Excerpts - Tumblr Posts

First I started with sweeping. The broom wasn’t in the laundry room or on the portico. I paced, butting my heels against the floor with each step, until I saw the bristles sticking out from under the couch. I laughed out loud. There was just something so pathetic about hiding a broom under a couch—I could imagine her planning to sweep, laying the broom upright against the couch, then laying on the couch herself. The broom would fall and she’d back-kick it under the couch, lying to herself about how she’d get it up soon and get right to work when really she knew she’d make herself forget about it at the soonest possible moment. That was my mother: hiding away any chance of achieving her own goals. Waiting for a savior. 

 With only the loosest possible attempt at sweeping, I managed dust piles that towered like ant hills. Wrinkled roaches, candy wrappers, loose hair, toenail clippings. Celeste’s accumulated detritus. Penny used to be the one to do this, to clean up Celeste’s playpen, to manage her home nursery, and before that it was me. And now, as if to shirk the responsibility, Penny traded Celeste’s bed for a casket, traded life for freedom. The one that got away.

Is anyone writing a novel / short story?  Please share an excerpt from your WIP

All she could see was darkness, nothing to aid her choice. She huffed and got up staring into the night sky.

“I don’t know what to do! Why… do I not understand myself enough to make a decision?” A sigh escaped her lips. Cassie held her face and tried to relax herself.

There, in the silence around her, she heard a strange sound, a twinkle chimed above her. She turned her head up and saw the sky gleaming full of stars. Her eyes couldn’t make out anything other than the gathering of stars in the sky, but she made shapes in her mind.

Snippet Saturday

from Kingdom of Bumalia

"...you and I share a different relationship. You have given me a job that… I want to fulfill as best as I can; however, that entails working closely with you and being sure anything you do doesn’t affect what I have to do.” She paused. “Think of it this way, it’s true people my age don’t view you as a major authority, we see you as someone we can relate to and with that comes a level of dismissal.”

Leigh looked off. “So my words will never hold against you? That seems to be true for everyone around me; if not this, then it’s my age and if not my age, it’s my standing.”

Cassie’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t want to be rude, but can I say something?”

“Go ahead.”

“You keep up such a bright smile, but have feelings like this. I think it’s completely fine that you’re sometimes upset or hurt by the words of others. I feel you should embrace those feelings and grow from them, because that hurt you’re feeling is a part of who you are.”

He looked back at her. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve heard tales of you being bested in battle or screamed at for an inability to work and yet in those moments your smile never wavered. This shows those problems don’t phase you, but these do. Working to remedy these problems should be at the forefront. Above all else, you should think, how am I going to make myself feel better?”

Leigh’s eyes watched her face intently, so much so that Cassie had to avoid his gaze. She reached to adjust her book below her and when she looked back up Leigh was sitting upright again.

“How do you have such wise words?”

“Because I have lived my life instilled with fear from an early age. My nature dictates I am very fearful of anything that comes my way and instead of allowing it to control me, I found a way to cope with it. Writing, reading, drawing and painting; anything expressive has helped me to mitigate my feelings and develop a fondness for what I do now.”

Leigh then looked to the top of her head. “I always forget what you are because you hide your bunny ears. However, maybe that bias should be avoided and I should learn this look of yours.”

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Next character up is

Cassie Ann, the deuteragonist of the story.

She is an energetic young woman who tries her best to make everyone around her happy. Being a 4th Dimensional being just like Larson, she also is curious about her species and essentially forced Larson to let her help him.

She is very headstrong and has a hard time listening to others who aren't making sense. Despite this, Cassie is a sponge and any emotion anyone currently has, she usually feels it as well. This makes her grow empathetic towards even the worst of people. It doesn't cloud her judgement though and she will only help someone if she feels like it.

Cassie is going to be in every other scene I made because she's so friendly, she's involved in almost everything the group does. Cassie is made to be the catalyst for most everything that happens and if not for her, no one would even interact with each other.

P.S. the scenes she's in with the other characters aren't colored because 1. I'm too lazy, but also because I got tired of having to get the right colors every time I drew them. Then in 2023, I learned about color pallets 😶‍🌫️

I'm also thinking of this right as I'm about to post this, but she's the Deku to Larson's Bakugou lol.

