I don’t know if anyone actually reads these posts, but the yearly Goals/Review posts are useful for me. Here we go!

2019 Goals

1. Make at least three The Room Cakes.

I made two in 2019: “Did you get your promotion?” and “Where’s my fucking money, Denny?” I also made one in early 2020 that I haven’t posted yet.

2.  Make at least two Gender Reveal Disaster Cakes.

I made two, but they were for the same disaster: the 47,000 Acre Wildfire. Also, 2019 was the year someone died as a result of a gender reveal disaster. No, I will not be making a cake for that. I also got called a c*nt on Facebook for a graphic I made that trans allies don’t participate in gender reveals for fetuses, which was “great”! 

3. Successfully kickstart The Corners of Their Mouth 2: done!

Kickstarting is a lot of work, and we made just do preorders for the next zine.

4. Use my cookie gun for something other than spritz. (Bonus points if I can work it into another design.)

I did! See #6.

5. Get another 2 Patrons on Patreon: done!

Of my 4, I have 1 who isn’t a friend or a mutual Patron, but that’s still good!

6. Work on an alternative-holiday series (forthcoming)

This might be my 2020 project, as I USED THE COOKIE GUN to make cookies for a very special holiday!

Events and Publications in 2019

• We applied for seven and attended six zine/art events in Seattle, Portland, and Olympia, including Short Run and Portland Zine Symposium!
• I had two pieces published this year in indie presses: “Our Queer Kitchen.” Dinner Bell Mag Issue 1 and “Rosemary, for Fidelity and Revival.” GRLSQUASH. Issue 3: Roots.
• I wrote my first full-length solo zine: Drag Suit: A Nonbinary Swim Zine. I swam 127.5 miles last year! A review from Etsy from a friend and fellow zinester Kathryn Hemmann:

“Drag Suit is an amazing zine made of equal parts memoir and positive affirmation. The writing is powerful, polished, and a pleasure to read, and I would heartily recommend this zine even to people who don’t identify as nonbinary, genderfluid, or genderqueer. For members of the queer community, however, the zine contains a carefully annotated list of resources to take along with you on the journey of feeling more comfortable in your gender and physicality. The layout and formatting are clean and professional, and the well-organized structure of zine helps to make it accessible to people who may only have a few short windows of time to read during the day. I also appreciate the zine’s inclusivity and respect for diversity. The author’s experiences are uniquely their own yet relatable to anyone who’s ever experienced gender trouble.”

2019 Popular Blog Posts

1. Happy Pride Month, It’s Gender-Reveal Cake Hell!, or, cis people don’t get to decide what’s transphobic, Kim!

2. “Carbs Make Gay People Sparkle?”, Or, Supporting Your Partner Through a Dietary Change for Medical Reasons When You’re Tired, Queer, and Have a History of Disordered Eating

3. Retro Garfield Cake, or, Eve’s perpetual Cake-Wreck machine

4. The Room on Cake 2: Did You Get Your Promotion?

5. Choose Your Own Potato-Adventure: Lentil Shepherd’s Pie, or, hey, this is also good with cauliflower if you can’t eat potatoes

WTF was 2019 Anyway?

2019 was a big year! My partner and I climbed Mt. Si, went kayaking on three different bodies of water in two different states, and bought a couch. I went on a road trip to Pullman for the Lentil Festival. I swam 127.5 miles and gave blood for the first (and second) time in 5 years. I helped plan a group camping trip and learned how to make almond milk. I also took on way too many projects last spring, started taking anti-anxiety meds to help with my C-PTSD from my past abusive relationship, learned about the nightmare of dealing with department-store mattress warranties (2 months and more than 8 hours on the phone dealing with customer service misgendering me and also bouncing me around, never again), legally changed my gender (at least in Washington) to X, and navigated several health crises (to varying degrees of success) of family and friends.

I don’t know what my 2020 intention is exactly, but I feel like I should mention that I finally got to see one of my favorite paintings ever in person at the Seattle Art Museum: Judith Beheading Holofernes at the Flesh + Blood exhibition.

2019, I am glad you are done.

2020 Goals

And now for a hard pivot: ALL THE NICE THINGS I WANT IN 2020.

1. Alternative holiday menu series! This would be a bunch of fannish and queer things because those are things I like to celebrate.
2. Grow a sunflower from a seed. I got some seeds with a print at Portland Zine Symposium. I’m still bummed the sunflower I grew from a start I got on Earth Day in 2018 snapped under its own weight.
3. My published writing from 2019 was for small, new indie presses that don’t have the budget to pay their writers. Which I get, but also I would like to publish 1-2 pieces in 2020 that I get paid for.
4. Be more intentional about which comic/zine events we apply to. We’ve tried a bunch, so I want to focus on the ones I like and that our work fits best.
5. Art! Go visit the museums more. Get back into art and incorporate it into some solo zines. I’m signed up for a class through Short Run this winter.

Happy new year, and thanks to all of you for reading!