@itsnwts It's so disheartening to put effort into a relationship and it's not reciprocated. Knowing you can put this much thought and planning into something and you're greeted with the minimum of acknowledgement makes you never want to do it again
Artists and authors out there, dont let loud voices pressure you into sanitising your work. Fiction is a space to explore, not conform. Your voice matters more than their discomfort.
Never stop creating, never stop making art!!
My cousin got married at 22. They wanted a house full of kids. She got pregnant within months, they painted a nursery before the first trimester was even over.
Then she miscarried.
She had a procedure. Woke up groggy. Doctor smiled and said, “Everything’s fine. You can try again soon.”
They tried for years.
Every negative test felt like a verdict. Her in-laws started making comments. Her husband grew distant. Eventually he left. Said he “wanted a real family.” He remarried within a year. Two babies back to back.
She thought her body had betrayed her.
In her late 50s, after new medical transparency laws made it easier to request old hospital files, she applied for her records.
Buried in the notes from that miscarriage was a line: “Complication during procedure. Uterine perforation. Significant scarring.”
No one had explained it. No follow-up. No referral. No honesty.
She spent three decades blaming herself for something that happened to her.
Some women are told their bodies failed them.
Sometimes the truth is — someone else did.
I remember my first attempt. They wanted $900 to edit, cover, barcode, etc. Thankfully, I'm broke and couldn't pay it. I ended up going self-published 4 years later and repeated with my 2nd and 3rd books.
A little bit of advice for authors.
Never pay a publisher to get published. It doesn't work that way. If they want money - turn around! It's most likely a scam.
@susanrenee240 I don't have a specific genre. My first two are contemporary fiction, the third is a YA romance, but I'm currently writing an epic fantasy while outlining a few other ideas. I tend to write what calls to me. What are your main genres?
@susanrenee240 Thank you so very much! 💜 I took a step toward romance because my 2nd book was filled with trauma, and it took a lot out of me. So I wanted to switch to something a little lighter and warmer. The tricky part was asking the romance flow naturally, but I had the help of a friend.
“30 is so old.” you’ve only been here for three decades. in two of them, you couldn’t drink, rent a car, or even be fully responsible for yourself. please wake up. you are a FRESH flower in the garden of life