Preston Smith
Last August I had to leave Fuzzable after nearly two years due to time constraints, but this fall I am back—and a lot has changed!
For starters, since last fall I’ve fully come out as queer. I was out to a lot of people before this year, but I told the final family members that didn’t know and began posting openly about it on social media this year. I have never felt so free, and this means that the scope of what I can write about for this site without having to worry about hiding any part of myself has expanded, too.
Because of this newfound freedom, I’ve also begun playing with makeup more. When I was away from home during my undergraduate degree, I had begun to learn makeup, but it was very light and honestly barely noticeable. Now, however, I’m learning a lot more and truly just experimenting and having fun. Below are looks inspired by The Haunting of Bly Manor’s lady of the lake and a Pride rainbow, respectively.
In addition to working on myself and my identity, I’ve been working harder than ever on my poetry over the last year. My debut poetry chapbook titled Red Rover, Red Lover released this March, which was a dream come true. I traveled to Texas for the annual AWP writers conference in early March this year, where I read my poetry at an open mic event for the first time ever, and the week after that my chapbook released. It was a whirlwind of excitement, and honestly a nice final hurrah before lockdown struck.
I’ve also had the immense pleasure of being able to publish individual poems in various publications over the last year, which has resulted in my being nominated twice for Sundress Publications’ 2020 Best of the Net anthology. I’m certainly not expecting to make it into the BotN anthology since I’ve only been actively publishing poetry for a year and a half, but being nominated twice this year has felt incredibly rewarding. There are so many amazing poets/poems nominated, and I’m simply excited to share that space with them.
This year has also given me the time and opportunity to work on my baking skills, a skill set I’ve been honing for years but which I often didn’t have time to actively work on. However, this year I’ve been able to try a ton of bakes I’d never attempted before, and I’ve grown even more confident in the kitchen. I’ve also made the most visually pleasing things this year, which can all be found on my Instagram. I might also have ideas for two cookbooks lingering in my head—another project I am very excited to work on!
Now, in October 2020, I’ve quit one of the jobs that was consuming a lot of my time and which also wasn’t furthering my career in any way. For the time being, I am left to finish my master’s degree in English literature, which I’ll graduate with in May 2021, and teach undergraduate students, which has proven to be one of my favorite experiences in grad school. But I have some time on my hands where I didn’t before—and I’ve missed writing in a more journalistic style—so I’m back and ready to create articles I’m proud of again!
Finally, this year brought into my life a man whom I cannot imagine living without now. We may live very far apart from one another right now, but we thankfully met in February before lockdown and have only grown increasingly closer over the rest of this year. He is the cutest sunflower of a person, and I cannot express how blessed I am to have him in my life.
Thank you so much for reading my first post back here at Fuzzable. I am so elated to be back—and in a state where I can truly say better than ever! You can keep up with us @Fuzzable on Twitter and Instagram, and I can be found @psm_writes on both as well!
