I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things, but I realize not every one of my thoughts needs to be seen by every person. That’s why I limited the audience on this series, so my thoughts are only shared with people that might benefit from it.

Even though the audience on these posts will be limited, I still opted to change names and tweak situations in order to provide privacy to the very real humans that appear in my writing. All the key facts are accurate, but I made just enough adjustments to the details that nobody will ever know who I’m writing about. It would be hypocritical for me to do otherwise, akin to publicly blasting people from my past — and let the one without sin cast the first stone, right?

I also will never share these pieces with any of the people that appear in them. I firmly believe that people have the capacity to change, and that many people do indeed change for the better. I’m not going to shame people for something they said or did over half a lifetime ago (or even just a few weeks ago), knowing they probably already feel bad enough about it as is. Not to mention, I’ve done my fair share of stupid, thoughtless things and certainly wouldn’t want it rubbed in my face. So I’m extending the same courtesy to others that I hope they would extend to me if the roles were reversed.

For those that request access to these posts, you may notice some trends in the names I use. Yes, I did choose names from the movie “Mean Girls.” I encountered a lot of Plastic-esque people in my life, plus a lot of “happy plastic people under shiny plastic steeples.” So using names of Plastics felt logical, and of course a bit cheeky. I used the same names to reflect different antagonists and protagonists — for example, while the name Regina might appear across multiple posts, it’s not necessarily referring to the same person from the previous publication.

And for all inquiring minds, with or without read access, the series title “The Burn Book” is mainly because I wanted to keep with a “Mean Girls” theme. If you know me, you know I am a sucker for consistent theming. These posts definitely contain unpleasant information, but do not contain any false or misleading statements, and are certainly not intended to hurt people or cause drama — hence changing names and places and tweaking situations, plus limiting the audience to the extreme. Taking private trauma from my past and making it public would be a very Mean Girl move, and I like to think I’m actually quite nice, so here we are.

If you’re struggling with Plastics in your life (or even happy plastic people under shiny plastic steeples), what I have to share might encourage you. Shoot me a message, I’ll get you the password. On the other hand, if you’re just looking for dirt to dig up or drama to digest, keep on scrolling. This isn’t for you. 🙂