Actually Visible

My Story

It is with a mixture of a thousand emotions (namely excitement, anxiety, joy, and terror) that I finally announce the release of my debut novel, Actually Invisible.

Though the story is completely fictionalized, it partially details an experience that I have lived and continue to struggle against living–that of a closeted public school teacher. I spent years playing the pronoun game and evading questions about my personal life, and the main character’s experience was one of my worst nightmares.

In the book, high school English teacher Josie takes great care to not discuss her personal life with students in her English classes. She loves her job and sees it as a bright spot in her life as she struggles through fertility treatments and grieves the recent loss of her beloved father. When a student comes out to her in a writing assignment and that student’s conservative parents get wind of it, she is suddenly thrust into a small-town spotlight as her parents announce they are taking their concerns to the upcoming school board meeting. Josie begins receiving anonymous email threats to her privacy and her family, and as the school board meeting approaches, she must decide if she will apologetically roll over back into silence or if it’s time to finally speak her truth.

With a contemporary backdrop and periodic flashbacks to the golden age of the 90s, this book has something for everyone–especially if you are a millennial, a teacher, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community (or an ally), someone who has struggled with fertility, someone who has suddenly lost a loved one, and/or someone who enjoys controversial topics that can start really great conversations in book clubs, with friends, etc.

Actually Invisible will be released through Amazon on April 1st, 2024, and I would love for anyone and everyone to give it a look! I’ll post a link as soon as I can.