C. Spencer
@bycamillespencer.bsky.social
Buddhist. Storyteller. Homosexual. Original Valley Girl. Word nerd.
Substack: bycspencer.substack.com/
Website: cspencerauthor.wixsite.com/books
Substack: bycspencer.substack.com/
Website: cspencerauthor.wixsite.com/books
Pinned
C. Spencer
@bycamillespencer.bsky.social
· Dec 31
A lot happened in 2023. But my book coming out in March was a biggie!
It’s actually a perfect new year’s excuse for self gifting. Just sayin’. tinyurl.com/52rj4j5k
I’m grateful for the community, support, and ability to tell stories—whether in words or pictures.
To an incredible 2024! ✨
It’s actually a perfect new year’s excuse for self gifting. Just sayin’. tinyurl.com/52rj4j5k
I’m grateful for the community, support, and ability to tell stories—whether in words or pictures.
To an incredible 2024! ✨
Reposted by C. Spencer
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
December 2, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Topics covered at Thanksgiving:
• Childhood trauma
• Boundaries
• Inflation
• ICE
• Racism and the fear of existence
• Camera settings and remotes
• Childhood trauma
• Boundaries
• Inflation
• ICE
• Racism and the fear of existence
• Camera settings and remotes
November 29, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Topics covered at Thanksgiving:
• Childhood trauma
• Boundaries
• Inflation
• ICE
• Racism and the fear of existence
• Camera settings and remotes
• Childhood trauma
• Boundaries
• Inflation
• ICE
• Racism and the fear of existence
• Camera settings and remotes
Field Notes
Observation: Blue jay perched outside my window for several minutes; did not make eye contact.
Notable traits: Unafraid of announcing itself. Discreet in its judgments.
Conclusion: A fellow queer.
Observation: Blue jay perched outside my window for several minutes; did not make eye contact.
Notable traits: Unafraid of announcing itself. Discreet in its judgments.
Conclusion: A fellow queer.
November 25, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Field Notes
Observation: Blue jay perched outside my window for several minutes; did not make eye contact.
Notable traits: Unafraid of announcing itself. Discreet in its judgments.
Conclusion: A fellow queer.
Observation: Blue jay perched outside my window for several minutes; did not make eye contact.
Notable traits: Unafraid of announcing itself. Discreet in its judgments.
Conclusion: A fellow queer.
This looks amazing.
"Wuthering Heights" | Official Trailer
YouTube video by Warner Bros.
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 10:15 PM
This looks amazing.
November 15, 2025 at 12:04 AM
My daughter: If you could go back to any age, where would you go?
Me: 35. I was so pretty then, and I didn't even appreciate it.
Today's reframe: When life gives you a rainy day and a holiday weekend, pull out your camera and remind yourself that age 55 can be just as good as 35. Appreciate now.
Me: 35. I was so pretty then, and I didn't even appreciate it.
Today's reframe: When life gives you a rainy day and a holiday weekend, pull out your camera and remind yourself that age 55 can be just as good as 35. Appreciate now.
November 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
My daughter: If you could go back to any age, where would you go?
Me: 35. I was so pretty then, and I didn't even appreciate it.
Today's reframe: When life gives you a rainy day and a holiday weekend, pull out your camera and remind yourself that age 55 can be just as good as 35. Appreciate now.
Me: 35. I was so pretty then, and I didn't even appreciate it.
Today's reframe: When life gives you a rainy day and a holiday weekend, pull out your camera and remind yourself that age 55 can be just as good as 35. Appreciate now.
Sometimes love starts like this: A shared table. A word left uncorrected. And someone who doesn’t look away.
Milk for Breakfast is a queer serial about the long breath before closeness.
Part 9 is live. The one where the title finally makes sense.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
Milk for Breakfast is a queer serial about the long breath before closeness.
Part 9 is live. The one where the title finally makes sense.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
November 7, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Sometimes love starts like this: A shared table. A word left uncorrected. And someone who doesn’t look away.
Milk for Breakfast is a queer serial about the long breath before closeness.
Part 9 is live. The one where the title finally makes sense.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
Milk for Breakfast is a queer serial about the long breath before closeness.
Part 9 is live. The one where the title finally makes sense.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
Let the ex miss the version of you she mistreated.
Let the friend show up with takeout and moral clarity.
Let the maybe be a yes.
Milk for Breakfast, Part 8.
Queer. Serial. Complicated.
Start with Part 8 or binge from the beginning: bycspencer.substack.com
#LGBT #Serial #Fiction
Let the friend show up with takeout and moral clarity.
Let the maybe be a yes.
