I just launched an online writers group for queer writers of color! It’s on Discord and the goal is to have fun, form community, and write. I always feel motivated to writer after talking to my writer friends so!!! 

Join us! https://discord.gg/QaaCSCJw

Hello! If you don’t know, my name is Joseph, and I’m a queer Chicano writer from Los Angeles. Last week, I mentioned in a tiktok that I’d love to form a virtual writing group for QTPOC! So, that is launching soon on Discord!

The goal is just to foster community, talk about writing, and motivate each other to write! Is anyone here interested?

This past spring I decided to read Interview with the Vampire for the first time. Mostly, it was because I was missing vampires and partly it was because I’d never read it before. So I read and loved it. I actually cried lol After I read it, I immediately watched the movie with my boyfriend. Miss Dunst did her thing. Then, in my post-watch googling, I saw what I’d somehow missed which was that there was a tv show adaptation coming out towards the end of the year. I had a lot going on re: life and school, but we decided to wait ’til after our New Orleans trip to binge the show. Then we were sucked in. 

This show was so fucking amazing! I’m like, obsessed. As an adaptation, I thought it was so well-done. They made a bunch of changes (time period, race, and age), and I thought they were all great. The cast was so amazing, I’m obsessed with them. Jacob Anderson as Louis was so layered and amazing. Sam Reid was literally possessed by drama queen Lestat. And Bailey Bass did the fucking thing as my girl Claudia. It was gayer than I excepted and I was already expecting a lot of gay. It was hilarious and heartbreaking and beautiful each and every episode. 

I truly don’t care what anyone else says re: it vs the movie but this is MY Interview with the Vampire. I’m gay and I’m screaming and I love it. As for season 2, I am beyond ready. What did y’all think about it? If you haven’t seen it, what the hell are you waiting for? Ahh!!!

Some of the books I’ve read toward the end of this year. You can see my thoughts on them via my instagram or my goodreads!

I’ve reignited my love of reading and writing, and I’m so fucking happy about it. words are full of energy again.

I’m working on a book project that involves my favorite show, poetry, and race criticism. The project was sort of at a stand-still for a couple years due to life but also due to me just being unsure about the direction.

I won’t go too into detail but I suddenly realized that what the project was missing was ME. I realized that I wanted/needed to insert myself into it in a more direct way, in a way that the show inserted itself into my life. This thus led me into the direction of some memoir writing.

For my project, at least at this moment, I’ve decided to write about 7 or 8 personal essays. I’ve already began this. I wrote up a layout, wrote some notes for each essay, and have already started a few. It has been a really great but exhausting process. 

Writing honestly about yourself or your life, especially your childhood, can be sort of scary or draining. It’s brought up some stuff I haven’t thought about in a bit and also has made me realize things that I missed despite them being so clear in retrospect. I love talking about myself but I feel like I’m really talented at only going so deep. I can tell you about myself in so much detail that you might not realize how surface level I’ve been. Trying to navigate that, especially in writing, has been really interesting.

Do y’all have any tips or experience writing memoir pieces? Let’s chat about it!

Here’s a bunch of the books I’ve been reading recently! I’ve shared my quick thoughts about them on IG (follow me there) and my goodreads!

I’m so happy that I’ve been able to read more recently! 📚 💞

I started my grad program and, as I’m in week twelve, I can say that it’s going pretty well so far! I knew I made a great choice when I saw that some of the required readings were gay ass books like this one. Going back into academia was sort of a last minute idea but things seems to be falling right into place. Despite some of the dumbass people who major in English who can be pretty insufferable, it feels pretty good to be reading and talking about reading/writing consistently. Especially after the bumpy road that was the last few years.

For one of my classes we read and discussed Fun Home! I’ve already read it before but it was such an interesting time to not only discuss this book in detail but to also discuss all sorts of scholarly work done about it. I’ll mention school in another post soon but just wanted to say that I’m alive and to wish me luck lol 💖also I’ll post some of the books I’ve been reading outside of school cos I’ve been on a roll 🚀🤖

If you’re not familiar with me, I’m Joseph! I love queer books, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and my dog Hades (that I named after The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer, lesbian retelling of Hades/Persephone).

I was once super active on this site, where I made so many friends, interacted in many discussions, and posted many book reviews/book photos. I had my queer year in books, where I read only queer books all year and talked extensively about them. I shared book videos I’ve uploaded to YouTube. I talked about my writing, and my experience at a queer writer retreat. And I was just super queer and a lover of books with the internet.

While I was finishing my undergrad degree, my reading slowed down and I lost energy to post online. Once I graduated, I was excited to come back but then we went directly into a global pandemic and my life fell apart. While we’re not completely out of the woods in terms of the pandemic, I now have a hold of my life again. I’ve been reading (which you can see more about on my instagram!), writing, and I’m now in a creative writing graduate program! It’s been crazy!

So, as twitter is burning and I’ve finally found a ground to stand on in my life, I’ve come to my roots (Tumblr) and am asking if anyone is still here! So, are y’all still here? Have y’all been reading? What’s up!?

Queerly,

Joseph Rey

ASMR AND A QUEER WITCH TRILOGY? New video is up now!

If you’re interested in diverse reading recs (esp queer ones!) follow my book instagram please. I’m going to be more active on there! Here is the link or just search theboywhocriedbooks!

Would appreciate if you shared this so I can get more love on there! Thank u!!

Here’s a longass video you can put on in the background while you clean your apartment or whatever!!! Just me talking about the white gaze for, you know, the usual 40mins! 

new video! 

In case you missed it, I DID in fact put up a Jan Wrap Up video! Check it out!

How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters

[Goodreads]

Everyone on campus knows Remy Cameron. He’s the out-and-gay, super-likable guy that people admire for his confidence. The only person who may not know Remy that well is Remy himself. So when he is assigned to write an essay describing himself, he goes on a journey to reconcile the labels that people have attached to him, and get to know the real Remy Cameron.

Thoughts: