Today I realized it's been over a year since I started this blog.  It began as a random project to let me opine about butch fashion, gender expression, etc.  Since then, BW has grown to over 1000 unique readers daily (40,000-50,000 monthly!) and been voted About.com's Best Lesbian Blog of the Year. You've commented over 1000 times to my over 150 posts.  Wow, dear readers.

I didn't expect to enjoy writing BW this much.  Yeah, I love writing.  And yeah, I care about these issues.  But I wasn't expecting to receive hundreds of emails saying that a blog entry made you think, or made you laugh, or helped you get through your day in some small way.  Thank you so much for reading.  It means a whole lot to this butch.

I hope this year will be even better.  I want to keep writing stuff you enjoy and find relevant, keep giving you solid fashion advice, and keep starting different dialogues about gender and sexual orientation.  I want to finally flesh out the Butch Store, have more guest posts, and make occasional video or audio postings.  Maybe we'll grow, maybe not.  Maybe I'll finally break even on this thing (ha!), maybe not.  But regardless, we're all going to have a really freakin' good time and keep building this community of readers, butches and non-butches alike.

Whether you're a new reader or a longtime one: thank you for making this year awesome.

Love, hugs, and fistbumps,
Butch Wonders

P.S. Some of you have written asking if I've covered particular topics.  This weekend, I'll make an index that should be easier to navigate than the usual post tags, and will help you see what I've written about various things.

P.P.S. Thanks again.  You rock.

At the end of each month, I kind of look forward to checking out the list of odd search terms that brought people to BW.  Among my favorites for April:

• "why does everyone want to be with a butch woman" (Because we're all super hot.)
• "are chukka boots gay" (Only the ones that pair up with other chukka boots.)
  
• "calvin klein" "they have the" "the tie"  ("That is a" "good point."  "Indeed, they probably" "have several" "ties.")
• "what happens at the end of the pet milk story by stuart dybek" (The story is literally three pages long.  Read it yourself.)
• "do butches ever put dresses on"  (Yeah.  Wanna see?)
• "butch females & fems having sex videos" (Videos of butches and femmes having sex?  Or butches and femmes who own sex videos?  So confusing.)
• "what do butch lesbians wear to the beach" (This stuff.)
• "san francisco lesbians tube" (More on these mysterious lesbian tubes... Will this ever stop?)
• "sanfrancisco lesbians tube" (I mean, seriously, people!)
• "s.f. dyketube" (Sigh.)
• "my girlfriend says shes at a friends" (Liar!)
• "lesbian tubes" (Aaack!)
• "why does rachel maddow dress like a man" (Can somebody else please field this one?  Just looking at it makes me tired.)
• "butch females are annoying"  (But not as annoying as ignorance.)
• "how to encourage a gay hitting on a straight guy" (I'd try something like, "Yo, stop it.  That dude's straight.")
• "val" "long distance relationship" (If your significant other's name is "Val," I'd say your search may be a little too specific.)
• "my girlfriend wants an open faced panini sex style
  (Um.  What?)
• "men wearing timberlad boot sock fetish" (What's a weirder fetish, Timberland socks or open-faced paninis?  I say it's a toss-up)
• "men hugging each other" (The world's mildest fetish)
• "how to get a butchs attention" (Throw a chukka boot at her.)
• "best way to be butc" (First step: master the spellchec functio.)
• "girls tie guys up and put makeup on them" (Well, yes.  But only for Cinco de Mayo.)
• "gay man in Splint"  (An unlikely scenario.  Gay people's bones are made of titanium and are exceedingly durable.)
• "does forest green shirt and blue undershirt match?" (No.)
• "can you wear dress vest unbuttoned" (Yes, unless it's a formal setting and you're wearing a jacket.)
• "can you wear cufflinks without a suit" (Yes.)
• "can you wear a black shirt under a white button up" (Yes, but you definitely shouldn't.)
• "butch women turn me on" (Well, as we established above, they are super hot, so that's to be expected.)
• "why are lesbians crazy" (Because people keep hiding our lesbian tubes.)
• "what does it mean when man embraces women" (It means he wants an open faced panini sex style.)

Stay tuned for the next thrilling entry.  What'll it be?  Lesbians in Alaska?  A tale of underground dyke communities in far-flung regions of the world?  A list of ways butches screw up relationships?  These are just a few of the great guest post ideas that your fellow readers are cooking up.  I have a feeling you're going to like this feature...

That's a wrap for today.  Be well, butches!

Dearest Readers,

Take out your keyboards and sharpen your wits, because I'm actively soliciting guest posts!  I'll keep writing nearly all the stuff on BW, but I think it'd be fun to change it up sometimes (and from the reader survey I gave a few weeks ago, I know you guys would love occasional guest posts, too!). 

So, I need YOU.  If you want to write something for the blog, shoot me an email at butchwonders [at] yahoo [dot] com. 

You're free to make up your own topic.  I'm particularly interested in topics I don't know enough about to write in depth, including:

• Drag king life
  
• Racial issues in the butch community
• What are femme-femme dating relationships like?
  
• Lesbian life in some non-US city (especially if it's one where I have a lot of readers: London, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Calgary, Auckland, Calgary, Vancouver, Verdun, or Hamburg).
• The perspective of a trans woman who identifies as butch
• Anything else you think might be interesting!
  

