The plan made me feel dishonest and creepy, so it took me a long time to send my novel out under a man’s name. But each time I read a study about unconscious bias, I got a little closer to trying it.
When I was 11 or 12 and going to summer drama school (YES, I can see that eye roll from here), I would sneak off campus for lunch at our town’s newly open Jamba Juice and order smoothies under the fake identity of “Lola.”