We’ll just go in order of what I wrote in the title, for the sake of… the hell of it? Basically that! First off, hello! It’s been a minute. Life has crashed in and refused to give me time to so much as think much less remember I’m supposed to be writing blog posts! Either way… let’s go!

First, let’s discuss fandom tropes. I’ve been in a lot of fandoms and they all have their unique tropes. Some fandoms like ABO (Alpha/Beta/Omega) more than others, some have an insistence that there is always A Couch (TM) in the rehearsal room, and yet others are 100% certain there’s a thing called sex pollen and it will affect your favorite pair at some point.

Hockey… hockey appears to have two tropes I’ve found that I haven’t seen elsewhere and let’s say they’re awesome. The first is rookies kneeling for vets. I’m a little less versed in this one and it’s still slightly confusing to me, but it mostly appears that a rookie is assigned to a vet (or has to choose one, depends on the story) and they basically kneel for them. Which, in turn, means the veteran player is both responsible for them and possibly needs to use them for services. Kind of a new take on Dom/sub if you ask me, kinda lite in most cases, but there nonetheless!

The second trope is goalie nesting. I’ve seen so much of this crop up and it’s honestly a total delight to read. Basically goalies end up nesting and it varies per fic writer on what the reason for the nesting is, but it happens to most goalies in their careers. Sometimes annually, sometimes more or less. My initial reaction was something like ‘oh it’s mating for goalies’ because the first fic I read had the goalie getting really testy toward anyone getting near their net and then getting really horny with one particular teammate and well, that seemed rather like that to me! Anyway, the more I read, the more I was like ‘but it also seems like anxiety for goalies’. They don’t feel happy where they are? They’re scared about their place? Feel bad about their game? Any feeling of discontent seemed like it set off the goalie into a nesting period (wherein they need fluffy things, to guard their net, possibly guard a player, etc). And then I squinted real hard at what I think to possibly be the start of it and cracked right up because Penguins. Ohhhh, okay! Nesting penguins. I get it!

I’d just like to say… amazing fandom trope and I will happily keep reading anything anyone puts out in said genre. A+

Next up… Black Lives Matter. I think most of what I have to say here is that people are still marching. The media seems disinterested once it’s not riots. I feel like somehow… that was the point that was trying to be driven home and that makes me sad. Basically, here’s this. If you go to a march, if you are even protesting as a one-person sign holder or wearing your t-shirt to raise awareness, whatever it is. Post it. Shove it out there and exist with it. We have to do what the media isn’t right now and that is our requirement right now I think.

Quarantine… we’re still in it. COVID is still a thing. People are still dying and cases are on the rise again. This is all utter shit. Can we all just wear a mask and stay 6 ft apart? Please? No? Can’t do that? STAY THE FUCK HOME THEN.

And finally… editing. I’ve finished my edits on the book. Well, the big huge almost re-write edits anyway. I’ll, of course, have to go over the edits from my editors and approve them or rewrite accordingly, but the big huge annoying edits are done at long last!

I’ve also reworked two of my earlier works on Kindle, so if you happen to own one, please consider downloading the updated version and giving it a gander. I feel a lot better about them now. (The earliest one I haven’t reworked yet. I honestly can’t even remember writing it anymore it’s been that long! Behold what times does to memory!)

I think there’s a few other things I wanted to say. One is this: please consider doing some work to see what your unconscious biases are. I’ve been doing the work, it’s enlightening. It’s hard, I won’t lie, but it’s worth it. Another is there have been some things coming out about hockey, about racial inequality, about hazing incidents… it’s all sad. Upsetting even. That being said if we don’t address the discomfort of seeing it, we cannot ever change it. Fans have influence and the more voices we have, the louder we are, the better the world will come out the other side. Read the things, feel the discomfort, find your ways of helping, and do it. I have my ways planned for next season. It’s going to take a lot with my anxiety, but I will be a part of change and I will stand on the proper side of history.

And the last one: accept change. Accept that people can change, that you can help change them if they’re willing to hear it, to live it. Have those difficult conversations. Address injustice and racism and bigotry as a whole when you see it. Put your foot down and others will see. Change isn’t overnight but it can be done. And with that, I implore you to realize you can also change. Maybe you said something you’re not proud of in the past, maybe you thought something you now know is wrong. Address it with yourself, find your path to change or accept that you already have changed, and be this better version of you.

Together, we can do this.