June

The what I've been up to this month....

June has been chaos, I was exhausted before the UK ended up under the Satan’s armpit of heatwaves and as much as the end of the month is two nice book talks and a long awaited concert I’m VERY ready for July and things hopefully calming down a fraction (and cooling down a fraction).

So what’s been on the cards this month?

Reading

A slower reading month because with book events and general life/work chaos, as well as a ridiculous heatwave, has meant barely a brain cell free to read.

Once Upon a You and Me- Timothy Janosky

This was cute and fun a nice romcom in the woods as it were, also gets points for bisexual represenation with no judgement or negativity.

Star Shipped- Cat Sebastian

When I say I devoured this. It hits all the buttons for me, enemies to lovers, co-workers in love…those co-workers are on a sci-fi TV show that sounds unhinged. It even has the Discord conversations of their fans. Oh, and a cute dog, which I’m seeing is a theme this month…

Father Material- Alexis Hall

Look I’ll be honest the conclusion to this trilogy being ‘make a family’ based was a little disappointing to me- especially when the crux of the ending to ‘Husband Material’ was to take the alternative route…and while Alexis Hall doesn’t take the traditional-traditional route with this…that the invetiable conclusion of relationships is children in some shape or form is just…disappointing to me especially from queer narratives.

That said, I still adore Hall’s writing, and it’s laugh-out-loud funny, with genuinely brilliant supporting characters, and Spud the dog. So, while it’s not what I personally wanted for the characters, it’s still told brilliantly.

I also dipped into Robin Ince’s new poetry collection Let the Quiet Ones Rise

And my next read is 25 Days in Athens by Jack Strange, ahead of an event with him next month.

Watching

Being incredibly busy and throwing in a heatwave meant that, for three days this month, all my brain could cope with was the Dallas Cheerleaders show and episodes of The Rookie. And honestly, I stand by it.

This month has mostly been a ‘finishing off series’ month. I’m not a binge watcher so usually everything takes me longer to watch. So in no particular order, here’s what I’m still working through/just finished.

The Pitt- a couple of episodes left as we’re getting them one by one on UK time. I’ve been trash for a medical drama forever, and this is god-tier stuff. And has a lad from Barry in it. Winning.

Our Friends and Neighbours- if you haven’t watched Jon Hamm’s midlife crisis through crime, please do. A great dark comedy, which he plays perfectly. The supporting cast includes James Marsden (who is having a TV moment with Paradise as well).

Rivals- what do you MEAN I have to wait until November for the next instalment?! This show gives me everything: Sexuality through the female gaze, kick ass women, outrageous fashion and Danny Dyer. What more could a girl ask for? David Tennant is living his absolute best life being evil. Also my Uncle lives next door to Danny Dyer’s house in the show, and why was I not informed?

ALSO the dinner party scene alone wins it all the awards. I said what I said.

America’s Sweethearts Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders- Look, I’m not proud that I was addicted to the even worse first version of this show back in the early 00s…(anyone remember when they’d weigh them on the show and call them fat?!). But look, the theatre kid in me loves any behind-the-scenes of any performance, and the sports nerd in me loves to learn about sports that have less than zero interest in. On that note, I’ve somehow ended up episodes deep in some former college footballer’s old game day vlogs on YouTube.

I’m also currently rewatching Heartstopper before the film comes out because I can’t for the life of me remember what happened in the show versus the novels at this point, so it seems wise. Also, reliving some very gentle baby gay love stories seems a nice place to be.

Finally, yes, as ever late to the party, I’m working my way through The Rookie, which is the easiest watching of procedurals. Yes, it’s Copaganda that occasionally leans too heavily into the ‘spend an episode just shooting people’ genre, but when it’s not doing that, it’s well written with just enough comedy to make it work, surprisingly well-rounded female characters (and largely non-white cast too). As discussed with a friend who started watching it, Nathan Fillion does end up with an inexplicably high number of very attractive women for a middle-aged cop, but sure, Nathan, enjoy yourself.

