EXACTLY. :) It's like plus size designers and manufacturers think, eh fat is fat, there's only one shape - round. Yeah, no.

It's like we don't exist to designers! I highly recommend non-plus larger sizes, ie Old Navy bottoms go up to a 20, and they're 20 "regular" rather than 20W, so no hips....

Exactly! Thank gawd my mom is ALL about finding what looks good on me. She's shopped with me too often to see anything baggy/flowy as anything but "tablecloth with head hole" lol

I don't have a waist and I want structure to create one!!! This flowy, clingy shit makes me look ridiculous.

AMEN.

I love the painting of history into the stories, for sure! I can always tell a good writer by the amount of research. :)

But the parents aren't the ones parenting, so it's not like they deal with every single thing, you know?

Agreed. I don't think it should be a list of requirements at all. That would make it formulaic. But I know the feel of a western historical is completely different from a medieval historical. And I know that from reading them, and I get in moods where I read 5 of one, then switch to a different style.

Love this! Thank you for the history. I didn't realize some of my favorite authors got their starts in Harlequin!

I think you have to read a lot of a genre, too, before writing it. You pick up the "language" of the genre. There's a distinct comfortable feel to each genre (and each sub-genre) that if you don't read it you wouldn't recognize or know how to speak it.

Have you tried self-publishing? I recently went to a class at the library led by an author who has 15 books published. Her first 7 were traditional, the last 8 were self-pub. She makes more money on the self-pub. She had some really good tips, though, so I'd recommend looking into a similar class at your own library.

I loved that book.

My grandpas were both complete feminists, even though they'd never have called themselves that. Both my grandmas had jobs at some point while raising their kids, too.

If you're old, then I'm old, and I refuse to be old yet. My grandfathers fought at this age as well, and it enrages me that these wastes of skin say such ignorant shit. Sign these boys (because they are not acting like mature adults) up for service, we'll see how funny everything is then.

Hell. Yes. I've already told my sons there will be none of that shit. Neither my husband nor I were in the Greek system. Waste of space, time, and money.

If the entire "Greek" system exploded and went away, I would not shed a tear. Biggest waste of money, and I am not paying for that shit in 4 years when my son hits college.

I always think that! My husband is insulted when asshats like this say this kind of thing. He feels insulted and pissed off that other men think like this, and then say "we all do it." No, dudebro, all men do not do it. You're an asshole, and your fellow menfolk are starting to get sick of your ignorant shit.

Dietary stones generally have calcium in them, and the acids in coffee and tea are supposed to be avoided when you're prone to stones. So dairy and coffee/tea are the top of the list of food to avoid when you get stones. Mine were determined non dietary though, so I don't avoid 100%.

Eh, I kinda am, in my head. Outwardly, I try hard not to be. lol

I've both given birth and passed fragments of a giant staghorn stone that killed my kidney and almost killed me. Passing those fragments was worse than labor and delivery. I'd give birth to a 5 year old before wanting a kidney stone again. At least with labor, you know there's a finite time allotted....