I feel bad for just disappearing after saying things were going rough without at least SOME form of explanation, so I feel like I need to clear some stuff up. I'm aware that saying some of this may or may not basically exile me, but I've got to get it off of my chest.

I'm a teenager.

In my late teens now, but still much younger than I'm sure most of you expected.

Why did I do my best to avoid pinning down my age? Mainly because I was afraid of people telling me I was too young, even though I only really got into the more questionable material after I had reached the right age to see it. I thought being so young would make me difficult to respect compared to people here who are twice as old as I am.

Which leads directly onto my next problem. I've been feeling guilty recently about keeping this interest of mine a secret from my family. Mainly because the last time I tried to explain my feelings to my mother she got particularly upset and wouldn't look me in the eye until I told her I had stopped. That was true for about a year, but the urges kind of built up in me again and I snuck back on to dA. The rest, as they say, is history.

So my current problem is thus - how do I break the news to her? I really don't know how to express myself here without coming across as being offensive or disturbing.

And as for the lack of time and funds? That's mainly university rolling in, and it's coming with its own heap of problems. Things have, in general, really not been going well.

Anyway, that's about all I can spew in terms of my sob story. Apologies again for the insincerity, but with any luck I can be more honest now. Any help would be appreciated.