I was disheartened by my initial search for adult neurodivergent content. I stopped looking. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough. But as a neurodivergent, ironically I find it hard to look for things on Substack (or anywhere) without getting overwhelmed pretty quickly.
Glad you've stayed subscribed to that newsletter, to keep seeing what else they have to say, but I'm with you regarding their proclamation that individual stories are irrelevant - wtaf indeed!
We cannot lose sight of the overarching message—the trajectory may be personal, but the target is universal.
When we write about queer people with all the compassion, insight, and intelligence we can muster, we are writing about humanity—how we live, how we love, how we hurt, and how we die—ALL OF US, everywhere. There is no expiration date on the relevance of our shared human experience.
You concoct a perfect balance of what needs to be said with kindness and an irresistible dose of wit, and I am quite impatient to hear more from Lambchops. Looking forward to reading his perspective on your shared experiences!
Your writing and messages are so good. Period. Then on top of it, you’re pushing people to confront the uncomfortable reality that there is still a lot of work to be done to support the safety and visibility of the queer community. Wow, Troy. So good. I’m constantly thinking of a “what do the teens need to see” perspective but it’s for everyone as well of course. Thanks for your great work, your experimentations, and your explorations of humanity. 🌈
Oh and *facepalm* how can I have forgotten to leave a comment re: FICstack. Love the term. Love what The Library is doing, but yes, more exposure, more categories, more discoverability. CATEGORIES ffs, surely surely it's so easy to implement and is such a simple start. At least sub-categories you could set in settings. Isn't it just a tag or something in the code? (<he says, having no idea about the code.)
Firstly, well said, Troy. I mean, you always capture what needs to be said so eloquently, but well said 👏
Secondly, I'm very excited to a) read anything Lamb-related, b) read a Lamb-written-story, and, perhaps most importantly, c) read your transparency about the reasons for writing/exploring from that perspective. I love that you're experimenting and exploring as a writer. I applaud it, and it fuels the creativity inside me to want to keep exploring and flexing those writerly muscles.
Since stumbling across this story, I've become a fan. Have you put this story up on THE LIBRARY? (I haven't looked yet.) It's the voice, I like. Whether a character is gay or not as far as a story goes, shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter to me. The short story I'm working on right now has a gay character. (I'm an old, white, straight guy.) But I like this story. I'm curious about Lamb and what happened to him. I like the Narrator. I think it's because so much of it is relatable to my own youth. Hanging out in Gay Bars and partying with them; dancing because I was just too "pretty" to be straight! All of this resonates with my drug-addled youth. (It was so long ago I don't even know what they call MDA anymore. It was MDMA for a while, but that was a step down.)
I'm so stoked to read more about Lamb! I've grown so fond of Lambchop. And thank goodness for The Library doing such great work at collating writers. I was thinking about it, but maybe some LGBTQ+ writers may not feel comfortable coming out/writing so openly yet or ever, maybe some of them may be writing from a country where queer people are persecuted. I wish on a global scale, queer are free to be themselves and express themselves freely. And Substack definitely needs to up their game in allowing discoverability of what we need from writing.
“There is no expiration date on the relevance of our shared human experience.” — well said brother. :)
I was disheartened by my initial search for adult neurodivergent content. I stopped looking. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough. But as a neurodivergent, ironically I find it hard to look for things on Substack (or anywhere) without getting overwhelmed pretty quickly.
Glad you've stayed subscribed to that newsletter, to keep seeing what else they have to say, but I'm with you regarding their proclamation that individual stories are irrelevant - wtaf indeed!
This:
We cannot lose sight of the overarching message—the trajectory may be personal, but the target is universal.
When we write about queer people with all the compassion, insight, and intelligence we can muster, we are writing about humanity—how we live, how we love, how we hurt, and how we die—ALL OF US, everywhere. There is no expiration date on the relevance of our shared human experience.
You concoct a perfect balance of what needs to be said with kindness and an irresistible dose of wit, and I am quite impatient to hear more from Lambchops. Looking forward to reading his perspective on your shared experiences!
Your writing and messages are so good. Period. Then on top of it, you’re pushing people to confront the uncomfortable reality that there is still a lot of work to be done to support the safety and visibility of the queer community. Wow, Troy. So good. I’m constantly thinking of a “what do the teens need to see” perspective but it’s for everyone as well of course. Thanks for your great work, your experimentations, and your explorations of humanity. 🌈
Oh and *facepalm* how can I have forgotten to leave a comment re: FICstack. Love the term. Love what The Library is doing, but yes, more exposure, more categories, more discoverability. CATEGORIES ffs, surely surely it's so easy to implement and is such a simple start. At least sub-categories you could set in settings. Isn't it just a tag or something in the code? (<he says, having no idea about the code.)
Firstly, well said, Troy. I mean, you always capture what needs to be said so eloquently, but well said 👏
Secondly, I'm very excited to a) read anything Lamb-related, b) read a Lamb-written-story, and, perhaps most importantly, c) read your transparency about the reasons for writing/exploring from that perspective. I love that you're experimenting and exploring as a writer. I applaud it, and it fuels the creativity inside me to want to keep exploring and flexing those writerly muscles.
Since stumbling across this story, I've become a fan. Have you put this story up on THE LIBRARY? (I haven't looked yet.) It's the voice, I like. Whether a character is gay or not as far as a story goes, shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter to me. The short story I'm working on right now has a gay character. (I'm an old, white, straight guy.) But I like this story. I'm curious about Lamb and what happened to him. I like the Narrator. I think it's because so much of it is relatable to my own youth. Hanging out in Gay Bars and partying with them; dancing because I was just too "pretty" to be straight! All of this resonates with my drug-addled youth. (It was so long ago I don't even know what they call MDA anymore. It was MDMA for a while, but that was a step down.)
Thank you for all the updates and info. I love hearing about GAYstack and now FICstack too. More diatribes!
I'm so stoked to read more about Lamb! I've grown so fond of Lambchop. And thank goodness for The Library doing such great work at collating writers. I was thinking about it, but maybe some LGBTQ+ writers may not feel comfortable coming out/writing so openly yet or ever, maybe some of them may be writing from a country where queer people are persecuted. I wish on a global scale, queer are free to be themselves and express themselves freely. And Substack definitely needs to up their game in allowing discoverability of what we need from writing.
I'm looking forward to reading Lamb's short story. Very Inception of you.
Let’s keep fingers and toes crossed! Imagine Substack features a Lamb! What a Feast it would be! 😅
Also, if folks want to be adventurous, I dropped the pants, I mean paywall, on Carter Part I! Ho-Ho-Ho!
https://substack.com/@alexanderipfelkofer/note/c-45007646?r=26onua&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I normally don’t do linking, disdainful, I know, but if you go from award disdaining to earning ... don’t forget the whiff of Lambs left behind! ;)