1. Tell us about how you became a writer and artist. Age and ideals. Influences. That sort of stuff. I have been writing since I was the tiniest kid; I first learned to use a keyboard around 6. It was in my blood. I was a better writer than I was an artist for a long, long time. My art still isn’t really that good (in my opinion) though I do make a decent living from it. When I was in middle school I was angry at not being better at drawing, so I started lying about having been better in the past, which made no sense. I was really easily embarrassed as a kid, is all I can say.
2. Tell (what you can) about your current success about to be published? What do people get to know. The story is a romance that takes place in Canada and is about religion, growing up, and polyamory. This was actually my first novel after years of failures, aborted attempts, and focusing on a lot of fanfiction because I was too scared of my own ideas. It’s a double success since the first novel I ever finished is getting published.
(The story sounds really interesting. Be sure to watch Jem's twitter feed for updates on release)
3. Since you're an artist, will you be doing the cover? No, the press has their own artists. My style isn’t really what I’d want for the cover, anyway.
4. Galaxy Zento is big on disability and equal rights support. As I understand, you are an activist as well. What can you tell us about that? I’d like to get more involved in disability activism. At the moment, my main involvement is mostly on a local trans health board. I also write about accessibility and LGBTQ+ rights in my articles. I plan on reaching out to the Governor of my state about the ableism in some new healthcare legislation, so we’ll see how that goes. Other than that, I’ve done petitions, crowdfunding, and emails/phone calls to legislators where necessary.
5. Where do you hope to be in 5 years? I really hope to be in a position where my disability isn’t constantly putting roadblocks in front of me. I don’t wish to be “not disabled,” just that I’ll have found workarounds to a lot of the health problems that keep me down. I want to be published, and I want to be able to get advances to work on future books (that’s the dream, right?) and I want my art career to be solid enough that I can financially support myself and my fiancée (who I hope to be married to by then)! I’m getting a certificate in accounting to supplement my creative endeavors, so I’d like to be someplace with that, too.
6. And tell us about you and your family in general. I live with my mum, since I’m currently too sick to run my own life. Also present are my sibling and my fiancée. I try not to give myself shit about living with mum because I know plenty of cultures have much closer family units and children will stay with their parents their whole lives, with caregiver roles shifting as they age. I’d like that. My mum has always been very supportive of me. My sibling is also autistic and queer, so we have a lot in common, even though we argue a ton. They get along really well with my fiancée, which I like to see. I try to encourage them both to create more. I want to see them confident in their own abilities. My mum is a Celtic Monk and hand makes prayer necklaces, and is very crafty in general. I’m not crafty, so I always admire her creativity.
A bit more specific stuff about me: I’m a lesbian and nonbinary, and I use ze/zir pronouns. I have a physical disability and also cognitive/neurological disabilities. I have a lot of pets! I love creepy crawlies and don’t get why people find snakes, spiders, and rats to be scary or gross. My work is very queer-positive, with a lot of focus on body acceptance, sexual empowerment, and deconstructing norms. I make my living doing portraiture, which I find very soothing, but I’d like to get deeper into illustration and get better at other styles. My biggest barrier is finding the right photoshop brushes.
(Jem was kind enough to explain to this old man how ze and zir work. They are essentially used like 'she' and 'her' while be being considered neutral in their application. I found it very interesting as I never knew this. Galaxy Zento is inclusive and respecting of others world and personal views.)
7. What do you think is important for people to realize about a disabled creative like you or anyone? My biggest thing is deadlines and instructions. Many times, I don’t get clear instructions because the editors don’t think about it, or assume someone has more experience or familiarity than they actually do, or because they think it could be inferred. I try never to assume things, because if I assume wrong it’s the end of the world (in my head). Sometimes I need deadline flexibility, or advice, or a really specific explanation of what I need to do, what I could do, and what I should not do. Lack of communication is my biggest problem with editors.
Many don’t seem to understand neurodivergent people’s limitations or needs. A problem I ran into a while back was having a deadline that was too flexible. The client said “by January” and then insisted she meant “before January.” We had a big disagreement about it and she ended up dropping me, which was actually a blessing in disguise because she was seriously underpaying. But it made me realize that having a deadline to aim for is better than having indefinite openness, even if I need some wiggle room.
Excellent interview and I thank Jem for being a part of it. I would like to add it is important to remember that people are people before anything else. That includes skin color, sexuality, size, shape, religion or political view. If we could all remember that people are people first we could transcend so many barriers and be a much happier people. I think Jem is a shining example of this and a fantastic start to Amazing Creators! Thank you so much Jem! We'll see you online!
OH hey, as an added and super note, you should check out Jem's Patreon!
