Ten Years A Boogieman
by Jeff Baker
Ten years ago in June I published my first Queer Sci Fi column. (“Why We Still Do This.” https://www.queerscifi.com/why-we-still-do-this/ )
Now, after about 122 months of deadlines, info dumps, fun projects and wonders I think it might be time to see what’s changed and what hasn’t.
The country is still in a mess. When I wrote that first column, the Pulse shooting had just happened. In the intervening years, rainbow crosswalks were painted on city streets, especially one honoring the Pulse victims.
Now in this era, those crosswalks have been painted over. But a tide is rising (we hope) and people are standing up and protesting the hatred and violence. As always, the future is a question mark but we and our allies are not being silent.
My Husband and I had been happily ensconced for almost six years when I started this monthly column. We’d get officially married late that Fall and I would mention him sometimes in the little author bio at the end of the blogs. And in 2023 I would chronicle his last days which we didn’t see coming.
I waited and then I jumped off the wagon. Don’t ask about my monthly beer tab.
Death and life. I got a new Grandniece a few months later!
I wrote and wrote and just this past year I set myself a daily pagecount which may serve as a prod more than anything else but has resulted in some serious progress.
I got a dumpster load of rejections but I also sold a bunch of things too!
I adoptded three kitties who enliven my world.
I have read and posted here about many many books and stories.
I got a warning about my pre-Diabetic numbers from my doctor and changed my diet.
I quit drinking sometime earlier. Spending too much money.
I read A LOT! More than I had been. Blogging about it has worked in my favor.
I actually got a freaking tattoo! (Always wanted one! Nickname. On the shoulder.)
And I have cranked out these columns, and despite using that phrase “cranked out,” it has never been a chore. It has been a constant in my life these past ten years, no matter what else was going on. I have gotten responses to some of them and it usually made my day!
J. Scott Coatsworth invited a bunch of us to do columns on a regular schedule in 2016 and I’m seriously glad he thought of me! I’ve since met him, after a long drive out to California that I still don’t believe I did!
So, why am I writing and posting this one, which started with a national focus but got more personal?
Maybe to show readers that life indeed goes on, and we the ordinary/extraordinary human beings can not only go on with the business of living but do wonderous things at the same time (and helping friends and family is indeed wonderous!)
We don’t need a TARDIS or a Power Ring to change the world, maybe save the world bit by bit, if only our little corner of it.
Because it all adds up. Little things matter. Trying matters.
Keeping on keeping on matters. As a buddy of mine used to say “Keep on plugging away.”
And lastly, I want to thank everyone who has read any of these columns I’ve endevoured to write. That’s what they’re here for!
Jeff Baker has been writing about reading and writing sci-fi, fantasy and horror and other sundry matters on or around the Thirteenth of every month for the past ten years in this space. He lives in a house filled with books and with three cats. He writes at least one story a week on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jeff.baker.524042 and BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/jeffbakerauthor.bsky.social and on Mastodon (as “Mike Mayak.”) https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak
And again, he thanks you for reading!—–jeff
