So what did these characters teach you about patience and who you are as a writer?

I think it's patience to let the story unravel.

In this book in particular, If Only You Knew, um, as I mentioned, they're both, they're either 30 or about to hit 30.

And I think there's this perception of 30, I think, when you're growing up as, like, that's the year where you're gonna have your things together, um, where you're gonna have your partner.

Maybe you're thinking about kids, maybe you're not thinking about kids, but you have your career in order.

Um, and it's not that I didn't have all that by the time I hit 30, but I think it was just the realization that maybe, like, I do have my things together, but they're not the things that I kind of want anymore.

Um, so I think that, I mean, that was really something that I wanted to convey with this book, was that whether it's, it's not together by 30 or whether it is together by 30, but you don't want the same things that you wanted from before, it's okay to pivot.

"I'm not your homeland anymore, so what am I defending now? You were my town, now I'm an exile seeing you out."