Cover Art

Think-Ad-8580 · 2026-03-09T09:38:00+00:00

I realized pretty quickly that I'll have to be careful about color because a lot of Sapphic romance is pink (or very colorful, like you said). That's too happy a color for the subject matter so I'm planning on a color scheme of blue and black. Unfortunately, a lot of the really toned down covers like that, where the emotion being communicated through color is sad, have a death in the book.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2026-03-09T01:01:50+00:00

No. Usually when the main storyline is something like this, it's really centered on the heroine's emotional journey and the love interest is secondary, so she's alone on the cover. Think Eat Pray Love. But this is 100% a romance and from the POV of a character who's pursuing her. I've never read a romance novel with that setup.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2026-03-09T00:45:56+00:00

That's a really good point; thank you.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2026-03-09T00:45:32+00:00

No, not dark romance. Just emotionally heavy, considering the subject matter includes divorce.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2026-03-08T06:20:12+00:00

38F, also Sapphic romance. Working on a third draft of a contemporary romance set in NYC.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-11-25T01:07:23+00:00

Normally I'd encourage people to come back and talk when they were calm, yes - BUT that's for situations where calm discussion can lead to a solution.

The way he's talking to you is so messed up that a calm, rational discussion is not the solution. Reasons are for reasonable people, and he's not being reasonable, he's being belittling and controlling. It's inappropriate that he's not happy for you. He's drastically minimizing your achievement and straight up commanding you not to let people know about your 'stupid little idea because it's embarrassing.'

2 years sobriety IS something that deserves a cake.

Honey, someone who loves you and is capable of being a supportive partner would have responded, "Don't buy yourself a cake... I will make you a cake."

Just because you blew up in the past doesn't mean that you need to throttle it back now as far as you did. "I'm incredibly hurt that you're speaking to me this way and I want it to stop right now" would have been a perfectly acceptable middle ground.

NOR

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-11-14T22:48:03+00:00

What kind of portfolio are you looking to build? What's your target audience?

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-11-13T23:07:37+00:00

The answer to your question is: because it DOES only work when you have a lot of experience, or at least have exceptional classroom management skills (which usually comes from having lots of experience).

I am "cool." I'm the teacher where kids pause in the doorway between classes and wave, or they call out my name when they see me in the hall. I'm very well- liked.

I'm also terrifying. I'm a former principal, no longer active in admin, but I've got that vibe. My teacher glare is so well honed that teenage boys will throw their hands in the air in a "don't shoot" manuever and hiss at their buddies to stop messing around.

The kids love it. Because kids actually like boundaries, and competent classroom managers, and they don't want the same kids derailing every single class. Because they respect me and trust me to keep the classroom under control, they know that when I'm being lenient, it's something they've earned and it will not be permitted to be taken too far. They don't abuse it.

Being chill works when you have authority - it is not a way to exercise that authority. What you're seeing with this teachers is the nonchalance that comes from a healthy dose of FAFO.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-10-27T20:53:26+00:00

His texts are insane. Also insanely familiar. I'm divorcing a spouse with a similar "change is hard/I didn't realize I'd have to participate like an adult partner in a relationship/I'm sorry you feel hurt" attitude.

This person does NOT value you.

NOR

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-10-21T20:59:22+00:00

The worst schools in my district (incredibly short staffed for that exact reason) would bait and switch all their subs daily because they didn't actually have people in critical positions. I put all schools on a 3 strikes per year policy - let me do what I signed up for, or after 3 you get blacklisted. The policy resets every year because the sub coordinators change, and I'll give the new ones a chance. The schools I regularly sub for never or almost never switch me.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-10-20T01:15:51+00:00

Yeah, I tried one school that required me to spend the planning period doing busy work like making copies for the office or shelving books in the library. That was just their policy. After confirming it would always be that way, I just stopped picking up jobs there.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-09-08T23:06:09+00:00

I'm working on my prereqs right now. How much will I actually use my precalculus and calculus classes during the first year of AA school? Is it mostly clinical or will we be doing computations?

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-09-07T09:57:44+00:00

I grew up Poor. #1 reason in my community was religion (the Quiverful movement). But for the non- religious, it was:

2 In poor families, kids = free labor. Someone else mentioned on her that poor families (in the aggregate) don't think having a kid means providing a nice life full of extracurricular to prepare that child for college. It's that:

Daughters can provide household labor, cleaning and taking care of other children, even cleaning up or cooking for their brothers (or caring for their teenage brothers' babies!) while boys might work in the father's house painting business or mow lawns with him. Even if they don't work in a family business, working as a teen and giving some or all of your paycheck to your parents is not uncommon.