The amount of TV listed there also tells me I have actually had time off from teaching, despite it being a busy month and/or there being no hockey…

Listening

‘My jeans are as cool as my music taste’

I’m still on my Maisie Peters grind from last month, but now I’ve had a chance to digest the album, we can do real highlights (lucky you, reader). For me, ‘Old Fashioned’ is a great mix of rage and light airy arrangements that is perfect summer rage. I wish your awful hands had never had me at all. There is something really satisfying about ‘Kingmaker’, again, a mix of female rage and power with light, airy, summer-sounding music. I put gold on your head, should’ve put wax paper, did you get off going to bed with the kingmaker’. ‘Questions’ had no right to have the chokehold it had on me it did, but it scratches a part of my brain while being incredibly fun ‘Does she look like me? Of course she does,’ ‘your answers, ignorable, these questions? rhetorical *chefs kiss* add to that the lyrics of ‘Flat Earther’ But, but God, there’s nothing like a girl, and her favourite conspiracy

I’m also listening to a lot of Orville Peck ahead of finally getting to see my favourite gay cowboy on Monday. I am not exaggerating that the only other artist I’ve been this excited to see is Taylor Swift; this man’s music has been deep in my brain since his debut, and the cowboy is finally gracing our shores.

Talking of Ms Swift, I personally am a fan of the new Toy Story song… country Taylor, step up to the mic (cunt-ry Taylor, also always welcome). Mother also introduced us to a Tay-Son at the Songwriters Hall of Fame (Tay-daughters are the singers Ms Swift has previously given a platform to; I don’t think we’ve had a boy before), and as a result, I am fully addicted to Sombr.

Doing- Work

At this point, who even knows? Everything has been chaotic this month, from the ‘pay the bills’ work of various kinds, to author work…I don’t recommend having several overlapping ‘day jobs’, including learning a new one, with one of them being the chaos demon from hell on top of book promotion in Pride month.

But I’ve had a lovely time from Archives to book festivals (even the one where a straight man journalist gave me the full ‘Don’t you know who I am’ treatment).

I also want to add in, as it often gets overlooked, that promoting the book, from blogs to socials, to socials promoting the events, is a lot of work too and particularly takes up a lot of mental energy, staying on top of it all. So June in general has been… a lot.

Alongside that, I’ve been plodding on with two other book projects at very different stages- one in the almost final edits, another in the proposal stage. We won’t speak of the one that is contracted and not started yet, I’m sure I can use my ADHD chaos raccoon to get that done later this summer.

All in all, it’s been chaotic, though, and there was a random Wednesday when I just stood in the living room and cried at 8 am with sheer overwhelm. But we got through it relatively unscathed.

I noted last week, though, how quiet Pride month has been for paid gigs this year, and while for both book and other paid work reasons, I didn’t hustle particularly hard for any, a few usually trickle in…but crickets. And look, maybe everywhere has decided I’m awful and not worth booking, but the lack of Pride stuff even in a dodgy ‘Rainbow Capitalism’ way this year says otherwise.

Doing- Fun

See above that I’m not entirely sure I’ve done much else this month… it has been joyous to see so many people at book events, and I’m never not grateful to people for giving up an evening or afternoon to hear me yap about books.

I did sneak in a bit of hockey this month; we had a charity event in Cardiff with the All Stars, the first Welsh event. I actually helped out a bit with the event, and I feel like in a good way I’ve signed myself over to that now…it was a joy to see so many different players on the ice- some of whom play regularly, some mostly ‘retired’, and some learned for the tournament even! And it’s lovely to remember that people can do nice things, and good things at once- raising a lot of money for good causes. That said, in a half-filled rink in June, it was Baltic in there.

While we’re on that, the maintenance shutdown of the rink during the heatwave was a personal attack. I’d have paid whatever they’d wanted just to sit in there with my computer for 4 days.

We also had a testimonial game for our Goalie Ben Bowns. The man is a legend, and delightfully Yorkshire all at once, which I imagine throws a number of new players when he chirps them in a broad Sheffield accent. But the event, as ever with these things, was a blend of celebration and chaos. Hockey bucket list item checked off with a 3-on-3 goalie game, too.

There’s still time to catch me yapping at a few events this summer

27th June- Queer Britain with the one and only Lisa Power (book here)

Tuesday 30th June at Bishopsgate Institute for a lunchtime yap (Book here)

And I’m super excited to be hosting my lovely friend Mikey’s book launch at Waterstones