Thaumaturges

“You have some queer friends, Dorothy,' she said.

'The queerness doesn't matter, so long as they're friends,' was the answer”

Welcome to the very first journal entry of my new Dreamwidth account. I just happened to see it mentioned while I was browsing through someone's Twitter page (thirsty or not thirsty? I'm not sure there's any distinction between those two...).

I used to use Journalspace way back in the day and tried to make the move to Livejournal when it died, but I never took to it, probably because that was also the advent of social media, which had an allure and practicality all of its own, but which seemed at the time to make the journal obsolete.

However, over the last couple of years I've been niggling at myself about my social media use: how much I use it, sure, but also how. And I've increasingly been thinking about a different platform, one that had the old journal feel, not the new Medium format which has its place, but which is utterly, utterly commercial. Most of the popular folk on Medium are currently web and social media gurus, self help folk and journalists.

I wanted a place like it used to be; anonymous in the way that Twitter can be over, say, Facebook, but with less of the fast tit-for-tat that's common there at times. Somewhere I could take my time to write something, and where I could follow people with similar interests, building a legitimate circle (or cluster, I like cluster) of intelligent, interesting people from around the world.

It remains to be seen if Dreamwidth will become that, but I reckon the best way to engage is to just write and see what happens. This is the first step, writing this post. What might you expect to read if you follow my journal? I'm a comic book writer and artist working in indie books, currently working on my first graphic novel, AION. I'm also queer, and both my work and my presentation of myself are becoming more so over time.

Partly, that's down to therapy. I've also struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my life, but I'm currently treating it. I'm on meds, and went through a fantastic therapuetic relationship last year. This year, I'm learning how to build on that work, by systemtically attempting to discover and break down the last bonds that have been applied to me by other people throughout my life, as well as my own faulty estimations of what those expectations actually are.

That's manifesting gradually as an increased acceptance of my own queerness; for a whole host of reasons, which I'll talk about in this journal, I'm sure.

So that's what you're getting; art, queerness, self discovery and mental health chat. If you dig that, follow me and feel free to send me a comment or message. I'll check out your journal too, if you have one, and if I like what I see, I'll follow you! I should note, though, that I'd like to fairly heavily curate my cluster on here, so please don't feel bad if I don't follow you back: it's highly likely that it's not a reflection on your value, just on how likely I think we are to get on as individuals based upon our shared values and interests. Simple, like that; building a group of friends.