HFAQ (Hypothetically Frequently Asked Questions):

Q: Do I have to use my real name?
A: No, but you can if you want to.

Q: How long does it have to be?
A: Shoot for 200-500 words.  But there's no specific length minimum or maximum.

Q: What if you don't like what I write?
A: Then I won't use it.  But I'll have the courtesy to explain why, and you'll be free to resubmit.

Q: But I'm straight [or a man, or a femme, etc.]!
A: Great!  I don't care if you're male, female, neither, straight, bi, gay, queer, fat, skinny, cisgendered, black, brown, or white.  If you have anything to say that's relevant to lesbians generally or butchy types specifically, I'd love to hear it. 

Q: Can I submit pictures?  How about a video?
A: Yes, and yes!

Q: Can I run a topic by you ahead of time?
A: Sure.

Q: You never write sex stuff.  I'll write sex stuff for you!
A: Well, in addition to my dandy-style prudishness, I actually like the blog to be SFW (safe for work).  But there are some awesome sex bloggers out there, and if you write to me, I'd be happy to recommend a few!  (Come to think of it, that would make another great guest post: best lesbian sex blogs, with SFW descriptions...)

Q: Who will read it?
A: These days, I have about 1500 readers daily.  So I'd guess 3000-4000.  Possibly more.

Q: I already write a blog.  Can I cross-post?
A: Sure!  Just let me know what you're up to.

Q: Are you going to have a lot of these?
A: I was thinking of one or two a month, depending how many I get.

Q: My grammar is horrible.
A: Mine isn't too bad.  I'll help you edit.

Q: But I'm only 18! (Or, I'm 75!)
A: Who cares?  I get readers of all ages and I love different perspectives.

Q: But I hate writing!
A: Um, then don't do it.  I'll still love you. 

I hope some of you will think about this--I'd really love to hear from you, and I know a bunch of BW readers would, too!

Mucho affection and a kiss on the forehead,
BW

I just wanted to take a second to point you toward some blog entries I've enjoyed from other bloggers in the past month or so:

• Kyle from Butchtastic talks about the new TSA guidelines for transgender travelers.  (Some of this stuff applies to genderqueer travelers, too.)  I'm guessing that some trans men, particularly those in the early stages of transition, might flinch at being patted down by a person of the gender they choose to "present."  What does this mean, exactly?  Check out Kyle's reflections here.
• Maddox of Neutrois Nonsense writes about what it's like having been on a low dose of testosterone for three months.  I always enjoy Maddox's writing, and this is particularly interesting.
• Chris, author of The Feral Librarian, writes this candid post about the transgressive nature of wearing a men's suit, reflecting on the (semi-)comfort she's afforded by her own position of privilege and wondering whether her coworkers ever wish that she'd "tone down" the butchness.
  
• A Butch in the Kitchen offers up a delectable-looking recipe for making Nutella-filled sugar cookies.  Then she has to go and taunt us by telling us how good they tasted with coffee.  *Drool.*
• G from Can I Help You Sir opines about the plight of young gay Mormons, asking: do they truly understand the life they're choosing?  
• Bren, one of the authors of Buzz Cuts and Bustiers, writes an interesting post about her own reflections on her gender identity: what "butch" means to her, the apparent contradictions in how she identifies in different situations, and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl."

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.  All six are great blogs to follow!

Did you miss me?  Or is that just wishful thinking on my part? 

While I was not blogging this past week, I was spending time on one of my multiple otakus*: art!  I have an art installation (my first) going up next week (just in a local cafe--don't get too excited), and spent every possible moment finishing a piece (even missing out on Easter with my parents, which sucked because in addition to loving my parents, I really enjoy dyeing eggs**).  My art stuff also necessitated a three-hour trip to Home Depot and various other hardware stores to find mounting*** materials that would comply with the cafe's idiosyncratic rules. 

At Home Depot, I learned three important things:

1. My Home Depot suffers from an unfortunate dearth of butch lesbians. 
2. The lumber section of Home Depot smells awesome.  Just one whiff made me start fantasizing about home improvement projects--particularly noteworthy considering that I do not own a home and have neither the ability nor the inclination to engage in projects involving nails, saws, screws,**** and the like.  (Such things are why this metrosexual butch has a non-metrosexual butch DGF, after all.)
   
3. While Home Depot employees seem skilled in the art of cutting wood, the art of measuring is an altogether different story.
   

Anyway, I am now back to life at its usual frenetic-but-bearable pace, so brace yourself for my usual frenetic-but-bearable frequency of posts.

Much love,
BW

P.S. Another thing I learned this week: the amount of Robin's Eggs I can consume is limited only by the number I can purchase.


* Is that how you pluralize "otaku," or is it already plural?  Also, despite the term's frequent association with anime and manga, I am a fan of neither.  I learned the term from Seth Godin. 
** Holidays are awesome excuses for doing weird shit.  Think about it: what other time of year could you color eggs or haul a tree inside, decorate it, and prop it up in your living room without having people think you were nuts?
***  Heh heh.  She said "mounting."
****  Heh heh.  She said "screws."