Milk for Breakfast, Part 8.
Queer. Serial. Complicated.
Start with Part 8 or binge from the beginning: bycspencer.substack.com
#LGBT #Serial #Fiction
October 31, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Let the ex miss the version of you she mistreated.
Let the friend show up with takeout and moral clarity.
Let the maybe be a yes.
Milk for Breakfast, Part 8.
Queer. Serial. Complicated.
Start with Part 8 or binge from the beginning: bycspencer.substack.com
#LGBT #Serial #Fiction
Let the friend show up with takeout and moral clarity.
Let the maybe be a yes.
Milk for Breakfast, Part 8.
Queer. Serial. Complicated.
Start with Part 8 or binge from the beginning: bycspencer.substack.com
#LGBT #Serial #Fiction
The smallest gestures have started to mean too much.
A cider tasting shouldn’t feel this charged—but it does. Milk for Breakfast, Part 7 keeps them circling what neither will name.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#Queer #Fiction #Serial #Novel
A cider tasting shouldn’t feel this charged—but it does. Milk for Breakfast, Part 7 keeps them circling what neither will name.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#Queer #Fiction #Serial #Novel
October 24, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The smallest gestures have started to mean too much.
A cider tasting shouldn’t feel this charged—but it does. Milk for Breakfast, Part 7 keeps them circling what neither will name.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#Queer #Fiction #Serial #Novel
A cider tasting shouldn’t feel this charged—but it does. Milk for Breakfast, Part 7 keeps them circling what neither will name.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#Queer #Fiction #Serial #Novel
When the quiet sets in, the past has a way of finding its way back.
Milk for Breakfast, Part 6, out now.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#LGBTQ
#WritingCommunity
Milk for Breakfast, Part 6, out now.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#LGBTQ
#WritingCommunity
October 17, 2025 at 8:26 PM
When the quiet sets in, the past has a way of finding its way back.
Milk for Breakfast, Part 6, out now.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#LGBTQ
#WritingCommunity
Milk for Breakfast, Part 6, out now.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#LGBTQ
#WritingCommunity
She said, “Tell me when to stop.”
I didn’t.
Milk for Breakfast: Part 5 just dropped.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#SerialFiction #QueerRomance #OngoingNovel #LGBTQFiction
I didn’t.
Milk for Breakfast: Part 5 just dropped.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#SerialFiction #QueerRomance #OngoingNovel #LGBTQFiction
October 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
She said, “Tell me when to stop.”
I didn’t.
Milk for Breakfast: Part 5 just dropped.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#SerialFiction #QueerRomance #OngoingNovel #LGBTQFiction
I didn’t.
Milk for Breakfast: Part 5 just dropped.
open.substack.com/pub/bycspenc...
#SerialFiction #QueerRomance #OngoingNovel #LGBTQFiction
“Do you always study people this closely?”
“Only when I’m curious.”
Installment 4 is up now.
Read Milk for Breakfast at:
bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
Like. Subscribe. Share.
“Only when I’m curious.”
Installment 4 is up now.
Read Milk for Breakfast at:
bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
Like. Subscribe. Share.
October 3, 2025 at 9:26 PM
“Do you always study people this closely?”
“Only when I’m curious.”
Installment 4 is up now.
Read Milk for Breakfast at:
bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
Like. Subscribe. Share.
“Only when I’m curious.”
Installment 4 is up now.
Read Milk for Breakfast at:
bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
Like. Subscribe. Share.
You ever have someone walk into a room and everything recalibrates? Yeah. That.
Installment three is out now.
The drama continues in Milk for Breakfast → bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
Installment three is out now.
The drama continues in Milk for Breakfast → bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
September 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
You ever have someone walk into a room and everything recalibrates? Yeah. That.
Installment three is out now.
The drama continues in Milk for Breakfast → bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
Installment three is out now.
The drama continues in Milk for Breakfast → bycspencer.substack.com/p/milk-for-b...
It’s easy to dismiss queer language as frivolous because it can be unserious, memeified, or too online. But there is nothing frivolous about building meaning out of what the world left blank.
Queer Language: Borrowed Grammar, Made-Up Words, and Chosen Family | Highbrow Magazine
Sometimes it sounds like inside jokes and borrowed vowels, like made-up grammar and pet names that mean everything and one thing at the same time. Sometimes it sounds like chosen family. Sometimes it ...
www.highbrowmagazine.com
September 26, 2025 at 7:32 PM
It’s easy to dismiss queer language as frivolous because it can be unserious, memeified, or too online. But there is nothing frivolous about building meaning out of what the world left blank.
