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purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Melissa is write here
@purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
110 followers 150 following 37 posts
Exploring mental health themes in queer fiction while I write my own. Let's break down the stigma one word at a time.

I am querying my first sapphic romance novel. "You Being You" is a story of love that manages to survive the darkness of mental illness.
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purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
I finished nanowrimo on my 3rd try! Anybody else write a novel this month?
#sapphicfiction #writingcommunity
My nanowrimo winner badge!
November 30, 2024 at 11:49 PM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Thanks to the bomb cyclone I had no light or phone service...thanks @jaeauthor.bsky.social for getting Bachelorette #12 on audiobook so I had something to do! If you need good #sapphic #lesfic you can always count on Jae!
Pic of the audio book "Bachelorette Number Twelve" by Jae
November 23, 2024 at 10:46 PM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Survived the bomb cyclone. Grateful for heat and power and phone services and my wife #huddleandcuddle
Me and my wife huddling with each other and our instant coffee
November 23, 2024 at 3:26 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Woke up this morning...still gay.
#Sapphic #pride #LGBTQ
Picture of my face and a unicorn statue behind me.
November 12, 2024 at 3:28 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
I'm still writing and I'm still fighting for a safe space for mental health seekers and my LGBTQIA+ family. Almost halfway done with NaNoWriMo!
What are you writing and reading about??
#writingcommunity #amwriting #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #bookstagrammer #lgbqt #sapphic #lesfic
November 11, 2024 at 12:55 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Happy Pride! I lived in the closet for far too long and my book shelf is still pretty straight. Help me queer my bookshelf--what do you recommend?
#lesfic #pridemonth #queeryourbookshelf #lgbtqwriters
Rainbow stack of queer books (Queer Icons and their Cats; Scorched Grace; Here We Go Again; A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo; Cosmoknights; Sin Eaters; One Breath From Drowning; Dark Moon, Shallow Sea; Blessed Water; Drag Queen of Scots; Sensitive Creatures) surrounded by a unicorn head, a fairy reading, and pride flags, caption says "queer your bookshelf"
June 1, 2024 at 9:44 PM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
A friend sent me a beautiful card to celebrate writing my first book! Editing and agent searching to come but I have created something I'm proud of. Stay tuned for a sapphic romance about mental health!
#mentalhealthawareness #lesfic #amwriting
Sitting on top of a picnic table is a colorful greeting card with rain boots in every color of the rainbow
June 1, 2024 at 4:33 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Celebrating mother's day is complicated. I was blessed with a mom that read to me and taught me to love books. Thanks mom! But we can't celebrate mother's day without a pile of books that canonize the delight of having a dysfunctional family. #amreading #booksbooksbooks
A stack of children's books next to a Spring nutcracker with tulips on its head. A stack of books about dysfunctional families next to a Spring nutcracker which is holding a miniature bottle of whiskey.
May 18, 2024 at 5:13 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
"It did not overshadow the darkness but rather embraced it. The light was just as much a part of her, the only match for her sadness, not better or worse, but also. Sabine was more than just her sorrow, she was dark and light and everything that existed in between."
#MentalHealthMatters #lesfic
A painting of two women in ball gowns embracing, painted by Maya Eventov is used as a backdrop for the words "The Third Daughter by Adrienne Tooley"
May 8, 2024 at 2:10 PM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
10 books in April. Highlight was reading Scorched Grace after meeting Margot Douaihy--the unique MC is a punk rock lesbian turned nun who has a penchant for solving crime. Searching as always for queer and mental health rep. #amReading #amWriting #amQuerying #lesfic #MentalHealthMatters
Books Read in April with a picture of the cover, title, author, and rating: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May 4 stars; Sensitive Creatures by Kirsten Reneau 4 stars; Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy 5 stars; The Griph Code by Evelynn Moore 5 stars; News Flash by Candace Harper 3 stars; Gay Girl Prayers by Emily Austen 5 stars; Madwoman by Louisa Treger 4 stars; The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth 4 stars; On the Same Page by Haley Cass 4 stars; The Memories of Marlie Rose by Morgan Lee Miller 5 stars.
