One of the few silver linings to the pandemic has been the tremendous rise in reading and book sales in general so I do think people are reading more than ever, and reading things out of their comfort zone. This was definitely my experience of talking to people post the Black Lives Matter movement. Reality for me is something that is shifting and fluid, something we have the choice to create, and by having conversations like these we are offering opportunities for change. As writers, we don’t just rely on imagination for all our information when we build characters. If the character has a job we aren’t familiar with we research it because we are aware of our own knowledge limitations. I believe that the same is necessary when writing about races, cultures, and lifestyles different from our own.

Thank you for taking the time to read and share your perspective, Barry.