This is my blog—for all the things that make me smile. It's one part art, one part fandom, one part kitties and another part random (okay, maybe two parts kitties). Feel free to ask me anything or just say hey :D Seriously, do it. You'll make my day!
The Heartstopper webcomic’s first update dropped on September 1st 2016. Today, on April 11th 2026, the story has concluded.
I don’t quite know how to put all of my feelings into one letter. Heartstopper means more to me than words can express, but I’ll try my best.
Heartstopper has defined the past decade of my life. It started as a fun side project and quickly grew into something much bigger, eventually becoming my career. Despite that huge and unexpected change, making the Heartstopper comic feels the same to me as it did on day one. When I sit down to make Heartstopper, I feel at peace. When the world feels so scary and difficult, I have been able to return to Heartstopper, and everything feels okay again for a little while.
Nick and Charlie first appeared as supporting characters in my first novel, ‘Solitaire’. In Solitaire, Nick and Charlie represent the idea that hope, love, joy and connection can persist and thrive despite the trials and tribulations of being alive. So maybe it’s ironic that Nick and Charlie have come to represent this in my own life. They have brought me joy. They have given me purpose. They have given me everything, really. And I’m so grateful for every moment I have spent with them.
Heartstopper is profoundly special to me. Which makes it extremely hard to say goodbye.
But it is time. I always knew that Nick going to university would be the end point of the story. And despite how sad I am to be bidding farewell to these characters, I am so, so proud and excited to have made it to the end and concluded the story exactly the way I wanted to.
Any webcomic creator can tell you that making a webcomic requires a heavy amount of determination and endurance. To draw a page almost every day for the past ten years has required a lot of sacrifice and a lot of energy. But every moment was worth it. And now that it is complete, Nick and Charlie’s story can be experienced from beginning to end, for the rest of forever.
I wouldn’t have made it here alone. From the very start, Heartstopper’s readers have offered so much support, love, community, conversation, and enthusiasm. Knowing that there are people out there who love these characters just like I do has given me the strength to keep going. I’ve also had the support of many colleagues, friends, and family members, who’ve all helped in different ways at various points in the past decade. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has been here for the journey.
I have no idea what I’ll make next. For now, I’m taking a break. And I know that Nick and Charlie won’t simply vanish. I expect I will always return to drawing them and writing about them, probably in smaller ways, for the rest of my life, as long as my body allows.
Nick and Charlie will forever be in my heart, hand in hand on a beach somewhere.
they should put benches in stores over a certain size. Grocery stores, department stores, bigbox stores. Not just at the very front or outside or at the pharmacy, no. I mean sprinkled throughout the store.
why?
for fucking disabled people. for people who suddenly feel sick or in pain. for people who need a moment to sit and tend to a child's needs, or to rest with them to avoid a tantrum from their being tired. for anyone who just wants to sit and check their phone for a minute to stop feeling so rushed and hurried by everything around them.
i do not think i should have to sit on the fucking floor in every store i'm feeling bad in because there's zero places to sit that are accessible. i do not want to sit on the filthy floor and be in the way of other shoppers and risk being stepped on or tripped over because i Have To Sit Right Then Or Faint And Crack My Fucking Head Open. do you know the kinda shit that collects on store floors, despite regular cleaning???? the tracks of thousands of shoes bringing stuff in from outside.
i just want a bench. give me benches. this should not be a divisive issue, give me places to fucking sit.
This is also not accounting for disabled people who cannot just sit on the floor and *have* to power through it or use one of the limited power chairs (and get judged as lazy for being fat)
I was working at a bookstore when I encountered a young mom in the very back of our kid's section. It was very quiet that evening, and there weren't many other customers, so this poor woman sat down on the floor at the back of the kid's department to nurse her infant child while her toddler hung out close by. I stared at her, she stared at me, and I'm pretty sure I said something like "absolutely not" out loud and spun around to go find the nearest chair we used for customers who wanted to sit and read.
Upon my return to the small family, I found the mother getting up off the floor and gathering her things. I instantly realized that she had taken my words to mean she wasn't welcome and that my speed indicated I had gone to fetch a manager (I was gone barely twenty seconds). She was so surprised to see me hauling this wicker chair over to her, and all I think I said was "There you go, ma'am."
She thanked me. Simple as that. No muss. No fuss. Said a heartfelt and sincere thank you, and sat down to do her thing. I also brought a second chair for the toddler to chill in while his mom was busy.
Stores need places to sit for anyone who sits which is, frankly, everyone.
I can't walk for long periods of time. I'm better than I was, but the more frequently I walk, the harder it gets. And the worse the weather outside is - regardless of whether I'm inside or outside - the worse my pain is.
I have a cane, but that can only get me so far. That keeps me mobile when I have no other choice, but I'm still in pain.
I have to sit when I get a flare-up, otherwise I'm half-walking-half-limping everywhere, not to mention that after like an hour or two of using my cane my wrist starts to hurt.