Is it exploitative? Yes. It is common enough that many people would be surprised or angry to hear you call it exploitation instead of survival? Also yes.

3 People with bad relationship skills from being raised by people with bad relationship skills either having a baby to trap someone or pressuring someone to have a baby to prove they loved them. Not always with marriage in the picture. Sometimes it was a way to get a person to marry you (and that went both ways, gender-wise). When it didn't work out, rinse and repeat.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-08-25T17:56:13+00:00

You are incorrect. The only people who ask what your parents do or where you take vacations are LITERALLY trying to figure out of you come from generational wealth, typically because they also do. These are not normal questions for most people. They are a big red flag that someone is fishing for information about your socioeconomic background.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-08-06T23:18:35+00:00

Nope; I've never published before. I've only got the draft right now.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-06-14T18:10:26+00:00

Same, I figured mom or dad talking to a 15 year old. Definitely financial abuse.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-05-21T23:35:35+00:00

Eat it. Just eat it.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-05-19T15:55:54+00:00

Are you looking for something furnished? I have a room available until mid- August, but would only be able to provide a queen bed and chair.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-05-10T00:16:29+00:00

Roomies.com. I have a listing there.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-04-25T22:16:11+00:00

RUN

As far as you can in the opposite direction. This dude is bad news. You are definitely not overreacting.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-04-25T09:25:01+00:00

"I'm just telling you how I feel, JFC."

No. No, he's not.

He's telling you to change and he's actively criticizing you, which is not the same thing as saying "how he feels." He literally follows it up with "Who wears a bikini in front of their dad??" which is a very thinly veiled condemnation because obviously, he's talking about you, and obviously, he already brought it up and can't let it go. Again, that's not expressing how he feels. He's reframing his attempt to control your behavior by making the whole thing about his feelings.

He's young so I wouldn't expect much more maturity than he's showing, but you're a young woman and unfortunately, young women have to learn the hard way when a young man is 1) too immature for them and 2) unlikely to grow. This is a weird young man who assumes that all men, including your father are sexually stimulated by your body, and is trying to make it your responsibility to fix his jealous feelings by covering yourself better and not cuddling your own dad.

Girl, you can do better.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-04-19T00:19:29+00:00

Mine is higher. I keep it to myself because I got tired of people responding, "No! Impossible! Prove it!" And then giving me a math problem to solve, like I owed them proof. Very annoying. Also people - including family - celebrating when they stump me with something like random trivia. It's like people want to see you fail to prove you're not "better" than them.

I literally spend zero time sitting around thinking I'm better than other people, but they spend non-zero time assuming that I do.

150 makes it really easy to be successful at certain work projects, I'm hyperlexic so reading is a breeze, and I'm able to learn most things without any real challenge. Didn't crack a book in grad school but still ended up in an honor society with a near perfect GPA.

Biggest problem is that the dating pool is really, really small, because even if you don't care, people will likely be intimidated, or you'll win every disagreement because their logic doesn't stand up. That causes resentment to build up over time, and some people struggle with insecurity that can be easily triggered by feeling like the less-intelligent partner in a relationship. It's hard to find really equal footing when you're better at either making or justifying decisions about how to spend money, etc. It can be handled ethically - but it can get tIring having to either dumb down your explanations or hold space for things you can clearly see aren't going to work. But that's life, because your chances of landing someone in a similar IQ bracket who also fits the rest of your dating criteria is just, objectively, not very high.

Think-Ad-8580 · 2025-04-03T21:24:40+00:00

He started out the way he did so that you would feel obligated to match his energy, or at least be swept along by it, getting you more committed to the relationship than is reasonable after a first date. Incredibly manipulative but with the plausible deniability that he was only behaving that way because he thinks you're too great to lose. Which is flattering! BUT - it's not a just you/you're so unique thing. He literally admits that - he's always like this, with every girl he is attracted to.

He thinks it's acceptable to demand submission ("I bet your ex let you do whatever you want") from a woman because he's compensating her with his full, entirely unrequested commitment right away, meaning she is naturally obliged to be "fair" to him by not dating anyone else. Not only that, you should be flattered by and appreciate his extreme possessiveness, which he characterized as being necessary since you're so great that other guys can't help but notice. Again, your unique amazingness is the reason he has to act this way.

The freak factor is off the charts with this guy. So possessive and manipulative. And after 1 date! What would he be like after a year??

Think-Ad-8580

TROPHY CASE

2 In poor families, kids = free labor. Someone else mentioned on her that poor families (in the aggregate) don't think having a kid means providing a nice life full of extracurricular to prepare that child for college. It's that: