Small Black girl in traditional publishing regret: in Between Friends & Lovers when Mal and Jo first meet in her bedroom, he awkwardly says that he wasn’t there to steal her “panties.” He originally said “drawers.” It kept getting flagged on copy edits as “antiquated.” I put a lot of niche themes in my books that i know most readers will miss & was tired of fighting. And now I got this grown Black man saying “panties” on the page. If you’re in the group that raised their eyebrows I’m sorry!