Cait Gordon's Blog

I love saying yes to opportunities. It’s led me to meet fantastic people and to grow in my career in WritingWorldLand. I became a published author because I said yes. I became a manuscript editor because I said yes. I became an award-winning anthology editor because I said yes. I’ve been a guest lecturer at Trent University several times because I said yes. I got on cool podcasts, panels, radio shows, and TV because I said yes. “Yes” can be a gateway to awesomeness.

However, in this past year, I omitted something vital—to balance my life by saying no. As a result, my mental health is torched, and my physical health isn’t great either. I completely forgot the thing about how I am autistic, mentally ill, and manage a dynamic disability. (In case folks aren’t aware, a dynamic disability is one that’s unpredictable. Zero stars. Do not recommend.)

Instead of saying yes in a healthy way, as in, “Oh, that sounds fun, and I have the spoons to do it,” I was trying to medicate with busyness so I could shut out the stresses in my life. That’s very different and untenable for someone with the type of bodymind I have. All of the things I chose to do in themselves were amazing. It’s just that they were too many all at once. Without realizing it, I was harming myself slowly but surely until CRASH!

Is it internalized ableism when you keep forgetting to factor in the impact stuff has on your disabled bodymind? Maybe? It’s definitely not remembering to put the NOPE guardians in place.

While managing burnout, I bought some whiteboard wallpaper for my closet door in my office. Then I wrote down all of the things I’d committed to—and almost fainted. No wonder my brain felt crispy and my body weakened. Cait! You’re always advocating for others and you totally neglected yourself!!!

Because I would like to remain on Earth until I am crypt-keeper years old, I had to make some tough decisions. I had to wave my white flag and surrender to reality. My BFF Talia sent me an image of a hand-drawn card someone made that was like a buy-ten-coffees-get-one-free card, but for saying no. So, I took the idea for myself and thought my reward for ten “NOs” would be a cupcake. Kinda taking it seriously but not really.

Within less than two days, I had to say no to four things. It’s only been a few weeks, and I’ve said no to eight things total. Holy crap. I mean, I love how I am presented with fantastic opportunities, but if I had balanced things earlier in the year, I could have had some leftover yes responses for now.

(I misplaced my red pen, so used pink for the checkmarks on the second row.)

Upon reflection, even by saying no to whatever else I’m presented with this year, I will still have had a year where I did a ton! But I must keep my eyes on that full whiteboard and my finger on my own pulse, so I can recover and get back to being able to dole out a reasonable amount of yesses. Creating a yes-budget, if you will.

But the good news is that when I have said no recently, I requested to be considered for future projects, if the timing was right. And many folks were quite receptive to that. So, sometimes a “no” can be framed as a “not now, but maybe someday.” I already know a couple of things I would love to do in 2026, so it’s going to be important to have that yes-budget in place.

Another thing that was heartening was how many people told me to take care of myself and that my health was the most important thing right now. Those weren’t empty platitudes either. I felt the sincerity. It’s really nice to know how many wonderful folks there still are in this world. Kindness is worth more than gold these days, in my opinion. And I will recall the people who have been kind to me. They’ll go on my Awesome Humans list for future reference.

So, I wanted to share this in case you might be wondering if you have also exhausted your yes-budget and feel guilty about saying no. I think it was novelist Anne Lamont or someone else who is wiser than I who said, “No is a complete sentence.” Did you know we can just say no without having to come up with “an acceptable explanation” for others? Even by saying, “This sounds great and I would love to, but I can’t fit it in right now,” is a longer “no,” but it’s also true in my case. Anyway, however you phrase your no is up to you. Just please try and not feel guilty or give into the fear of missing out. Trust me, opportunities will happen. And you’ll have a better time saying yes to the things that you really want to do if you’re rested.

Because I’m guessing that other than becoming a mischievous ghost, I can do way more if I’m still alive. Let’s all decide to be good stewards of ourselves, okay?

And thank you to whoever came up with the No card. It’s really put things into perspective for me.

