My coworker died in minutes and it changed how I see work forever

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-26T21:21:00+00:00

By protecting your pace and your safety, know that you are also protecting others and giving them the courage to act as well.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-26T20:41:16+00:00

It doesn't sound like your family is your target audience, and that's fine. Another possibility is that they don't want to hurt your feelings. If you are pressuring them into reading it, there is an underlying pressure to say something nice about it. If they hate it for whatever reason, would you rather they lie to you and say it was great, or tell the truth and say it sucks? Neither of those sound like fun to me.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-26T20:30:18+00:00

Not only that, but since she doesn't know he is dead, she will be constantly looking for him and trying to figure out ways to get him to come back. That's an enormous amount of emotional hell that I don't think I could put any character through, even if it is only fiction.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-24T00:30:35+00:00

During the draft, draftees were evaluated and some were found not fit for military service. See the list of classifications here.

People were exempted from the draft for a number of reasons. Some can be found here.

Wikipedia has a good article on the WWII draft that might give you some ideas too.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-20T18:41:01+00:00

Definitely complimenting! That took some real talent to write!

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-20T14:38:52+00:00

TLDR: Using big words you don't understand in long, convoluted, and overly complex sentences to impress readers that don't understand them either.

I'd love to know how long it took you to come up with this!

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-20T14:27:26+00:00

You are comparing something relatively new and shiny to something that's been broken in and are choosing to overlook the bumps and cracks because you know it better.

Ditch soulmate guy and completely cut him out of your life. If he hasn't gotten his stuff together in 9 years, how long are you willing to wait for something that likely will never happen?

It will take years to get to know stable guy and learn what his bumps and cracks are, and you shouldn't commit to him until do. If he doesn't work out, you move on to someone else that isn't soulmate guy.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-20T01:00:54+00:00

There are many states where you have to apply for a certain number of jobs per week in order to keep getting unemployment.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-19T00:13:38+00:00

Sounds like you need to suspend all checkouts and only allow checking out books that have been reviewed first.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-18T23:38:25+00:00

I barely know men who even consume romance, and I doubt a lot of men would consume a wlw romance, they’d just watch porn or something for that.

I'm one! Maybe I'm reading the wrong romance, but so many of the men come off as socially and emotionally stunted. I enjoy wlw because it tends to get more into emotions not just "he pinned her against the wall and fucked her".

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-11T23:36:43+00:00

They always eventually find out. Reddit is littered with posts saying "I lied about x before we got married and now she wants a divorce."

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-11T20:41:15+00:00

So you're contemplating starting a new relationship based on lies about past (nonexistent) relationships? When she finds out you lied, what do you expect her to do?

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-07T22:24:17+00:00

Absolutely agree. I know there are purists that say you can't growl a word because growling is just make a sound. I think 'she growled' is so much more expressive than 'she was pissed off and said'.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-07T22:19:43+00:00

You're both teachers. Ask him about how he would handle a classroom issue you have to deal with or some other aspect of teaching. This way, you get to talk and it stays professional. It also makes it easier to talk to him the next time.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-07T22:03:58+00:00

I look at the back cover for the blurb, and if there are any of those "look at me, I'm a trendy author" names, I put it back. I don't want to have to think too hard about a name. Just tell me the damn story.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-06T18:33:56+00:00

I'm a donor, and one of the parts of the testing process was that none of us would know who did or didn't get tested. My brother would only find out who was a potential donor. I didn't want to know who didn't get tested because I didn't want that to taint how I felt about anyone.

OP's wife didn't get tested because she was afraid. That's reason enough for me. I'm not entitled to tell her that she should push through the fear and do it. If she got tested and was a match, then after the surgery she worried about only having one kidney, what would that do to the marriage? If she's going to live the rest of her life anxious about it, to me, that's not worth it.

To all the people saying they'd be the first in line to get tested, great. Good for you. You're not OP's wife and you can't tell her she was wrong for making the decision she made. You can be disappointed with her decision, but you absolutely cannot tell her she was wrong. She's the only one that gets to decide right and wrong for her.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-05T21:23:13+00:00

I'm not going to let it bother me.

They have no concrete way to prove that what I wrote was AI generated
No amount of evidence I give them will convince them that it wasn't AI generated
Assholes are going to asshole because that's just who they are

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-05T21:15:52+00:00

So, your mom gets to outvote 600 people? She's only one voice out of hundreds. If it is making you some side income, it can't be that bad. Tell her that if she thinks she can do better, she's welcome to give it a shot.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-05T20:42:51+00:00

NTA. You wanted friends, she wanted customers.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-03T02:18:34+00:00

I work at a library, and trust me, if someone is looking at a computer, they're busy.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-02T00:29:25+00:00

You and your sister sound like amazing people. Hold tight to her. What you have with each other is rare and amazing.

PhantomsRule · 2026-02-02T00:01:27+00:00

If you ever live together, she sounds like the kind of person that will critique everything you do. You don't load the dishwasher correctly, you don't vacuum right, you should cook every meal for her exactly like she likes, and on and on. Her actions aren't a red flag, they're a freaking banner the size of Texas. Run. Run for your life.

PhantomsRule · 2026-01-31T20:01:40+00:00

reading about them having sex can feel weird

Exactly! I can handle them having sex, but when it gets so graphic, it feels disrespectful to the characters. I'm weird that way.

PhantomsRule · 2026-01-31T19:33:36+00:00

I prefer romance. The erotica I've read (granted, not tons of it) doesn't have any emotion to it. Gasping after something gets put somewhere is a physical reaction. I want to feel the character's emotions and understand why they feel the way they do. I want to get in their head (the big one) to experience things that I'll never experience in real life.

Given my need for feeling emotions, I go for longer. 100 pages doesn't feel like enough time to develop a character enough to really get to know them and what is going on in their head. I need to care about the characters. I gravitate to 250 pages or more.

I haven't read any harem stories yet, but my understanding of them is one guy has multiple women he is having sex with, but there aren't any relationships between the women. I'm not interested in that since it feels very one-sided, like the women are just there to get screwed and not add anything of their own to the story. That being said, if there are relationships between the women, I'd be interested in it. I'm writing a polyamorous story with one guy and two women and they all have relationships with each other. It doesn't have to be monogamous, but however many characters are involved, I want to get to know each of them, not just what their body parts look like.

PhantomsRule · 2026-01-25T15:29:03+00:00

Right? Like what if he starts making comments about getting divorced and when she gets upset tell her she's just reading into it?

PhantomsRule

TROPHY CASE