"And you write for them, and you write for you, too."

From Dahlia Adler's lovely essay Becoming My Own Audience:

Sometimes what happens when you write queer YA is you realize you are really getting into writing queer YA. And you are feeling a weird, dull ache when you write certain scenes and realize you’ve written yourself into places you never expected. That you’re writing wish fulfillment you never thought would be your wishes. That you’re spending waaaay too much time finding the perfect tattooed redhead on Pinterest. That your edits push the conversation of bisexuality just a little further each round. That you have been flirting with other women the entire freaking time you have been writing this book and enjoying it more by the day. (And no, none of them are straight. Where did all the straight people go, anyway?)

And suddenly those interview questions, those innocent messages, those offhand comments… they become more.