Monthly reviews recaps blog post activity on “A Lesbian and Her Laptop,” personal updates, and what’s coming up for the blog next month.

This September on AL&HL

This month outperformed August and nearly reached 2,000 views. With a combined WordPress and email following, AL&HL surpassed 225 followers. We are getting very close to a quarter of the way to 1,000! Keep spreading the word by sharing your favorite posts and just sending links to your friends! This month, the blog reached 100 posts! I have not yet announced the winners of the button giveaway because I lost my buttons. I expect to find the buttons soon and announce the winners this month.

September concluded the “How to Dress Gay” series that focused on how my identity influenced my style. During this month, the blog published parts 4, 5, and 6, finishing out the series with a reflection on my current style that best reflects my inner self and peace. All posts in the series include photos during certain phases. This month did not have any pictures of fedoras. (You’re welcome.)

This month launched the start of a new ongoing series, “Movie Club Sungays” co-hosted by Queerfully, a podcast about the queer and queering of entertainment media. Movie Club Sungays will take place on the last Sunday of each month. The series review and comments on queer representation in queer movies, starting with this month’s post of Imagine Me & You. Here, I covered what worked well (love-at-first-sight) and what makes it controversial for some (cheating plot and homophobic characters). Make sure to follow Queerfully on Twitter so you don’t miss the chance to vote for the next film under review! And of course, check out their episode that reviews the same film!

For BiWeek and Bi Visibility Day, AL&HL launched a complete series “Bisexuals and Their Laptops” consisting of 10 posts. For this series, 10 unique bisexual writers worked through a draft (or two) to bring their bisexual experience to the blog. I am very proud to feature such varied experiences of bisexuality, all from very strong writers.

The Ko-Fi page for AL&HL has officially surpassed the 50% mark of the $1,000 goal to replace my laptop! This has been an extremely humbling milestone for the page. I’m hoping to near this goal by the end of the year and match the amount through work savings in order to replace my laptop at the start of 2020. (Fingers crossed my current laptop holds on this long; truly, I need a miracle.)

The patreon page for AL&HL now has reached 7 patrons for a total of $21/month! I am, again, so humbled and grateful for every patron and donator. I cannot stress enough how valuable projected monthly income is for writers (even for $21). With my actual real-adult job freelancing, my paychecks are irregular and not guaranteed, so even this small guarantee is hugely relieving. If you’re interested in becoming a patron, pledges start at just $1/month to access an exclusive “How I Met My Girlfriend” post every month. If you pledge now, you gain access to post published in September. This blog focused on how our moms found out about our relationship, and how they fit into our lives today.

Thank you for all of your support, readers! Please know that the best thing you can do for this blog is simply to keep reading and sharing. I appreciate you all so very much!

Personal Updates

As you may have noticed, I did not publish a book review for The Female Man, as I’ve been promising in the last two month reviews now. I literally just finished this book yesterday, so this time I actually promise it will be coming out this month, probably later this week. Next, I’ll be reading Ain’t Gonna be the Same Fool Twice by April Sinclair, which is a sequel to Coffee Will Make You Black. My lesbian blanket project is about the size of a large scarf. I’m still only on the first color (dark orange) but after two more lines, light orange is coming.

The vegetable garden is on its last leg, finishing out the season with some tomatoes still left on the vine. The last few weekends have been filled with canning the last of our banana peppers and jalapeños, along with jarring salsa and stewed tomatoes. My mom recently started cooking all the pie pumpkins and freezing them in preparation for the holiday season.

Something I mentioned last month was my interest in bullet journaling, which is still in full force. My friend, Tessa, and I have officially created a bujo Instagram page for our 2020 spreads. Follow us if you want to join in on the creativity and aesthetically pleasing doodles!

I also wanted to mention my journey with the Curly Girl Method this review, since it came up in my “How to Dress Gay” series. I started this in April after my friend (Tessa, again) got me hooked on it. It’s really made a huge difference! I’m still looking for a perfect routine, but I’m very stuck on using hair gel casts to reduce frizz and hold shape, which adds so much life and shine to my hair. I’ve started noticing after reading up on some groups, that my hair is lacking in protein, so I bought a deep conditioner to use weekly as a protein boost. After one try, the difference is noticeable! CGM has been an exciting journey towards self-confidence. I’m gonna sign off now before I start sounding like a Facebook mom.

Coming This October

I will finally be posting the book review for The Female Man this month, but I’m not making any promises on getting a second book review out this month. There will be a “Movie Club Sungay” post on October 27, but the film under analysis is to be determined.

For World Mental Health Day, I will be focusing my attention to something related to Borderline Personality Disorder, likely a continuation of the types of post I made earlier this year. If you have any questions about BPD, or if there’s something in particular you’d like me to address, please reach out via my Curious Cat and let me know! I will be happy to try to offer advice or help in any way I can. My girlfriend (the one with BPD) will also be aiding with this post, so feel free to direct questions towards someone who deals with BPD.

October is also LGBTQ History Month, so I plan on doing a post with historical research of some kind. If there’s a particular LGBTQ topic in history you’d like to see some research on, contact me via Twitter or Curious Cat to let me know!

If you enjoyed any of the blog posts during September, consider making a one-time $3 donation to my Ko-Fi, or becoming a patron for exclusive blog content (starting at $1/month).