No, I Won’t Write For Free Anymore. (And I’m sorry I did for so long.)

Absolutely loved this post! Really makes you stop and think about what a rough deal writers can get.

Just Alyssa

In the last few years I have scrambled to earn the right to call myself “a writer.” But that’s all I earned. My work has been on hugely high-profile sites, it has gone viral, I can rightly lay claim to “breaking the Internet” a time or two. I’ve had bylines and editorial titles, and written things that others were afraid to write. I have poured my heart and my soul into it. I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that my writing has made the world a better place, in some way.

I have flippantly – but with true humble pride – told people that I am paid in thank-you notes. I save many of them. The people who tell me that I saved their life. That they have hope that they’ll recover after rape. That they no longer think they’re terrible parents (or feel they have to be scarred…

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Skin deep?

I’m watching a programme about people who are covered in tattoos and piercings, and, as a person who has also modified their body quite a bit (15 tattoos and 11 piercings *was 15*) I feel the need to have a bit of a rant. Why is it that people who choose to express themselves in a way which causes no harm to anyone else, get such a bad reputation? I mean, employers are less likely to employ them and they get the response of “well you shouldn’t have had so many tattoos/piercings”… well why not? How in any way does what people put on/in their skin affect their abilities? I understand that some of these body modifications can look rather scary but in my experience these kind of people – the “weirdo’s” – are a hell of a lot nicer than the so called normal people I’ve encountered. I think that every one has the right to express themselves in which ever way they want to and as long as they do not hurt anyone else and they are happy / comfortable with themselves what does it really matter? This can be applied to a lot of things in life though, not just body modifications. People are always judged on the most superficial B.S. – sexuality, religion, gender association, weight, ethnicity, etc. etc. – Just because a person is different to you in some way does not necessarily mean that they are a bad person or they are wrong. That’s just life. If every one was the same and liked the same things it would be a really boring world to live in. We should celebrate our differences and learn to judge people by their actions and not on their image.  Sometimes this is easier said than done and I myself have been guilty of judging people by first impressions but surely the majority of us are intelligent enough to know not to judge a book by its cover! Lets stop making assumptions about people and get to know them before we condemn them; because as we all know, if you assume it just makes an ASS out of U and ME! Mainly you though for being a narrow minded imbecile.

The smell of comfort.

So on the verge of sounding like a complete and utter weirdo, I was wearing my boyfriend’s t-shirt and cookie monster pyjama bottoms the other night (this is something that I quite often do when he is not with me), and I started to ask myself why is it that guys clothes are so damn comfortable to girls? I mean my clothes are comfortable to wear, obviously, or I wouldn’t wear them and I have my own comfy clothes that I wear just for the purpose of lounging around and being lazy; but, if I have the option or opportunity to steal my boyfriends trackies or P.J bottoms and t-shirts I will fully be wearing those instead. I am 99.9% sure that I am not the only female that does this but sometimes I think that I seriously do have some sort of problem because I really, really love to wear my boyfriends t-shirts when he is not staying the night. The scent of him on the clothes always brings me comfort and makes me feel safe. I hate sleeping on my own but when I wear his clothes to bed or can smell him on his pillow it is like he is there with me. I may sound like a crazier version of the overly attached girlfriend from the popular meme – and yes my boyfriend thinks I’m insane – but I actually prefer to wear clothes that he has been wearing and not washed yet because the scent of him is stronger. Don’t get me wrong, the clothes are clean and my man smells good – I like that smell, its my protective smell. I remember when I gave birth to my daughter and she had to be transferred to the neonatal ward whilst I was left behind in maternity to recover from my C-section…The nurses gave me a blanket that my daughter had slept on so that I could feel closer to her and they put a blanket in my daughter’s incubator that I had slept with so she would be comforted by the familiar smell of her mommy whilst she was alone. It is a similar kind of thing to what I do with my partner’s clothes. Is that why guys clothes are more comfortable to us girls? Is it because the majority of the time we are wearing our boyfriend/husband/partner’s clothes so in fact it is not because they are male items of clothing that they are more appealing but instead it is the feeling of closeness to our loved one that makes them more enjoyable to wear? Or maybe, just maybe I am indeed merely an overly attached girlfriend with some kind of unhealthy case of separation anxiety..?

Insomnia

I always find it fascinating yet rather annoying how I suddenly become an insomniac when ever I start writing and becoming overly creative! Here I am sat up again at daft o’clock in the morning (3am) working on some pieces because I have had a sudden urge of inspiration that has hounded me and niggles at me like an incessant child trying to grab my attention and make me listen to them. I do not understand why all my best ideas come to me at night just as I’m about to go to sleep or as I’m lying in bed thinking “I need to be up extra early tomorrow, I’ve got tons of stuff to do”. Don’t get me wrong I love getting a sudden rush of ideas that I have just got to write down right at this very moment but why, why, WHY can’t I have these moments at reasonable times in the day? I had just managed to sort my sleeping pattern out so that it resembled something like a normal persons sleeping routine… bed before midnight then up around 8am and that worked great for me but now I fall asleep at God knows what time in the morning and still have to be up at 8am. Only very rarely do I get the chance to sleep for a couple of hours more. This whole night owl thing wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that I have responsibilities that require me waking up early; in fact I would love to live a nocturnal life of staying up all night and sleeping all day – something I regularly managed to do as a teenager when sometimes a whole week would pass without me seeing sunlight and I would at times quite literally resemble a vampire. Well as I said I have responsibilities that require me being awake in less than 5 hours and an alarm clock that does not have either a snooze button nor off switch and which demands breakfast and cbeebies, so on that note I will bid you all adieu!