I once had a flare-up in a supermarket. It took us ten minutes to find one of those tiny rolling stools at which point I said "good enough" and very gratefully sat down. And a young, healthy-looking person sitting on a stool in the middle of a busy supermarket attracts attention. I got several people asking me what was wrong.
I personally have no issues sharing details about my pain and disability, but a lot of people do and would rather other people don't know about it. A filthy stool is not discreet. Benches are. Not to mention dignified.
I was smaller at the time which is why the stool helped. Now, with my longer legs, sitting on a stool that height wouldn't help nearly as much! It'd take the majority of the weight off my legs for sure, but I'd still be somewhat hunched up to the degree that my legs aren't getting the rest they need. My only other option would be to sit with them straight out in front of me, but I reiterate - I was in a busy supermarket. I can't do that or I'll risk tripping people up!
It's not that difficult to just put more benches or chairs in public places! Especially indoors where they don't have to be nailed down!
and the worst part was that it was so true. I don’t think I could show my face in public again if it was written about me. scathing but deserved and perfectly articulated.
learning Abt American black history should radicalize people because 80% of it is just "yeah these white people committed hate crimes and mostly got away with it while black families and communities were left in shambles and still haven't had reparations met decades later"
white Americans will teach fabricated black history but remove the other half of it because it quite literally makes them look evil with the amount of murder and displacement they have caused to black communities. they'll teach you a portion of MLK but not the BPP or Tulsa race massacre
"we'll teach you a little bit about Rosa Parks but exclude every other black civil rights leader and activist especially Malcolm x + accomplishments enslaved black people made or their rebellion against their slavers"
"don't ask us what happened to that black neighborhood in 1985"
it's very fucking important to learn about black American history in full detail because they are dead set on erasing and fabricating our trauma filled history. it is detrimental to civil rights as a whole.
I do get really really angry when I hear the parents of disabled children say “This is not how I wanted my life to turn out.” or “I didn’t sign up for this.” because yes, yes you did. You took the risk of having a disabled child when you had a child. Your child isn’t disabled to spite you and ruin your dreams of a perfect family. You are the one who brought them into this world. This might sound anti-natalist and shitty of me but so many parents expect their children to be inherently grateful to them for the gift of life and all the good experiences that come along with it and then refuse to acknowledge that they brought a child into this world to live, suffer, die and pay taxes. I get that you as a parent and a caregiver are suffering, that our medical system is severely fucked, that there is an incredible lack of support for disabled people. Your child will be dealing with that for the rest of their life, you opened this chapter of your life but your child will be dependent on highly flawed systems and possibly abusive caregivers for their entire life. These parents (especially in the autism community) turn all of their rage and frustration and hurt outwards and often towards their disabled child instead of learning healthier ways to cope or even taking internal accountability for the fact they did, in fact, bring this child into this situation.
No no no. No no no no. These are the people that will bitch and moan and abandon their adopted children when their adopted children show signs of having trauma related to being adopted. And god forbid that adopted child has ‘behavioral issues’ or develops a mental illness. Adopted children are not Pick A Perfect Baby Dolls. If you only want a child that is easy, a child that could never possibly become disabled or mentally ill or difficult to raise, you probably shouldn’t have children, no matter how much you think you want them. That is not a child you want, that is an idea.
Buttercup’s supposed passiveness is the crux of most critiques of The Princess Bride. But I’d argue that Buttercup acts in her own interests throughout the movie, making moves to secure her own future from her position of powerlessness. For the entirety of the movie barring the first and last scenes, Buttercup is a captive. She has to marry Humperdink in accordance with the law- she has no choice. In this moment we see her at her most passive. She’s accepted that he will marry her regardless of her feelings and she seeks her happiness in other places. Then she gets kidnapped. From that moment to the end of the movie Buttercup gets passed back and forth as the trophy everyone fights over. However, she doesn’t sit idly by. She attempts to escape Vizzini by jumping overboard into eel infested waters. That’s a brave move. She doesn’t know who is on the other ship she swims towards. She only hopes they won’t kill her like Vizzini plans to. Her failure doesn’t negate the bravery of her actions. Then she defies Wesley before she knows his identity. She tries to kill him by pushing him down the hill. He turns his back for one second and she makes a move against a man who she thinks will likely kill her. She saves Wesley when they exit the forest. Yes, it backfires, but she doesn’t know that. From that point on, Buttercup makes deals and argues with Humperdink in an attempt to get out of her betrothal. She uses any argument in her arsenal. It doesn’t work because she doesn’t know what he has planned for her.
Do you notice a theme? Because as I wrote this I noticed that Buttercup makes moves without context, which is why her escapes never work. She is a character acting without the information to succeed. That’s not her fault. That’s not passivity. That’s plot. The plot actively works against Buttercup freeing herself. So maybe we cut her some slack.
“The world demands I make good choices on no information, and then blames my maidenhood for my mistakes, as if my maidenhood were responsible for my ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”
On the American broadcast, about five seconds after the music started the announcer said about the woman, “she lists her hobbies as ‘forgetting things’ and ‘existential crises’”, and I can’t imagine a more delightful one-two punch
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