I stopped reading when I was 30. You can fill in all the stereotypes of a girl with a book glued to her face during every meal, every break, and 10 hours a day on holidays.

That was me.

And then it was not.

For 9 years I’ve been trying to figure out why. I mean, I still read. Technically. But not with the feral devotion from Before. And I finally figured out why. See, every few years I would shift genres to fit my developmental stage:

• Kid → Adventure cause that's what life is
• Early Teen → Literature cause everything is complicated now
• Late Teen → Romance cause omg what is this wonderful feeling?
• Early Adult → Fantasy & Scifi cause everything is dreaming big

And then I wanted babies and there was nothing.

I mean, I always wanted babies, but it became my main mission in life at age 30. I managed it. I have two. But not thanks to any stories.

See women in fiction don’t have babies, and if they do they are off screen, or if they are not then nothing else is happening. It took me six years [...]

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First published:

Source:

Linkpost URL:
https://shoshanigans.substack.com/p/the-missing-genre-heroic-parenthood

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.