Gerilyn Marin

(Okay, this is the first poem I've written in nearly two decades, so please be kind ^_^. I didn't even mean to get back into poetry, this just popped into my head and I knew I had to write it, and hoped it was worth sharing) BEAUTY IS NOT By Gerilyn Marin I submit to you that beauty is not a color. It is not a shape. It is not a weight. It is not a length of hair, nor a shade of locks. Beauty is within. It is a feeling. It is an essence. It is an air, A grace, A state of mind. If a person seems to possess none, Then I submit to you that you do not truly know them. You know not the battles they've fought. You know not the scars their hearts bear. You know not the burdens they carry with a smile. You know not the harsh realities Which have carved the hard edges you call Ugly. I submit to you that if you cannot find beauty in another, Then perhaps the fault lies in you.

Every now and again in life, we come to what seems a difficult decision, but once we've made that decision, we realize it wasn't hard at all, and we're perfectly at peace with the new path we've just created for ourselves. I've just reached one such juncture. As I watch author friends gush over this award and that list placement, I'm excited for them, but at the same time I realize that I don't mind not being there, ya know? I always knew I was going to have a tough go of it due to the limitations I place on myself because my suffocating social anxiety. Yes, I just admitted I place them on myself. No, that doesn't make them easier to overcome. I always worried I was going to miss out on something because I couldn't force myself to speak up, or reach out to this person, or that entity, or because self-promotion after a while makes me feel like I'm just slapping people in the face with my book. Those feelings were a heavy burden. Until I realiz

*links to articles follow post Yes, for those keeping up with the news, this is in response to the threats against Emma Watson following her eloquent, beautiful, thought-provoking speech on Gender Equality. She stated the truth-she said things that needed to be said for a LONG time. And yet . . . people have come out and threatened her for it. More mind-boggling, still, others are congratulating and back-patting those who made the threats. I'm not going to state anything as beautifully, or eloquently as Ms. Watson did, because I'm too angry. And my anger is justified. But I will use the words necessary to explain, not threats, nor belittlement, to express this feeling. Let's make one thing clear: Feminism is not man-hating. Feminism is not wanting to be better, or superior, or "more than" a man. Feminism is wanting to be EQUAL. The term was vilified at some point, and has received a negative stigma ever since, and its time we stop that. Its the idea that fem

I know, it's been a while since I've posted. I can't even try to make an excuse, often enough, it's simply that I forget in the grind between being mom & getting some writing done. But today, I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed and tripped over something that couldn't be ignored (from a writer's standpoint, I mean . . . on any given day someone shares some inflammatory thing that 'can't be ignored'). She'd shared her latest blog post, entitled: I was fired over erotic romance. Yup. So that you all understand exactly what the problem here is, I'll give you the rundown, but I've also gotten permission from my friend (fellow Curiosity Quills author, Ayden K. Morgen) to post the link to her post on the matter. Ayden was a stellar employee, never a write up, never a complaint, had a larger workload than her coworkers, but handled it without assistance, and during myriad personal issues. Yet, she was fired because . . . wait f

*NOTE: The following links are from Springhole.net, I am in no way affiliated with that site, or anyone connected with its creation, or maintenance . Okay, so a lot of folks out there already understand what the term "Mary Sue" (or, in the case of male characters, Gary Stu--yes, this is a thing), means. For those who don't and are curious, but don't want to ask for fear of feeling silly here's a helpful page to give you the rundown on this. What is a Mary Sue? Now, for the record, before anyone does any clicking, be aware that Mary Sues don't just appear in poorly written fanfiction (and, also for the record, the term 'poorly written' does not apply to all fanfiction--yes, I'm looking at you, people who have never even glanced at a fanfiction story [or read, literally, half of the first chapter of one fanfiction] but decided they must all be terribly written, Sue-infested rubbish). They also pop up in role playing games, and original ficti

Recently, I thought I'd been making strides, but then something happened that made me realize I hadn't come nearly as far as I'd believed. I received a very nice message from a book group, asking me if I'd like to add my book to their list, which was fine, but then the woman went on to talk about a possible opportunity to organize and lead book discussions. And I froze . That was it, that was all that happened. I thought about talking to a group of people and my heart was in my throat, my stomach twisted up in the most gods awful knot, and I had to remind myself to breathe. Social anxiety is not just shyness, it's not "oh, you're just introverted, lots of people are." I've spent my life with people telling me to get over it, or that it's in my head, it's not a real thing . In fact, when I didn't know what it was called, I used to try to explain it away as shyness, myself, but my friends (the people who really knew me) didn't