, steals children, tries them out to see if they’re as terrible as everyone says, then grudgingly takes back his daughter, estranged for little reason (the second daughter, with no husband, wouldn’t inherit anyway).

So he’s a better man in the end, right? Hell no. He still thinks any other children are vile little things, especially the ones from poorer families. Should have grown up rich instead!

And Lassy and Lad—wait, remember them? No one else does either. LGP still thinks they’re a bother, and the boy is promptly sent off to a boarding school so LGP doesn’t have to deal with him.

 There is no redemption in this book. LGP is coerced and tricked into giving his pride a rest, and it only works because a 4yo child almost died under his watch. He’s happy now, so that’s fine. His daughter wasn’t even in on the trick. The Charisma-man did it all, though she does benefit through EXTREMELY BAD CONDITIONS.

What does a person have to do to rise in society? Especially when pushed down, randomly, by an old pouty lord with ill will.

Which brings me to my thesis (1550 words later, yeah sorry/not sorry):

Victorian Society Was a Dumpster Fire. Welcome to my TED talk.

I mean, they’re regarded as the bedrock of our society. They influenced EVERYTHING, and erased a lot more, like LGBT rights, freedom in dress habits, gender conformity, religious persecution, colonization and persecution of other people, etc… They even made circumcision a thing for almost all American people with penises. (Spoilers: It’s because of cereal. Yep.)

What would our society have been like if the Victorians had kept their prejudiced and bigoted opinions to themselves? I know it’s impossible to separate that from their society, and I love Steampunk as much as the next person, but was it worth it?

Over a hundred years of climbing back up the ladder if equal rights. It’s influenced British and American government, and is still touted as a reason for prejudiced behavior. “They did it, and as far as we know it was always this way, right?”

My hope is that a new movement is rising. I know it’s a dark time, but the leaps and bounds we’ve seen in personal rights, equality of money, and killing racism are hopeful. There is a REALLY long way to go, I know, but I have hope.

And I guess that’s my message for you, whatever end-of-year festivals you celebrate: Have Hope in this dark time. As one firmly in the White Male Bucket, I will use my wealth, privilege, and “social default status” to bring equality to our society where I can. Happy Holidays.