Welcome to Spring! (Patreon)

Spring has hit hard. You can feel it the second the weather warms up. Guys start going outside again, wearing tank tops on their jogs. Not just running errands, actually being out just to be out. People walk slower, hang around longer, even make more eye contact. It’s literally easier to make friends when it’s nice out.

All winter everyone moves like they’re on a mission to get from A to B. Apartment to gym, gym to work. Jackets zipped up, headphones in, nobody really looking around.

Then suddenly it’s sixty degrees and it feels like there’s a carnival in town.

Frat guys start flooding the streets again. Finance bros spill out of happy hours and actually stay outside. The Williamsburg hipster boys come back out with their bikes and tiny sunglasses lol. Hibernation is real and humans do it too. Every winter I forget what real life is like, like I forget that I’ve been waiting for months for exactly this temperature.

This shift has always kicked something loose for me creatively. It’s like the whole environment becomes more social and a little more chaotic. 

Just in the last two days I’ve already gotten inspiration for two new stories.

One of them came from a guy I met who told me, almost casually, that he hooked up with a guy for the first time this past weekend. He mentioned it right after I told him about my stories.

We were at a music thing at a park, and he was a friend of a friend. He wasn’t making a big deal out of it. He was half laughing while he told the story, like he was still figuring out how he felt about it. I asked him if he wants me to write a story about it and his eyes lit up. “Do it!” 

But the way he described it had that exact tone I love writing about. A little proud of himself. A little confused. Mostly just excited that something new happened.

Those moments are everywhere once you start noticing them.

A guy admitting something he’s never said out loud before. Two friends joking about something that’s not a joke. Someone realizing mid story that what happened last night might actually change things about their sexuality. Spring brings those stories out of people.

People stay out later. They talk to strangers. They flirt more. They try things they’ve told themselves they would never actually do in real life. This means my notebook fills up pretty quickly this time of year.

I’ve already got a few drafts starting to take shape. Some are rough ideas right now, some are already turning into full scenes. As usual I’ll post them when they’re actually good enough to read.

But the short update is this: the inspiration is seasonally influenced, and I think you guys are really going to like the next few months

And honestly a lot of that comes from you guys too. The comments, the messages, the random stories people send me. This place stays fun because the community here is smart and open and way more self aware than most corners of the internet.

So welcome to spring!

Cheers,

Cody