As it’s the time to be doing ‘round ups’ I figured why not corral some of my favourite pieces from this year into one post? I’ve not written as much this year as previously in the form of articles and blogs, but there are still a few I’m proud of.
So by way of a few subcategories here are a few I really enjoyed sharing…
Reviews
As ever, writing for The Queer Review remains a joy, and in particular, these articles were really lovely to write:
Revisiting this, which I originally saw in 2020 brought queer joy, and some interesting things to think about.
I never got to see the original performance but this recorded version of Alexis Gregory’s activist theatre piece on AIDS was a fascinating and dare I say important one.
Obviously, we couldn’t let the year pass without one final cock joke, I mean it would be really hard not to right? and this after all was the big one this year. And incredibly satisfying.
Ok but seriously Marianne Elliott’s revival of this play was a significant one, and I was lucky to see Joel Harper Jackson in one of his first performances and confirming that sometimes the ‘understudy’ is actually the better bet…
Cultural Commentary
Not reviews themselves but a couple of other pieces I loved writing in the form of cultural commentary.
Firstly revisiting my Dan Levy Met Gala piece. Originally destined for another project, and fuelled by working on the second Schitt’s Creek book, I had a lot more (a LOT more to say on this). So there’s a mix of AIDS history, and queer cultural commentary.
Reading Patrick Brewer as Demisexual
Another Schitt’s Creek related one, and the one that sadly got me a lot of online hate; on reading Patrick as demisexual. This was, as the blog explores a huge part of my asexual coming out experience. Revisiting that, refueled the hate and led to me ‘leaving’ the Schitt’s Creek fan community somewhat. But would I take it back? no. I’m incredibly proud of this piece and just goes to show why having these discussions out loud is important.
Its a Sin and Diffucult Queer TV
One that was written in a flurry of queer rage but also inspired by the Russell T Davies book I’m working on. This one looks at the ongoing discomfort we have with the more ‘difficult’ queer narratives.
Personal
Along with the pop culture commentary and reviews, I have of course kept up a personal blog here. Some might think it’s outdated or oversharing, and maybe it is. But I can tell you that every time I share something on asexual experience I get messages from folks who either are seeing something of themselves in what I write, or want to tell me they now understand it better. So as with the Patrick article above, I’m glad I keep sharing this stuff.
Ace-blogs
On the above note, I’m proud of all the sharing about asexuality I’ve done this year. As much as I’m loud about it, talking about it isn’t always easy. Being an ‘outsider’ someone who isn’t always welcomed to the LGBTQ+ community, and coming out again has all been a lot. So talking about it helps. Some places I did that are my ‘where are we now’ blog, my ‘one year on’ blog and ‘asexuality and lonelienss’
Sad Penguin is a year old now! last Christmas I got given a grumpy looking penguin who constantly looked like he was Going Through Some Shit. After a few silly posts on my main accounts, I gave Tim the Sad Penguin his own, and he taught me a lot about being sad.
This is one of my favourite blogs of the year. I went back ‘home’ to Montreal for the first time in over a decade. I did a lot of crying and thought about the places I’ve cried there before.
Creative
I also took a leap and started sharing my creative work this year. I’ve been working on a novel that has morphed into three, and it also centres asexual experience. I’m currently debating how best to get it out in the world- self publishing probably, maybe serialising it somehow online. But in 2023 that’s my goal: share the Sad Messy Gays as they’re known.
In the meantime I have two bits of their story. The first, in extracts and some context as to why I wanted to write this story which is here:
Sad Messy Gays and Writing my Asexual Stories.
And then, when I came back from Montreal, I wrote a story through my characters’ eyes about reivisting a place you used to live.
So that’s a 2022 round up. I’d love to know what people would like to read more of (it’ll still be chaos here but do tell me what you like!)
I kind of like the chaos!