September 23, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I’m trying something new: a story in installments (with photography shorts in between). Subscribe to follow along.
bycspencer.substack.com/p/namaste
bycspencer.substack.com/p/namaste
Namaste
Hi friends, and thanks for stopping by.
bycspencer.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I’m trying something new: a story in installments (with photography shorts in between). Subscribe to follow along.
bycspencer.substack.com/p/namaste
bycspencer.substack.com/p/namaste
The back road always smells like a clear mind and a hint of smoke from a burn pile, sun baked and faintly sweet. You put on Freebird, windows down, volume high enough to rattle loose change in the console. A green John Deere crawls ahead, sunlight blinding. And for a while, you’re untouchable.
September 12, 2025 at 6:22 PM
The back road always smells like a clear mind and a hint of smoke from a burn pile, sun baked and faintly sweet. You put on Freebird, windows down, volume high enough to rattle loose change in the console. A green John Deere crawls ahead, sunlight blinding. And for a while, you’re untouchable.
Little pleasures we’ll miss in October:
• Nights when distant fireworks felt romantic.
• Ice cubes clinking louder than the conversation.
• One more frozen margarita because the heat hadn’t left yet.
• Nights when salad counted as dinner.
• Classic Vans without socks because the rules were off.
• Nights when distant fireworks felt romantic.
• Ice cubes clinking louder than the conversation.
• One more frozen margarita because the heat hadn’t left yet.
• Nights when salad counted as dinner.
• Classic Vans without socks because the rules were off.
September 7, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Little pleasures we’ll miss in October:
• Nights when distant fireworks felt romantic.
• Ice cubes clinking louder than the conversation.
• One more frozen margarita because the heat hadn’t left yet.
• Nights when salad counted as dinner.
• Classic Vans without socks because the rules were off.
• Nights when distant fireworks felt romantic.
• Ice cubes clinking louder than the conversation.
• One more frozen margarita because the heat hadn’t left yet.
• Nights when salad counted as dinner.
• Classic Vans without socks because the rules were off.
The chandeliers.
The champagne.
The gilded trim.
The layered cake.
The silk gowns.
The velvet drapes.
The diamonds.
Enjoy your one day off.
The champagne.
The gilded trim.
The layered cake.
The silk gowns.
The velvet drapes.
The diamonds.
Enjoy your one day off.
August 31, 2025 at 12:29 PM
The chandeliers.
The champagne.
The gilded trim.
The layered cake.
The silk gowns.
The velvet drapes.
The diamonds.
Enjoy your one day off.
The champagne.
The gilded trim.
The layered cake.
The silk gowns.
The velvet drapes.
The diamonds.
Enjoy your one day off.
Thursday holds the room, makes you wait.
August 21, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Thursday holds the room, makes you wait.
Last fall this Rose of Sharon was cut to half its height. By January the snow had it bent low, every branch carrying more than it should. Now it’s grown past where it stood last summer—taller, steadier, and, somehow, even lovelier in the late light. This isn’t really about the Rose of Sharon.
August 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Last fall this Rose of Sharon was cut to half its height. By January the snow had it bent low, every branch carrying more than it should. Now it’s grown past where it stood last summer—taller, steadier, and, somehow, even lovelier in the late light. This isn’t really about the Rose of Sharon.
Some folks spend August weekends shoulder to shoulder at the county fair, cold beer in hand, talking loud over the band. I like mine with the A/C humming, a cold root beer sweating on the counter, a good song rolling in the background, and a slow shine working its way across the kitchen sink.
August 9, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Some folks spend August weekends shoulder to shoulder at the county fair, cold beer in hand, talking loud over the band. I like mine with the A/C humming, a cold root beer sweating on the counter, a good song rolling in the background, and a slow shine working its way across the kitchen sink.
They never kissed you.
But they once sat in your kitchen and said your name like they were tasting it.
But they once sat in your kitchen and said your name like they were tasting it.
August 2, 2025 at 9:26 PM
They never kissed you.
But they once sat in your kitchen and said your name like they were tasting it.
But they once sat in your kitchen and said your name like they were tasting it.
Don't overthink it: What comic book panels/pages live in your head rent-free? Drop four and tag #comicsdna
From Craig Thompson's "Blankets". Technically a graphic novel. But.
From Craig Thompson's "Blankets". Technically a graphic novel. But.
July 30, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Don't overthink it: What comic book panels/pages live in your head rent-free? Drop four and tag #comicsdna
From Craig Thompson's "Blankets". Technically a graphic novel. But.
From Craig Thompson's "Blankets". Technically a graphic novel. But.