I'm probably going to eat my words some time in the future

So this post will potentially become super embarrassing and inaccurate some years down the road, but I wanted to write this down.

I've sometimes been on the receiving end of condescension because I've never been in a romantic relationship, so people assume I have no idea what love is.

I just want to say:

(a) I read, and watch movies and TV shows, and listen to music. Probably 99% of pop culture is about romance, or at the very least includes romance. It is LAUGHABLE to assume I have no idea what love is supposed to be like.

(b) I'm a writer. Imagining how people feel in situations I've never personally been in before is kind of MY JOB. And how incapable of empathy do I have to be to not have any clue what love feels like?

I'm just super annoyed about this right now because I've spent the last several weeks writing a fanfic with fairly intense romance. Writing romance is not something I do very often, mostly because most of the romances I've read are pretty bad, so I had little interest. But that doesn't mean I'm incapable of it. And when I really get into it—as I have done, these past few weeks—I get really emotional. I have brought myself to tears.

So don't you dare tell me I don't know what love is.

I may not have the whole picture, but I sure as hell have an idea of it.