cw: mentions of health issues & mental health, pictures of dolls

2022 happened and it sucked. There were human and animal deaths, health issues, mental health issues, and then there were politics and Twitter and uh, you know what, never mind.

It wasn’t all bad, though! Aside from professional stuff (read on for details there), we adopted two beautiful black cats, Lucky and Jinxie, who have settled in wonderfully since February. I’ve been showing them off all year in my Dispatches from Space posts.

I also got a lot better at hand-sewing for my doll collection. Whenever I was stressed/upset/unhappy/anything, I sewed for dolls because it’s satisfying to have a finished product, and you know what? It worked pretty well to cheer me up. So I’ve got doll sewing pictures throughout this post, just to break up all the text and to show off a little.

Professionally, I did fewer posts than usual in 2022, but still this year was pretty decent! I was published in the anthology Cunning Linguists (affiliate link), and I also had a non-sexy piece accepted for an upcoming horror anthology, which is kinda fun. Additionally, my post Small Penis Jokes Need To Stop won an award for nonfiction over on Molly’s Daily Kiss where, additionally, I placed #50 on her annual Top 100 list. I also had a few more pieces come out as audio erotica on Girl on the Net.

The most popular post that people read in 2022 was last year’s Love Hamma review. I’m willing to bet someone went into their private discord/forum/Facebook group/whatever and went “OMG look at this weird thing!” as seems to be the source of a lot of my views. The most popular one that was written this year is, unsurprisingly, the Small Penis Jokes post. Also a special mention to the popularity of this year’s WTF, Geeky Sex Toys?, presumably due to people also wondering WTF at Geeky Sex Toys. Other posts that people seemed very interested in from previous years included Little Activities (That Aren’t Coloring) and Pride-Friendly Sex Shops (That Actually Mean It).

My Favorite Reviews for 2022

Book Review: In the Court of the Nameless Queen. This is the first book review I’ve done on QE and it was a really fun both to read and to write about! Also I love how many people responded with, “I hate spiders, why does this sound hot?” I don’t know, but that’s how it is, friends.

Ollie’s Favorite Toys (+ Top Budget Picks!). Listen, if the exclamation point doesn’t clue you in, I really enjoyed this one. Not a traditional review per se, but I was very pleased to share my fave toys—it’s one thing to review a toy within the first few weeks of receiving it, but there’s something to say for the toys that you keep coming back to, months or years later, especially when you have as many toys as reviewers tend to accumulate. Plus, it’s really important to me to make sure people know of decent budget toys—people should be able to access pleasure regardless of budget.

My Favorite Non-Reviews for 2022

Announcing The New Queer Earthling/April Fools follow-up. I just had a lot of fun building a Neocities site in the style of the sites I used to build for the Petz games or to share my horrible Sailor Moon OCs or whatever else I used the internet for in middle school. I also had a lot of fun making the little pride dragon sprites, and a few people said they “adopted” some, which filled me with glee.

Let’s Talk Neopronouns! (I was big on the exclamation points this year I guess.) I enjoyed exploring the use of neopronouns as well as discussing respectability politics and the virtue of embracing “weird” as a revolutionary act. Also, the art that Damien did at the top was really striking.

My Favorite Erotica Posts for 2022

Guest Erotica: The Werewolf At Dinner. I wound up not writing any erotica this year, but Damien had some to offer, which they also illustrated! This and The Fairy Ring were both fun, but I just absolutely love werewolves (which they WELL KNOW) and I really liked this one.

My Favorite New (To Me) Products of 2022

La Cire Candles by Sportsheets. I really enjoyed these candles and visually they’re pretty cute!

Alia by Uberrime. Listen, can we go a year without an Uberrime toy on my favorites list? I think the merry fuck not. Alia wasn’t super easy for me to masturbate with personally, but for folks who like grinding it’s super well made, and it’s gorgeous as always, and so it’s a favorite on behalf of those who are seeking this kind of sensation. I love having it on my shelf and just. Looking at it.

My Least Favorite New (To Me) Products of 2022

Orion Invader by XR Brands. It just didn’t really do it for me due to the firmness and various other things, but it’s not a bad toy by any means. Damien adored it as well, and sometime I may try it again to see if I feel differently.

What’s In Store For Next Year?

I’m working on a super back-to-basics series. It was originally going to be one post, but there is too much, so I’m splitting it into a few. I’ve also got some new reviews lined up although, like this year, I don’t anticipate focusing as much on reviews as in previous years. I’m also hoping to finish a DIY flogger tutorial that I drafted up literally in 2019 but never actually finished.

I’m not sure whether I’ll continue my Dispatches from Space posts or not; not a lot of people look at them, but let’s be real, they exist primarily so I can show off my cats and crafts and do they need any other reason to exist?

Anyway, thank you again for reading Queer Earthling! I appreciate all of you, love your comments or emails, and am so happy you’re here and still reading. I hope the last week of December is gentle for you.

See you in 2023!

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