Two more no-checkmarks and I get a cupcake! Woo!

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait is also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

I co-authored an article with Derek Newman-Stille where we discuss some of the gains we have as autistic folks—challenging the narrative that we are “less than.” This is the first time I have ever collaborated on an article, so it was a cool experience.

The featured image in the article is a Gelli art piece created by Derek!

Autism Gain

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

I wrote this article last year for the Spoonie Authors Network, with quotes from Derek Newman-Stille, Dianna Gunn, and C.L. Carey. Because it’s July, and Disability Pride Month has begun, I thought it made sense to repost it!

Why We Need Disability Pride Month

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

The sixth and final episode of The Disabled Crone has dropped! Here’s the post about it on the Spoonie Authors Network. You can also discover all the platforms that host this podcast by clicking The Disabled Crone menu item on my website!

The Disabled Crone Season Finale, S1 Ep6: Writing Memoir Using Poetic Prose, with A. Gregory Frankson

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

The fifth episode of The Disabled Crone has dropped! Here’s the post about it on the Spoonie Authors Network. You can also discover all the platforms that host this podcast by clicking The Disabled Crone menu item on my website!

The Disabled Crone, S1 Ep5: Why Zines Are Making a Comeback, with Derek Newman-Stille

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

The fourth episode of The Disabled Crone has dropped! Here’s the post about it on the Spoonie Authors Network. You can also discover all the platforms that host this podcast by clicking The Disabled Crone menu item on my website!

The Disabled Crone, S1 Ep4: How Our Neurodivergent Brains Influence Our Writing, with Arlene F. Marks

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

The third episode of The Disabled Crone has dropped! Here’s the post about it on the Spoonie Authors Network. You can also discover all the platforms that host this podcast by clicking The Disabled Crone menu item on my website!

The Disabled Crone, S1 Ep3: Five Interesting Things About My Career with Melissa Yi

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

The second episode of The Disabled Crone has dropped! Here’s the post about it on the Spoonie Authors Network. You can also learn where to find this podcast by clicking The Disabled Crone menu item on my website!

The Disabled Crone, S2 Ep2: Entering Into and Learning From Disabled Spaces with Adelle Purdham

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

Stuff has been happening! So much stuff.

Survived the Canadian federal election in the most delicious way!

OK, I am not going to mince words. I nearly lost my crap from stress when it came to this election. Unfortunately, when I tried to vote the first time in the advanced poles, I had to sit in my rollator for over an hour, then we just had to leave without voting because it would’ve been another hour’s wait. We went back the next day, and it was only a 25-minute wait. So my vote got in. (A few days later, my back went out. Managed to reduce the pain enough to move about on the day of the election.)

And, massive, super-big surprise, I am not a conservative voter, so I was really hoping that Mark Carney would be staying on as Prime Minister. But I felt an autistic meltdown coming on during the day, so I avoided it by redirecting myself to trying something that I’ve never done before. I have coeliac disease, and my favourite pie was always lemon meringue. I haven’t had lemon meringue pie in 17 years or more. So, I got this notion that I was gonna make a lemon meringue pie.

I did it too! How in the world did I pull that off under such duress? Lookit how fluffy that golden meringue is! It was an Election Day miracle!

I promise, it tasted as good as it looks in this picture.

So like, winning literary awards as an author and editor was a pretty cool thing to happen to me, but I’m sorry, I made lemon meringue pie! I feel this is one of my greatest accomplishments in life. In fact, I think I might eventually put a recipe menu on my website, because people have been asking me about how to make it.

Oh, and Mark, Carney won, so I feel I can breathe a bit. Politics at this time in history is… interesting. Lotta very creepy stuff trying to repeat itself. Let’s hope for the best.

The Disabled Crone Podcast launched on May 2!