Anyways, I was going to draw her in these different hair styles, but I decided just to have a mention that Cassie's hair is different throughout the story. She is black and I like to be realistic and not rude when it comes to making black people and their integral hairstyles :) Also this helps so people can relate to her a bit.

As for this form, this is something I haven't written, but clearly got the idea for. In the second book, the beings called Selestials are a species of rock people who are born through the energy of their earth. Because Cassie isn't a human, she's able to endure the process of this birth and ends up in this form!

This was also just "I'm a super big fan of my own work and wanted to see her in this form" so I ended up adding it in the story.

Here's a little scene for her:

Cassie made off as swiftly as possible, wasting no time when she was finally let go. As Cassie was walking around, she made sure the phone was still up and could see everything she was seeing. After her check, she took another look at her surroundings.

There’s nothing here! What am I even looking for?

Cassie looked out and could see all the other planets.

It was still a sight to behold. She was amazed at how beautiful the universe was and found herself thinking that they should visit other planets after this. She sighed, but right now we’re on a mission huh?

Cassie decided to keep walking and found nothing on the barren planet, so she picked up a rock and put it inside her bag to take home, but then she heard a noise. She suddenly turned… and saw nothing there.

“Lars?” She called out.

Nothing was to be heard, but she was sure she heard something. Cassie shook her head and resumed walking when the noise returned.

She didn’t turn around this time, but instead reached for the rock she collected. With it gripped in her palm, she waited until hearing the noise again; which she did. Quickly, she turned around and threw the rock as hard as she could in that direction.

The rock shot out just barely missing the one who was now behind her. This person stood with a smile on their face, unphased by the rock that almost hit him. He looked human, so Cassie thought they had to be like them.

Cassie thought this optimistically. “I’m sorry if I almost hit you with that… I thought you were my friend.”

“So that other one is with you?” He asked himself. “Then it’ll be easy to make quick work of you two. As long as you’re not together, this’ll be easy.”

His words were strange and they only caused Cassie to sigh when she realized what she may be in for.

Her optimism was squashed as she spoke. “Um… are you going to try and kill us?”

He chuckled. “Maybe not, if you decide to work with me and not against me.”

“To do what?”

“Destroy anyone who feels they can oppose me and make me the ruler of the entire universe!”

Cassie stared at him as he spoke. She sighed and walked over to a larger boulder she saw, she set her bag down and made sure the phone was angled perfectly.

“Are you abandoning your earthly possessions?” Asked the strange male.

“No, I just don’t want my phone to break when I attack you.”

“What are you-”

He was cut off when Cassie punched him square in the face. This sudden and intense impact caused him to fall to his knees. Cassie stood behind him and waited for him to lift his head up. She grabbed a fistful of his hair and spoke to him.

“I don’t know if you think you’re stronger than me…I mean, you might be, but much like I was against Lars, I can’t let you do whatever you want.” She stared down at him with a blank look on her face.

Her banter caused him to chuckle. “And why’s that? Because you fear the destruction of this world and everything in it?”

“No, I just don’t want to have to listen to someone who’s first line was getting rid of someone.”

The male found himself laughing even more now. He reached back to grab Cassie’s arm, he did so and Cassie stared at him with the her expression unchanged.

“Then we’ll have to see if you’re strong enough to stop me!”

She sighed to that. “Why couldn’t the first thing we found have been friendly?”

The man laughed and reached to strike Cassie…

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Not- so-fun fact: this Cassie is pretty much the only one I have built like this. All my other Cassies are shy, anxious, and don't talk. I always love writing her this way, but, the person who review swapped with me said that Cassie had to have some kind of underdeveloped mental state because she frequently acted as a child would... when she's only seventeen. Again, I feel this was only said because she's a female.

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Next up is

Jax Barmen!

He's a super cute cutie and aside from his role in the story being related to the researcher who initially discovered 4th Dimensional beings (no, that's not a big deal in the story). Jax serves as the groups researcher.

He's extremely intelligent and enjoys theoretical research. Being a senior in high school, he has plans to go off to college and become a theoretical scientist.

