Frequently Asked Questions
What's your name?
Rosaria Delacroix, pronounced (ro-zah-REE-ah) (DEL-uh-kwaa).
What's going on with your gender and genes?
I identify as nonbinary, and use they/them pronouns. I prefer neutral referential language- person, rather than woman or man, sibling, over sister or brother. In situational contexts, such as where gender is strongly interwoven into the romance languages, I would prefer masculine terms of address. I would prefer no honorifics, (last name alone is adequately formal), but if required, then 'M.' is fine, as in: 'M. Delacroix.'
If pushed, I would describe myself as transmasculine nonbinary, as that tends to be easier to explain how my biological sex interacts with my genetic disorder and accessing healthcare: hemophilia is typically understood as a male condition, but it has a X-linked recessive inheritance pattern.
Long winded explanation on the particulars of hemophilia B's X-linked recessive inheritance.
This means the impacted allele is present on the X chromosome. With XY chromosomes, there is only one copy present. If it is defective, hemophilia occurs. With XX chromosomes, as in my case, very rarely, both X chromosome's respective copy can be defective, resulting in hemophilia.
It is more typical for only one copy, on one X chromosome, to be defective- which in XX, would result in what's known as a female carrier: someone who can experience a variety of manifestations, depending on how well the functional copy on the other X chromosome can compensate for up to 50% of the coagulation factor IX (FIX) production.
It is not uncommon for female carriers to never have access to adequate healthcare for their condition until they experience life threatening blood loss during childbirth, a car accident, or dental surgery, and they are a fairly underserved population within hemophiliacs. Most of the resources I've encountered there are aimed around the implications for any biological (especially male) children, rather than improving maternal quality of life.
As a result of the rarity of having dual X chromosome defects, as well as having the rarer subtype of the disorder (hemophilia B, they differ based on the impacted coagulation factor, which for type B is FIX,) navigating healthcare is more difficult for me as a trans person, due to the misogyny and gender confusion my disorder causes with non-specialists.
I am not able to medically transition due to my genetic disorder and its complications being deemed too high risk for it- I am unable to take many classes of medications safely (those with platelet inhibition (like SSRIs, NSAIDs) particularly) because of it as well.
I am often mistaken for being a female carrier, which has led to dangerously insufficient care or careless prescriptions, as I have hemophilia outright (despite genetic testing and confirmation), and/or I am mistaken for being transfeminine, and experience mis-directed transmisogyny, due to their belief it is a disorder only men have. It isn't- and hemophilia is the typical highschool/first year of university biology case study disorder for sex linked inheritance patterns in genetic disorders, which really makes the whole situation baffling everytime it happens to me.
TL;DR: I have an X-linked recessive disorder. Rarely, defects to both X chromosomes can cause full blown hemophilia, as happened with me. I identify as nonbinary, but to contextualize my genetic disorder and the misogyny I face within healthcare access, I can also be described specifically as transmasculine nonbinary.
How do you use your social media?
My itch.io is reserved for showcasing written works, my bluesky and status.cafe for microblogging silly thoughts, and my tumblr for visual inspiration. I chatter in a more long winded way over on the Melonland forums.
What do you write?
I typically write character driven genre works, especially in Gothic Romance and Gothic Horror. I have recently taken to exploring Soft Science-Fiction and Romantic-Fantasy. Recurrent elements in my work pertain to religious heresy, body horror, environments explored as characters, indulgently decadent prose poetry, OwnVoice mental health and physical disability, and LGBT romance. I'm a sucker for found family, and a happy ending.
How do you write?
I enjoy drafting by hand, using my fountain pens, ink, and notebooks. Sometimes I will transcribe these contents, typically after every writing session, or else draft directly into Scrivener. I use TrackBear to keep note of my progress. I aim to write at least a page per session when handwritten, as this corresponds roughly to 250 words given my writing size and spacing in the notebooks I use.
What fountain pens, ink, and paper do you use?
I'm most often writing with either of my Lamy Safaris- both are in limited edition colorways: a matte Cream, and a shiny Rose Pink. Most typically, I'm mixing up custom blends of ink on spur of the moment whimsy at each refill, but especially favour pink and purple tones. The inks I often reach for are from Diamine's range, and favourites include: Hope Pink and Electric Pink, with a tinge of Enchanted Ocean.
I am less picky paperwise than I am about the writing utensil of choice- and often find myself reaching for other pens in my collection to switch up the tactile feedback or drying time, or simply to avoid re-filling a pen mid writing session. I typically write in either a hardcover medium / A5 Leuchtturm1917 dotted notebook of various cover colors (I like powder pink especially, but also have sage green, lemon, port red, pacific green, and army green) or in the Muji High Quality Paper Open-Flat Notebooks, in a lined or dotted grid finish.
What's your favourite kind of cat?
All of them. If forced to pick a short list, I have an especial fondness for short haired kittens with buff coloured fur, or else grey tabbies with generous white markings- little 'socks' are too darn cute, and of course, calico kitties. But all kitties are the cutest kitties that ever kittied.
Do you have any pets?
When I do have pets, they tend to be betta fish. I have an especial fondness for watching them rove around their gallons of terrain, enjoying their vivacious, vibrantly spirited personalities, learning their individual quirks and teaching them tricks.
My favourite colors are blue and white, and I find all black eyes and dumbo ear fins especially endearing. A little shimmer is also pretty. I prefer shorter finned morphs for their quality of life- a halfmoon plakat strikes a nice balance.
I will always give them a marimo ball to play with, in addition to planting out their tanks and offering hides by way of caves or safe, ceramic cups. Highly suggest to other fishkeepers- it is too cute watching them play or loaf around on them.