After much debating of whether I should or shouldn’t, I SHOULD AND I DID! I’m so excited for you to watch and/or listen to this podcast I’ve produced for the Spoonie Authors Network. The six most excellent guests and topics for Season One of The Disabled Crone are:

Episode 1, Jamieson Wolf: Putting Yourself First In Publishing (May 2, 2025)Episode 2, Adelle Purdham: Entering Into and Learning From Disabled Spaces (May 9, 2025)Episode 3, Melissa Yi: Five Most Interesting Things About My Career (May 16, 2025)Episode 4, Arlene F. Marks: How Our Neurodivergent Brains Affect Our Writing (May 23)Episode 5, Derek Newman-Stille: Why Zines Are Making a Comeback (May 30)Episode 6, A. Gregory Frankson: Writing Memoir Using Poetic Prose (June 6)

Here’s the teaser trailer on YouTube! (At the time of posting this newsletter, Episode One is also up!

You can find The Disabled Crone on the Spoonie Authors Network’s YouTube channel (with closed captions), iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts,  Spotify and Amazon Music. Please don’t forget to like, rate, and share! Thanks so much!

I wrote an article for the Indieverse Awards Blog!

As a 2025 Indieverse Award nominee (for my short story, “Bev the Hacker Does Time”), I had the privilege of being invited to write an article on their blog! Here it is: “Indie Books: An Often-Maligned but Much-Needed Pillar of Publishing.” I wrote it because yes, we are “real authors” and not imaginary!

Look, Ma, I’m a moderator!

I was chosen to moderate a panel for the Weeknight Writers Storycrafting conference on May 25! Here’s the full schedule for this free virtual event (but you can donate to it, if you like): https://weeknightwriters.com/2025/04/13/storycrafting-sessions-publishing-full-schedule/

The panel I’m moderating is at 2pm: THE SELF PUBLISHING DEBATE: KINDLE UNLIMITED VS PUBLISHING WIDE (2-3PM EST) with Dax Murray, Drako, and KJ Harrowick.

I hope you can join us! It should be a blast!

Getting wired!

I’m trying to get back into wire-wrapping stones again. One project turned out horribly, but stay tuned to my newsletters because I feel I will learn how to do the thing!

Here are two simply wrapped pendants that didn’t go horribly wrong.

So slippery to work with, but they’re worth it!

Oh yeah, writing stuff!

I’m getting lovely feedback for my upcoming 2026 short story collection, Speculating Shorts: Stories That Fell Out of My Brain. And I am so close to finishing the draft, I can taste the wing sauce of my next absurdist, space-opera romance, Hot Wings and Sauciness! I’m sure readers of Hot Wings and Sauciness will either go, “WTF?!” or “Yes, baby!” (Please let there be weirdos like me who get this book. I love it so hard.)

Thanks for reading!

I appreciate you, folks! Keep being awesome and cheers for now!

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Cronei podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.

I’m hosting a new podcast for the Spoonie Authors Network called The Disabled Crone! The goal of this podcast is to go beyond the “typical book release interview” and to discuss topics that mean a lot to the authors. You can find The Disabled Crone on the Spoonie Authors Network’s YouTube channel (with closed captions), iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts,  Spotify and Amazon Music. 

Our seasons will only be six episodes because I’m producing them all by my wee self. Season One has all Canadian authors! And it begins with Jamieson Wolf as we chat about putting yourself in Publishing!

Award-winning Canadian author, editor, and cupcake eater Cait Gordon interviews award-winning, number-one best-selling Canadian author Jamieson Wolf about when it’s time to put oneself first in the rollercoaster adventures of the publishing industry, and why it’s important to hold onto to the joy of writing. 

If you would like to watch the episode right from this post, here it is on YouTube!

If you enjoy our episodes, give them a positive rating and please spread the word! Thanks so much for your support!

Cait Gordon is an award-winning Canadian speculative fiction writer and anthology editor who advocates for disability, mental health, and neurodiversity representation in written works. She is the author of Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! and the co-editor (with Talia C. Johnson) of the Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. Cait also the host of The Disabled Cronei podcast. She is autistic, disabled, and queer, and really loves cake.