Jax is also the pretty/popular boy of the school. Everyone loves him because he's personable and friendly. Jax is my sweet boy who tries his best to make sure the girls and women around him are taken care of and comfortable, and anyone else is met with nothing but kindness. I don't even think it's possible for him to even have bad thoughts.

Jax is also kind of the dad of the group being able to settle everyone down when they're feeling stressed or anxious about something. Outside of that, Jax often is the reasonable one of the group being able to make rational decisions and account for what they should or shouldn't be doing.

I actually just made this drawing randomly and it's not based on the excerpt. Here, Jax and Cassie are essentially having a sleep over where Jax is going to teach her something she's interested in. They're so cute too, they're suppose to he wearing matching PJs ☺

Also, his hair is different because I'm very bad at drawing 😄

Here's a snipit of him!

It was now silent in the car, Jax got to a stop light and spoke to the pair.

“You guys are arguing about this? Have either of you thought about the actual situation?”

Larson looked at Jax. “You must want to die.” Larson threatened. “I am thinking about the situation.”

“No, you’re only thinking about disagreeing with Cassie because you believe she’s wasting our time. You have yet to say any kind of idea you have.”

Larson looked off and let out an audible sigh.

Cassie smiled. “Yeah, at least I’m trying to come up with something!”

Jax looked back at Cassie. “And you are deciding things without concern about consequence.”

Cassie shrunk under his voice. “But I-”

“I know, Cassie, you think this will be good. So I have to ask you, why is it good?”

Cassie sat back. “Because… we’ll get to have allies if we help them?”

“That’s a good reason, but here you miss a major point—we could also find out more about rifts. If they know things we don’t then it’ll only benefit us, but at what cost?”

Cassie was going to say something, but remained quiet.

So Jax continued. “We don’t know if they’re stronger than you guys and they very well might be. So maybe next time just say you have a good idea and we can go from there…” Cassie pressed her lips together. “And Lars, maybe don’t doubt Cassie for every little thing she does. Have some faith in her gut choices and listen to her suggestions, but I agree with your concern. This might be a huge waste of time, but I believe we’ll get something out of it and that’s worth the risk.”

The silence continued after he finished talking. The frustrated pair sat with his words without a single retort. Eventually, when the light turned green, Jax started to drive again.

Larson let out a sigh and spoke. “Besides sounding like a parent who’s scolding his children, you…have a point,” Larson began, “but what are we even going to get from this?”

“As I said, we may be able to learn more about rifts. As well as other species that might exist within them.” Jax stated calmly.

Larson sighed. “Fine, we’ll consider taking this guy down…”

“Alright, we’ll go from there.” With that Jax ended the conversation...

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Fun fact: his design still isn't what I want, but it's close enough that I'm willing to settle for this. Jax also does his own hair and at one point, I added a scene where Cassie doesn't know how to give herself cornrows and Jax helps her 😊

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Next up is one of the secondary characters who is introduced after she's kidnapped by a cult (and no, this isn't anything major in the story lol).

Mandy Modesta

She is also a senior and spend most of her time at school dating. Mandy is very pretty and has always attracted male attention, she didn't start seriously dating until she was seventeen where her behavior stems from a desire to be loved.

Because of this, Mandy is pansexual and actually loves anyone in whatever form they come in. This even extends to the creatures she encounters inside of rifts.

Mandy has an unnatural ability to find the group no matter where they are and this is what leads to her eventually joining! Within the group, Mandy helps them find things they otherwise wouldn't be able to. Her and Cassie get along very well because Cassie loves to be loved and Mandy loves to love.

The scene below is when Cassie is being presumed by a guy who wants to date her and Mandy does her best to protect Cassie.

Unfortunately, Mandy officially doesn't show up until the fourth book, so there's not really full defining moments for her yet.

So, she'll be the exception and I'll detail a bit I have planned for her!

Despite her being very sexualized, I intend to build her character in a way where we find out why she's like this. Of course I won't spoil what it is exactly, but it does have something to do with her family.

Because of this, her and Cassie are suppose to form an even stronger bond with each other since they both share similar feelings, but about different things.

Also, my girls also have more impactful plots as Cassie has a subplot with her feelings about how people treat her. Similar to Mandy, they bond over that feeling at some point in the story.

