Toni

I'm an American woman in her mid-forties who likes to read. I appreciate intelligent stories with well developed characters. I read to escape, and lately I've been on a romance bender. I'm also a fan of fantasy, science fiction and horror.

My intellectual passion is psychology and sociology, though I was not able to finish college due to Lupus (no, not lycanthropy 😉) and fibromyalgia. I also fight bipolar disorder. So far I'm winning.  Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) is a neurobiological brain disorder that affects approximately 2.3 million Americans today, or almost 1 percent of the population. Individuals diagnosed with this disease have mood swings that alternate from periods of severe highs (mania) to extreme lows (depression). [There are also subtypes of the disorder.] Suicide is the number one cause of premature death among people with bipolar disorder, with 15 percent to 17 percent taking their own lives as a result of negative symptoms that come from untreated illness. Taken from: https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/medical/bipolar-facts.html

Please stop "armchair diagnosing" characters with the disorder just because they change their minds or are a bit moody. Bipolar is not a personality trait. 

I'm a widow and a cat lover. Don't judge yet! I only have two cats! 😼🐱

I look at writing as weaving a magical spell. The story should lull and guide the readers mind to another world. 
💕🎩✒

FYI...
smelt:  verb
extract (metal) from its ore by a process involving heating and melting. Extract a metal from (ore) by smelting

 smell:
verb:  past tense: smelled; past participle: smelled