If you’d like to chime in and let us know your answers to the questions or drop a link to your post if you’re participating, please do so in the comments! And check out the IWSG website for more answers!
January 8 question – Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?
Jayden: One of my first crushes was a guy I grew up with. Our moms were friends, and I had this HUGE crush on him. As a teenager, it turned out that he was interested in me in a romantic way. I was thrilled (of course). We ended up dating for a year and a half, and what I realized was that the guy I was in love with in my head was made up. He wasn’t the actual person I was dating. As an adult, we’re still peripherally connected. We’ve both been married and had children. I realize a lot of things about him that were not what I thought when I was a kid, nor what I thought as a teen. No regrets, though. It’s part of my growing up story and led me to where I am today.
J R Vincente 
Your post shows how much our understanding changes from childhood to young adult to whatever we are now. First love. This could be a much longer story. I found it moving that you still are relatively in touch. May 2025 bring you new stories. Your blog heading suggests you write erotica. I’m curious to learn how your writing path took that direction. What were the challenges? What would you change, if anything? Hope you write more . . . https://bethandwriting.blogspot.com/
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Hello! It is definitely a much longer story, as many of mine tend to be!
Thank you, and I hope to write much more in 2025!
I do write erotica! I started with mysteries. I remember writing them in high school (and might even have an embarrassing draft around somewhere). I also wrote poetry and a bit of music as young as middle school. I think erotica started as cyber sex for me, and then I realized I could just write stories. I was publishing on literotica.com before I should have been able to. And then I found NaNoWriMo and started writing longer-form. That wasn’t a surprise. Once I start writing, it’s hard to get me to stop! I have written 50,000 words in 24 hours. It’s kind of insane, but sometimes I can’t help it!
I don’t think I would change anything for myself or my writing. I do wish that it were more socially acceptable to write erotica. I can’t exactly go around telling all of my colleagues that I self-publish erotica on the side! It’s disappointing.
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Don’t hold back, whether it’s writing erotica or anything else. People will judge you no matter what, so why not pursue what makes you truly alive? Everything else is fleeting. Coming from someone who went from acing every test and graduating Magna Cum Laude to embracing a career in the adult industry, if it sparks something in you, that’s what matters most. Society won’t make you feel alive. Only you can do that.
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Very true! I am a very happy K-12 teacher, though, so I do have to be careful to protect that job which I love. 🙂 Once I retire from education, all bets are off! But for now, I’m enjoying writing for the love of it and self-publishing just to share with the world.
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