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Fun fact: when I first designed her, I happened to be very interested in 'baddies' so Mandy's attire is based on what typical Insta baddies wear.

Note: if anyone's curious as to why I didn't share the 3rd book, it's because it has sensitive topics and unless some expresses interest in seeing it, I don't wanna add to the millions of other sensitive topics on the internet.

But, now it's time for the last member of the group.

Gast doesn'thavealastnamebecausespoliers

Gast is a very shy boy who seems to have no presence. When he's at school, he's frequently ignored where people don't even notice he's standing right in front of them. He doesn't mind that since he's a worried, anxious, and shy young man.

Being a new student, no one really even knows who he is either. However, he ends up seeing the group when they're exiting a rift and after seeing other strange events like this, asks the group if he could be protected by them.

Cassie is extremely willing to help him out and he joins the group!

Because of his low presence, they often use Gast to get things they would otherwise be seen trying to obtain. Gast is also very sensitive to emotions and because of that has a fear of animals since they're more emotion based than humans or other species.

Here's an excerpt of my boi:

*A/n: he goes by Abel when he's first introduced*

Neither Cassie nor Larson were very concerned about the individual, but they felt differently about how to handle him having seen them.

Jax was more level headed and tried to think of the situation as rationally as he could.

“You g-guys are freaks!” The boy started to breathe very heavily. Taking in audible, quick, and deep breaths while holding his chest.

“Woah, calm down…” Jax tried to ease him. “Can you tell us your name at least?”

His eyes shut tight, but he spoke. “A-abel…” He seemed to be getting worse with his erratic breathing and unsteady feet.

Jax continued his efforts and told him to sit down. Abel now sat inside Jax’s car while catching his breath.

The trio then moved to stand around him. With how everything seemed, they needed to make a decision sooner rather than later. However, that wasn't going to happen while the boy remained in his state of distress.

Cassie stayed a bit away from him in order to give him some breathing room and no one said anything. They let him calm down and soon he seemed to be getting better.

At this, Cassie spoke up. “Are you good now?”

“A bit better…” He managed to say. “But that’s all.” He paused looking up. “B-but, still, can you guys tell me what’s g-going on?”

“What do you mean by that?” Larson asked.

“Like, you guys going into that… thing o-over there and coming out like two minutes later!”

“It was really two minutes?” Cassie turned and asked Jax.

Jax smiled. “That’s a good base to start with, but I’d still like to get a real timer and make a proper conversion.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Abel asked.

“Nothing, but if you’re really curious, answer my question first and you’ll get your answer?” Larson said. Abel said nothing and he went on. “Why did you follow us?”

Abel took a small pause and lowered his head slightly. “While you’re right that I was kind of… s-stalking you guys. I only was because you guys turned down that girl who’s been bothering me!”

“You mean that kind of promiscuous girl?” Cassie spoke.

Larson scoffed. “I think you mean a slu-”

“I’ll kill you if you say that Lars.” He clicked his tongue and didn’t speak. “But her?” Cassie asked, returning her attention to Abel.

“Yeah… her name is Mandy and ever since I got here, she won’t leave me alone.” He let out an uncomfortable moan. “She finds me wherever I am, no matter how hard I try to avoid her. On that day when you guys were with your dog in the park, she found me there as well! Then, I saw you guys talking and she left and hasn't bothered me since then.” He explained. “I just kind of… want that to continue.” His voice dropped off by the end.

“Why?” Jax asked.

“Because! I-I just don’t want people getting too c-close to me… I-I’m not the type of person who likes a lot of attention, I just wanna be left alone...” His voice trailed as he went on and his head dropped with every word.

“But we’re fine?” Larson seemed unconvinced.

Abel tried to defend himself. “I-it’s a lot better than having a g-girl who n-never knows when to leave you alone,” Abel said, “p-plus, like I said; I saw you guys go in that thing and… and that's not the weirdest thing I’ve seen since I got here! I saw a guy lift up a boulder with o-one finger and I figured he was just like you guys and I-” He began to breathe heavily again.

