all that is gold – simone said what?

The Return of All That is Gold

March 27, 2021June 15, 2022by simone shirazi5 Comments

Back in January 2020, I removed one of my most popular stories from Wattpad. That story was called All That is Gold. I wrote a post about why I was removing it, but the gist of it was this: it no longer made me happy to have it posted online. So I took it down.

I’ve gotten hundreds of messages asking me why I took it down and if it would ever come back. For the longest time, I directed people to that post where I said I wasn’t sure if it would ever be back. And for a year, I really wasn’t sure if it would ever return to the internet. I didn’t want to open the document. I didn’t want to go back to that world. For an entire year, I wanted nothing to do with that story or those characters. It had all been tainted for me.

And then, one day, I realized I was ready to go back to it. The bad taste had finally left my mouth and I was ready to tackle that project again. I missed the story and those characters—a lot.

So here we are: All That is Gold will be coming to Radish on May 1st, 2021! Keep reading for all the details about its return!

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My Writing

Why I Decided to Take Down All That is Gold

January 20, 2020March 4, 2022by simone shirazi19 Comments

At the end of January, I’m going to be taking down a story of mine from Wattpad that has been posted there since 2015.

That story is All That is Gold, a fun, messy, satirical take on a high school hierarchy that used to bring me such joy. These days, though? No joy to be found, not an ounce in sight. And if I’ve learned anything from the lovely Marie Kondo, it’s to get rid of the things that don’t bring you joy.

It makes me really sad that I can’t feel joyful about that story anymore. Was it ever a favorite of mine? Goodness, no! But I loved the twists and turns, the character development and regression, and the commentary on our capitalist society. It was fun!! It was trashy!! It was a good time!!

And there are so many people out there who feel the same way about it. There are people who love that story and call it one of their favorites. I can’t possibly tell you just how much that means to me. I will always cherish the people who have been kind to me over the years and have shown me so much love. They’re the ones who make braving this scary internet world worth it.

But there’s definitely a lot of bad that comes with the good, and at this point, after five years, the bad has beaten me down. It’s stolen my joy, and the only way I can think of to get it back is to take down this story.

Plenty of people have asked me to explain why I’m planning to take it down, so let me share with you, point by point, why that’s going to be happening and what I’ve faced over the years.

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My Writing

Written in the Stars: Character Astrology, Part 1

September 29, 2019March 8, 2022by simone shirazi10 Comments

I’ll be the first to admit that I love astrology.

Do I truly believe in it? Uhhh… we’ll get back to that. Can your entire life and personality be boiled down to what a bunch of planets supposedly represent? No comment. Is it fun as heck to read about yourself and say, “Oh my God, that is so me,” to the vaguest descriptions? YES.

I know I’m not alone in that, which is probably why a common question I get about my characters is what’s their sign?

To all of those who have asked, I’m finally going to reveal the sun signs of my main characters! Of course, there’s more to astrology than sun signs (like moon signs, rising signs, etc.) but for the sake of my sanity, we gotta keep this simple.

In this post (Part 1) you’ll find the signs of the characters from The Fairytale Series (OUAONS, AN, Dryland, R&T) and All That is Gold. For my other stories and characters, check back in the future for Part 2!

Here we go!

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My Writing, Origin Stories

Origin Stories: All That is Gold

January 14, 2019January 28, 2019by simone shirazi17 Comments

Welcome back to another edition of Origin Stories where I talk about—you guessed it—the origins of the stories I’ve written so far! In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about All That is Gold.

I suggest reading the first post in this blog series before this one, which was about Once Upon a One Night Stand. Timeline wise, we’re picking back up at the Plagiarism Haven days, which I talk about a little bit there.

If you haven’t read this story, don’t worry! I’m going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible. But believe me, it’s a wild ride!

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