//Disclaimer: this post might have minor spoilers

So when I saw this, I immediately knew this wasn’t going to fit in one tweet. I’m just going to write an answer and see how low this’ll be, then decide if I’m going to tread it, post it on my blog, or both.

For those who don’t know about this, #ilovemyWIP is a hashtag game by @rq_woodward (https://twitter.com/rq_woodward) on Twitter (please correct me if I’m wrong?). Here’s where us writers gush about our own work :3

Self-doubt and feeling like your writing is trash is an ordeal most writers are familiar with, including me, so I thought this to be some good self-care as well as an opportunity to spread the word about my WIP.

TRUTHS about the WIP I love!

There’s actually a lot of truths I put into Salandrine. It’s not an autobiography, well obviously, since it’s high fantasy… no that’s not really a reason, but it’s not. It does, however, speak truth on some things I’ve personally experienced. When it comes to most of the things Salandrine feels, the angst, the intrusive thoughts, the depression, it’s all me spilling my heart on paper. I’ve lived through feeling inadequate, I’ve been suicidal, I’ve had panic attacks, and I’ve had the meltdowns and shutdowns Salandrine experiences as an Autistic person. And as the plot progresses and Salandrine survives assassinations and abuse (the latter being familiar to some degree), she learns to cope, and the healing process begins, which events, again carry truths of mine.

At the moment I’m getting to the part where she’s grown in terms of self-esteem and she’s starting to react differently, see things differently than she’s had before. It hadn’t been that long for me that I stood in that moment of my own personal growth. And during this last ACT of the book, I’ll be adding truths current to my life, about standing up for yourself, about self-expression, about processing the past and giving it a place, about self-love… I guess about a lot of things.

So you might have guessed it, Salandrine is partially based off of me. There’s also another character who I’ve based off of a psychologist I’ve known and my own mom (xD). And I might have unconsciously put some of my brothers into Kasim.

When I started writing Salandrine, it hadn’t been my intention to put in all of those experiences and feelings, but it sort of developed that way as the story grew and the characters came into their own. I’m not sorry about it. I’m happy. I’m happy I got a way to express myself and share this little bit of myself with people who might feel a little less alone and hopefully empowered by reading this journey. It’s been a tough one, for me, for Salandrine (xD), but it was worth it so far.

So that’s my #ilovemyWIP for this week. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask me anything 🙂