Cassie crouched down and gave him a soft smile. “Hey, you don’t have to tell us, okay?” He looked at her. “I can believe you, and I think I know what you’re asking of us.”

“Huh?” Abel said as Cassie returned to standing normally.

“You want to be our friend!” Everyone just stared at her. “I know you all are staring at me like I’m crazy, but screw all of you ‘cause I know I’m right.” She snapped at their silence. “Whether you like it or not, the only way we can protect you from all these dangerous things going around is for you to be our friend.” Cassie turned back and gave the biggest smile she could to Jax and Larson. “Alright?”

“I should be impressed,” Larson said, “it only took you seconds to decide something this time.”

“See? I’m getting better aren’t I?”

“More like worse.”

Cassie frowned. “What did you say?”

Cassie and Larson began to bicker while Jax just returned to Abel. “Do you mind accepting her offer? Cassie’s a hard one to turn down.”

Abel’s eyes fixed on them, he felt himself calm down seeing as how none of them were totally fixated on him. “I don’t know if I should trust you guys yet or not.”

Jax smiled. “At the very least, if Cassie says it, it’s a given. So if she wants you to be her friend, then it means we all agree.”

Abel looked up at Jax before letting out a sigh. “I’m… alright being friends with you all… that is if I really can?”

Jax smiled. “Like I said, it’s a given if Cassie says so.” Jax then looked up in thought. “But I would’ve waited if I were you.”

Abel's eyes widened. “H-huh? Why?”

Jax laughed. “I’m kidding.”

Abel let out a sigh and relaxed as the pair went on arguing...

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Fun fact: Gast's hair style is based on Belphie's from Obey Me! I didn't intend for that, but after I made it, I realized they were too similar to be coincidence.

Merie had been told to come by her parents house earlier in the afternoon, and despite the fact that she wanted to do anything but that, she knew she had to come. So, she could labor a few more hours at work to avoid the inevitable.

And so she did, working for as long as she could and ignoring any breaks to avoid even seeing her phone. This doubled to void her mind of Sumi, but it only worked so much as even the slightest thing would remind her of him.

Eventually though, she had to leave and once closing time came around, she got her things and began to walk to the bus stop. There she went to check her phone and saw several texts from her mother, all asking when she was going to be home.

She had to respond now, a general one, but one nonetheless. Right as she was going to send it, another message came in and she saw that it was Sumi texting her. Her eyes widened and her energy return with the simple message. Without a second thought, she scrapped the message for her mother and went to check Sumi’s.

He had asked if she were free to talk and of course she responded with a resounding yes!

And he called her.

“Hey, did you get home alright?” His voice seemed strained. His tone was much lower than she was used to and there wasn’t much life in his voice what-so-ever.

“No, I’m still out right now.” She responded, pulling at the strap of her bag.

“Oh, well hurry home, I don’t want you out for too long.”

She giggled. “Thanks for worrying about me.” She then let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

“What… oh, it’s nothing really.” She stood at the bus stop alone for a long while before her thoughts flashed again to the idea that she and Sumi would be separated for their spring break.

She felt a throb in her head and now she was speaking without thinking. “I’m just really going to miss you.” There was silence on the other end and Merie’s rationality returned. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to… say that.”

“Merie?” He spoke up again. “Where are you right now?”

There was a change in his voice, one so evident that it caused Merie to tremble a bit. The husk in his words were electric even through the phone. “I’m… near the mall. I just got off work.”

“If you don’t have anything else to do tonight, I need to meet up with you.” He paused and Merie could hear the deep breath he took. “I wanted to tell you something really important.”

A boundless joy overcame Merie and she very nearly forgot about her mother.

Almost.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you then.”

“Alright, see you in a bit.”

“Yeah… later.”

She clung to every word and tried any excuse to stay on the phone, but after he hung up, she returned to reality and remembered her mother. Without hesitation, Merie quickly conjured up an excuse believable enough to warrant only a bit of concern from her mother.

She brushed off the concern and explained she’d be fine, but she couldn’t make it to the house. Merie then gave her regards to her siblings before locking the phone and looking out to the empty street in front of her.

A smile crept up on her face as Merie thought about seeing Sumi again. No matter what he wanted, Merie was just happy that they were going to be able to spend time together. She’d be able to see him one last time before he’d be out of her life for days.

