eloise and the grump next door jenny proctor

It has been two years since my then fifteen-year-old child came to my husband and me with a look in their eyes that said it was time for a big conversation. It’s important to me that you know this because I am an ally for the LGBTQ community not despite my faith, but because of it.

It is a cornerstone in my marriage and in the way my husband and I approach parenting. My relationship with God is very important to me. I can’t really explain, but fellow writers, you get me-), I did have a moment when I considered whether or not I wanted to change them. Though the characters formed in a more organic way (I didn’t intentionally make them gay, they just appeared in the story that way. Taken out the gayness and made the story work without it. And yes, I probably could have written the book differently. Love Redesigned is a silly book about fashion and sibling rivalry and falling in love, with a main character who happens to have close friends that are gay and married. To clarify a few issues raised by some readers: no, I did not write this book with a political agenda in mind. I knew those standards and I knew, when drafting, exactly what my readers had come to expect.

But it did need to meet a certain set of standards. My writing career began writing for a small publishing house that focuses on clean, faith-resonant fiction. I don’t love that this is a question that even needs to be asked. What’s the big deal? It generally revolves around this question: Why did I choose to put a married gay couple in my novel? The issue has even popped up in a handful of reviews. But this book has raised some concerns with a few readers, many of whom reached out to me to let me know their feelings. It has done as well as I hoped it would, and like always, it’s been fun to see my words making their way in the world. A few months back, I published a new book.

Eloise and the grump next door jenny proctor