I wrote upwards of 150 articles this year, on this blog and elsewhere. And while I would love to be able to say that all of them were equally creatively fulfilling, and that I was equally happy with both the process and the product of all of them, that’s just not the case.
But fortunately, my articles aren’t like children – I don’t have to pretend to like them all the same amount. I’m allowed to have my favorites. And I do! Here are my 11 favorite pieces of prose I produced this year…
For this blog
- “Let’s Talk About Jeans Bondage“: In February, a reader paid me to write a blog post about their favorite fetish, one that combined the thrilling constriction of bondage with the iconic aesthetic of jeans. I’ve never done a piece of writing like this before, one where my entire task was to interview someone about their unique fetish, which I had never heard of before, and then explain it in writing as if to a layperson. Really interesting project and I think the post (and accompanying photos) came out well!
- “Polyamory & Trauma Are a Tricky Combination, But These Resources Can Help“: I always love compressing a bunch of big lessons I’ve learned into a compact, easily digestible form for my readers/listeners. In this post, I wrote about my struggles with polyamory as a result of being a trauma survivor, and listed many of the tools which have helped me in this regard, from books to workshops to therapity modalities. I hope it helps lots of folks!
- “How to Squirt“: I’m not sure why I never wrote an in-depth squirting guide before this one, but I was glad to finally put down in writing every single piece of advice I have for hopeful squirters and their partners. It contains a squirting FAQ as well as tips, techniques, and toy recommendations that’ll give you a better shot at learning to squirt.
For the now-defunct MEL Magazine (RIP)
- “The most delicious edible lubes, according to a renowned pastry chef“: When my editor at MEL told me she wanted me to interview a Michelin-starred chef about flavored lubes, I immediately wondered if I’d even be able to find such a person who’d be willing to go on the record about such a tawdry subject. I managed to get an interview with the wonderful Eric See, an acclaimed pastry chef, and he was happy to answer my various weird questions about lubes with flavors like “white chocolate raspberry truffle” and “strawberry pomegranate.” The piece was amusing to work on and also functions as a good introduction to flavored lubes in general.
- “The best sex games, for when you want to play in more ways than one“: My editor allowed me to take a very liberal approach to defining “sex games” for the purposes of this article, so I wrote about sex-related video games, board games, dice games, discussion-based games and more. I also wrote more generally about the benefits of playing games with sexual partners (or potential/hopeful sexual partners), and how to do so in a way that respects the boundaries of everyone involved.
- “The ins and outs of Christina Aguilera’s humongous Pride dildo“: I was so excited when I received an email from my MEL editor one Monday morning asking me if I could write an article about a sparkly strap-on that Christina Aguilera had worn at a Pride performance over the weekend. Initially I was just going to write about the cultural implications of an out-as-queer female pop star wearing a strap-on in public and theorize on what kind of dildo and harness she might’ve been wearing, but after some sleuthing, I was actually able to briefly interview (via Instagram DM) someone at the small boutique company that bedazzled the dildo. Being a journalist is so fun sometimes!
- “The Slubb is a power tool you put on your penis“: The Slubb is one of the loudest, heaviest, strongest and strangest sex toys I’ve ever tried. For this article, I wrote about how two German brothers had the idea to make a sex toy out of a power tool – and, of course, I tested it out myself on my partner, who is a very good sport.
- “Spit or swallow? My journey through the cum cocktail recipes in Semenology“: One of the many reasons I was so thrilled to work for MEL was that they let me pitch my wackiest ideas for sex stories and then usually let me write those stories. For this one, I read Semenology, Paul Photenhauer’s semen-based cocktail recipe book, and interviewed cocktail bartender Greg Hyatt about the recipes contained therein. And then, naturally, I made a whiskey sour containing semen and drank it, for science.
For my paid weekly newsletter, Sub Missives
- “What happens when hot, horny singles do chastity play, on an island, in front of a camera crew?“: A significant portion of my media consumption during the pandemic has focused on cheesy Netflix dating reality shows like Love is Blind, Are You the One? and Too Hot to Handle, the latter of which inspired this essay on chastity, humiliation, demisexuality, and how all three can be blended together into one show.
- “I just turned 30; here are 30 things I’ve learned about dating“: I thought turning 30 would be scarier than it actually turned out to be. I thought I’d just feel old (and let’s be real, sometimes I do, especially when I scroll through TikTok), but more than that, I just feel wiser, braver, and stronger. In this piece I distilled 30 of my most important dating-related lessons into a pithy list. I wish I could show this piece to a younger version of me, but I think many of these things can only be learned “the hard way.”
- “5 vintage sexual fantasies for nostalgic moments“: Sometimes I like imagining the secret sex lives of stars from decades gone by, like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Elvis. This piece contains 5 erotically-charged vignettes set in the 1950s, some of which feature celebrities from that era and some of which focus on regular people (or at least, my movie-sanitized notion of what regular people were like in the ’50s). It was fun to write and even more fun to imagine while writing!
What were your favorite things you created this year?