May 7, 2024 at 2:16 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
It's MAY! Here is my month of books: M-a MG novel about a transgender child A-a book that my sister recommended Y- (a tricky letter to find until I realized it was on my book) sending to beta readers this month! QOTD: What can you spell with your books?
#MentalHealthMatters #lesfic #amQuerying
Words "can you spell May?" and a picture of a stack of books: Melissa by Alex Gino; Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? by Conner and You Being You by Melissa J Spencer
May 2, 2024 at 3:42 PM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
What books make you feel seen? My first sapphic romance I felt naughty and thrilled in a way hetero romance never had. I'm writing my own #SapphicRomance so we can see queers with mental illness get their happily ever after too. #MentalHealthMatters #lesfic #lgbtqWriters #amWriting #amQuerying
shelves are filled with books, an arrow points to one and says "You are here"
May 1, 2024 at 4:22 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
How did you feel when religion had no space for your queer identity? Unmoored, disconnected from the umbilical cord? Burned and ready to burn it all down? Sometimes you have to write your own gay girl prayers. #Poetry #LGBTQ #QueerWriters #lesfic #Sapphic #amwriting #amreading
A copy of the book "Gay Girl Prayers" by Emily Austin with a rainbow rug as a backdrop.
April 23, 2024 at 4:23 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
For anyone else who has ever felt like a Molotov cocktail... May the stinging shards of your trauma become memorable metaphors whose beauty brings you healing. (Sensitive Creatures by Kirsten Reneau) #MentalHealthMatters #QueerWriters #lgbtqWriters #amWriting
Page out of book that reads, "After, when I was drunk, I told Nick that I thought I lived in a constant state of crisis. We were drinking, and I was drunk because I was always drinking and drunk then, making my body a Molotov cocktail to be thrown at whoever would catch it, open-palmed. I quickly learned that Nick was not afraid of burning, from fire or frostbite."
April 14, 2024 at 5:43 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
I'm writing a sapphic romance where mental health professionals are struggling with their own mental illnesses. I work in psychiatry to help others like I've been helped. That's why I write too. Can a romance be healing? What books are healing you? #mentalhealth #lesfic #sapphicromance #amquerying
Selfie with Victoria's Chinatown and cherry blossoms in the background.
April 12, 2024 at 3:45 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
"Holy Mary, Mother of God. Let the afterlife have central air and hot women." Prays the punk rock lesbian turned nun in Margot Douaihy's Scorched Grace. How nice that religious trauma gave queer authors a path to explore spirituality in radical ways? #amwriting #lesfic
Picture of the book Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy; Cover features a nun with a cigarette.
April 10, 2024 at 4:40 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Saints and Sinners literary festival in NOLA last week. It was delightful to rub shoulders with so many queer writers. What's your favorite queer fiction? Bonus points for mental health themes.
#MentalHealth #QueerMentalHealth #LGBTQMentalHealth #QueerReaders #LGBTQWriters #lesfic #SaintsAndSinners
A pile of books by queer authors: Sensitive Creatures by Kirsten Reneau; Bugsy and Other Stories by Rafael Frumpkin; Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R Slayton; One Breath from Drowning by Kent Quaney; Grace Period by Elisabeth Nonas; Sin Eaters by Caleb; Tankersley; My Real Name is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih; Scorched Grace and Blessed Water both by Margot Douaihy; in the corner is a Saints and Sinners participant lanyard.
March 31, 2024 at 5:44 PM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Mental health tip for my sapphic writer friends: As you work to send rainbows out into the world, don't forget to look for the ones meant for you. They always show up just when things seem gloomiest.

sapphic | sapphic books | mental health
Moss-covered rocks next to Elliot Bay. In the corner is a row of small stones I laid out in a rainbow.
January 10, 2024 at 5:28 AM
purplepsychnurse.bsky.social
Happy solstice and merry Christmas this week!
December 24, 2023 at 9:17 PM