February

We’re back for another month of ‘what I’ve been…’

I’ve also been notably absent from blogging after a strong start in January, because book edits and a general being overwhelmed with everything have taken every last brain cell and ounce of energy.

Back to that later.

Reading

I have read nothing but ‘Game Changers’ books this month. Not even sorry. I got a deal on the paperbacks, and I’m just about at the end of Common Goal.

Proper reviews coming separately, but I’m not even going to style out that basic bitch life choice.

Watching

Like everyone else, the last two weeks of my life were consumed by the Olympics. There are three categories of Olympic sport in my mind: Throwing oneself down a mountain (Snow), Throwing oneself down a mountain (on a tea tray), and pissing about on ice (flat).

I have zero expertise on the first two, obviously. For throwing yourself on snow, my most common observation is ‘well I could do that’ (fall flat on my face). For throwing yourselves down an icy track on a tea tray, all I’ve got is ‘how do you discover you’d like to do that?’

Obviously, the pissing about on ice portion of the Olympics is my niche. For Curling my favourite fun fact is that curling rinks in Canada had licenses for the bar on a Sunday where nobody else did, so you could drink and curl; in fact, most people were drunk to curl…

For the Ice Dance/Figure skating, my favourite Olympics post was something along the lines of ‘Why am I suddenly upset about something called a twizzle?’ to which I say, take this sport up as an adult, and you can be upset about a twizzle every week. While obviously I was cheering for my Spice Boy and Girl, Lilah and Lewis, my heart belongs to Piper Gilles and Paul Pourier for that Van Gogh number.

Outside the Olympics, Shrinking is back, and that first episode was a punch to the stomach (cake, iykyk, etc.). But that show continues to be simultaneously the funniest, heartwrenching and human of shows. Jason Segel is also a highly underrated actor, in my opinion. That said, I’m not sure I can cope with ‘Marshall’ and ‘Robin’ getting it together. Oh, and the best use of Apple TV is having all the money and spending it on music rights for Harrison Ford to hum the Indiana Jones theme tune.

I’ve been rewatching Kim’s Convenience at lunchtimes after recommending it to a friend, so I’m also recommending it to all of you. Delightful Canadian comedy (based on a play), and Mr Kim is the ‘Appa’ we all need in our lives. If you like heartfelt family comedy with an occasional dash of silliness, it’s for you.

Just sneaking in this week is the return of Paradisde. My best show by a mile of last year, and I am going to NEED people to talk to about this.

Listening

My music listening when in edit mode is a very niche ‘what YouTube decides to play next’ for me… a mix of Noah Reid concert videos, musical theatre, and Taylor Swift acoustic sets. So that has been my day-to-day listening while working. Speaking of Noah, I actually put a dedication in one of my books (the Angels in America one) to him, because his music was all I edited that too. I really should give the man a copy…

Other than that, I performed a one-woman Reputation concert on a drive to Aberystwyth and proved to a bus of hockey fans that I don’t actually need the backing music to perform a rendition of ‘What is this feeling?’ from Wicked. Both of which are impressive in their own right.

Doing (Work)

Editing, editing and editing the Queer TV book. With a dash of proofreading, the Rainbow Wales book. I’m at the stage of ‘never doing this again’ feeling with both, but trying to remind myself that there's usually only ONE book to edit, and that the book gods decided overlapping timelines would be a funny test of character.

I’ve also been teaching a range of Bishopsgate courses as usual, and have some great Musical Theatre AND a Heated Rivalry one coming up, all of which I’m excited for.

Speaking of that gay hockey show, I was on BBC News speaking about all things Heated Rivalry and hockey. A really lovely experience and a great chance to bring my work and my other main passion together.

Read the article here.

And there’s a video here

I also got to speak at Queer Lit Quarterly in Aberystwyth, hosted by the lovely team behind Gayaberystwyth books. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the event, but it was really busy and full of people with great questions and great conversations about books. I often feel like I don’t have a place in the queer community locally, but the space they created made me feel instantly part of something. A shout-out too to Aberration, whose work I was introduced to for the first time, and who are doing really exciting things.

Doing (Fun)

It’s still hockey season…

I also got to go on my first away trip on the ‘fun bus’ with fans. I’d been nervous about doing this because you never know what you’ll get in social situations like this, but I was made to feel so welcome and looked after, and I had a lovely time. Did the team deserve the point they managed to squeak out on the ice that day? Probably not, but we’ll take it. Bonus element of going to a Nottingham game, getting to see my lovely friend for a coffee too.

I did actually make it to the theatre this month too, seeing ‘Here and Now’, the Steps musical. This was the perfect example of ‘it’s not for me, but I’m glad it is for the people who enjoyed it’...There was nothing actually bad or wrong with the musical; it was a fun, fluffy old-time. It just didn’t particularly do it for me. But one of those where you look around and everyone was having a lovely (and well behaved!) time, and go ‘I’m glad this exists for people to have joy’.

Oh and Marley was here, he says hi…

Coming up…

I’ve got an array of workshops coming up with Bishopsgate Institute. We’re launching our LGBTQIA+ Theatre season with the following workshops:

10 March 2026, 19:00-21:00: Rent and Jonathan Larson

19 March 2026, 19:00-21:00: Stephen Sondheim

21 March 2026, 15:00-17:00: Angels in America: Queer Prophecy and the Politics of Survival

22 March 2026, 13:00-15:00: Tennessee Williams: Desire, Decay, and Queer Longing

26th March 1 March 2026, 15:00-17:00: Cabaret

Book here for them!

AND I’m very excited to be hosting a workshop on Heated Rivalry, hockey romance and activism… (book here)

Finally, before I head back into the depths of editing, I have my first book event for Rainbow Wales coming up (which you can preorder here) I’m going to be at Bookspace Cardiff on 7th May (publication day!) to talk about the book. Tickets here.