Thorn Wilde

Oh, this is a great feature! It's good to be reminded of these stories, and it should be fun for new readers and writers, too. Maybe it'll inspire some of them to submit stories for upcoming anthologies, too.

Same. Never again for me either. Better to have some breaks between books.

This is lovely. Sad, but lovely.

Thanks, @Ron and @Headstall. I get these insecurities a lot, especially when I find myself in difficult social situations. Even when they're over, I can walk around feeling it for weeks. Anxiety sucks. It's good to feel like I have friends, so thank you. I think you're right here, about truth. I always say, truth and fact is not the same thing. Truth is subjective. We make our own truths. Sometimes they're truths about ourselves, destructive ones. Hopefully, those truths can be unlearned. I know I'm trying.

Happy anniversary! I think GA has changed a lot of lives over the years...

I'm in a situation where I feel like if I engage, I lose. No matter how I engage, the outcome will be the same. I feel like I'm being wilfully misunderstood. Like assumptions have been made about who and what I am, what I'm like, and no matter what I say or do, the people in question won't change their minds about me. And it makes me question everything. What if they're right? What if I'm the asshole here? I've tried dialogue, but feel like I'm met by a brick wall, utterly unyielding. I've tried to just pretend like nothing, let things be, keep going on the same, but I inevitably end up in a situation where I say something and it's understood as me being a dick. And at that point, the only thing I feel like I can do is extract myself from the situation and leave entirely, for the sake of my own mental health. Because whatever I do it's wrong. I can behave exactly like everyone else and still I'm wrong. I emulate others, it's wrong. I'm myself, it's wrong. I say something, it's wrong. I shut up, it's wrong. I apologise, it's wrong. I defend myself, it's wrong. I cannot be right. I cannot win. And so I start to wonder, is everyone else lying? The ones who say they like me, care about me, are they making it all up? Are these people the only honest ones, the only ones who dare say to my face that I'm a terrible person? Who's right, here? Who's wrong? Is my brain lying to me again? I'm not responsible for other people's feelings. But I am responsible for my actions. If they've just misunderstood, just created an image of me that doesn't correspond with reality, then there's nothing I can do. But if it's really a question of my behaviour, or who I truly am, then I should try to change that and do better. What can I do? I feel like I'm going crazy, questioning and second-guessing and reexamining everything again and again and again. The prospect of interacting with the people in question makes me feel anxious and sick and scared. I shouldn't care what they think of me, but what if they're right? And round and round she goes.

Thank you, Wayne!

Thank you, Parker. ❤️

Taking testosterone is kind of like going through a second puberty, so your voice changes. There's no guarantee that you're left with a good singing voice... And I'd have to train it from scratch. I have spent my entire life training my voice. A lot of that hard work would become undone. And I like my singing voice. I like the way it sounds and the way it makes me feel. My singing ability is one of the few things in life I'm absolutely confident in. Perhaps the only thing. So I have a lot of thinking to do... Thanks for reading and commenting! ❤️

i stand there, in the light pluck the strings open my mouth, let out my voice and sing they hear me watch me, eyes wide and after the applause and cheers proof that i was here how can i let this go? this feeling this joy my voice has the ability to touch people’s souls my voice is me and i am my voice if i do this if i change the outside to match the inside then this too will change my voice

Thank you! It is a milestone, definitely. Thanks so much for commenting!

Daniel's got himself an alpha! Woohoo! Hopefully, this will be helpful for him. And Shawn clearly isn't as straight as he thought he was, hehe...

I think those photos were really nice.

I think it's an awesome idea! Do the thing. See how it goes.

Thanks, Tim. If I've shown that, then I've managed to do what I set out to do. Thanks for commenting!

Thank you, Parker. It does feel good. Thanks for commenting! ❤️

Thanks, rick. I've a ways to go yet, but I'm getting there. And yeah, it's good.

Thank you, Wayne! ❤️

lately, i look in the mirror and i don’t see her anymore she’s been haunting my shadow for so long i no longer look at my face and think, look, there’s a girl i no longer feel like i’m lying when i go out the door and i don’t know what happened nothing really changed i haven’t done anything different but somewhere along the way i stopped seeing her and now i just see me

Thank you, Jeffrey. I'm glad you liked it!

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!

I'm glad you think so. Thank you for commenting! ❤️

Thank you. I do too. He has a long way to go, but he's on the path to redemption.

Thank you. It was always my intention to redeem Loz in the end. It's why I decided to make him a main character rather than simply an antagonist. I worried that this would make me seem like an apologist. Being young and stupid and messed up isn't an excuse for doing the things that he did. But I'm glad people understand him and want him to do better.

At this point, I think some self-doubt is natural at this stage. His improved family situation is definitely helpful, though. Thanks for commenting!