Being unable to see him was one of the worst feelings she grew to know in their time together. The few months between their first meeting and now felt like an eternity, and one she was willing to live in forever. These urges were caused by him, she felt attached to him like her life couldn’t continue without him.

She would take him in any way.

Either time sped up or Merie was distracted enough to ignore the time, but it wasn’t long before Sumi showed up and Merie quickly got in the car.

With the car parked, they stared at each other in the dim light of the street lamps above them. Merie could barely see him, but the bit that she could looked different than she was used to.

Sumi’s appearance was usually well groomed, but now he appeared disheveled with clothes that looked as if he didn’t bother washing them, his hair was unkempt and his eyes had deep bags under them. He looked as if he had been sitting doing absolutely nothing for days.

“I’m so glad I got to see you today.” He got out.

Merie smiled. “Me too… but what’d you wanna tell me?” Merie’s grip on her bag tightened.

Sumi’s eyes were fixed on hers. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to stay with me for the break.”

Merie’s face held a strange expression. “You mean… like hanging out?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I mean like staying at my house.” Sumi’s words were deliberate as he spoke, not a word wasted as he spoke to her.

She turned her head. “…My parents wanted me to come and visit them. My whole family might be there, but-” Her gaze turned back to him and her expression held a twisted look of excitement.

She then spoke. “I’d feel much better with you.”

At those words, Sumi leaned over the armrest and gently grabbed her face. Merie gasped softly, but feeling his hands on her calmed her down.

“Merie… you're coming with me.”

Soulmates as a horror concept.

You WILL love this person. It doesn't matter who you loved before; any feelings you had, any promises you made, they will become inconsequential as soon as you lock eyes with the stranger Fate has picked for you.

There's no way to stop it.

There's no way to say "no."

You will meet someone and with a single glance, both of you will become someone new, someone who's now bound to this stranger whether you like it or not, want it or not.

Trapped in a dance together until the day you die.

"Forgive yourself for the mistakes you made and the mistakes you didn't make."

— where shadows live

"Forgive yourself for the mistakes you made and the mistakes you didn't make."

— where shadows live

"What of art?" she asked.

"It is a malady."

"Love?"

"An illusion."

"Religion?"

"The fashionable substitute for belief."

"You are a sceptic."

"Never! Scepticism is the beginning of faith."

"What are you?"

"To define is to limit."

— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

"What of art?" she asked.

"It is a malady."

"Love?"

"An illusion."

"Religion?"

"The fashionable substitute for belief."

"You are a sceptic."

"Never! Scepticism is the beginning of faith."

"What are you?"

"To define is to limit."

— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Maybe if I’m productive enough, tomorrow will be easier. I’ll sleep better and I’ll crave fruit, not candy. Maybe if I’m productive enough, I can prove that I’m okay. See? I’m just like everyone else. I cook and clean and shower and work and do laundry and take out the trash and keep up with every annual appointment my doctors demand and and and and. Maybe if I’m productive enough, my to-do list will be shorter. I’ll have more patience and I’ll want to spend more time with the people I love. Maybe if I’m productive enough, it won’t hurt anymore. I’ll forget what he did and I’ll prove it didn’t break me. But today I’ll lay in bed, imagining all the benefits of acts I have no energy for.

Maybe if I’m productive enough, tomorrow will be easier. I’ll sleep better and I’ll crave fruit, not candy. Maybe if I’m productive enough, I can prove that I’m okay. See? I’m just like everyone else. I cook and clean and shower and work and do laundry and take out the trash and keep up with every annual appointment my doctors demand and and and and. Maybe if I’m productive enough, my to-do list will be shorter. I’ll have more patience and I’ll want to spend more time with the people I love. Maybe if I’m productive enough, it won’t hurt anymore. I’ll forget what he did and I’ll prove it didn’t break me. But today I’ll lay in bed, imagining all the benefits of acts I have no energy for.

Oh the day I'll stop thinking of people as a vessel for measuring my worth!

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree... One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor... another fig was Constantin and Socrates.... a pack of other lovers... beyond and above these figs were many more... I saw myself sitting... starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar