I'm a little confused as to why you changed the main character's name from "Beth" to "Lydia"; I was always fond of "Beth", so I don't really know why the change was made. "Lydia" isn't much of an improvement.

I find that I myself struggle a lot with finding the right names too, especially for the protagonist or main character. So in that respect I know where you're coming from. You want to find a name that may have some special meaning, a name that sounds good (let's face it: we all want that), and a name that you don't mind typing over and over again. Of course, since the story is pretty much the same--the only big change was the name--I imagine that you simply did a Find-and-Replace edit in Microsoft Word. I'm not condemning the change: as I said, I myself struggle with finding names I like and can stand reading and writing again and again. So there's not much I can offer in terms of advice. If you were ever curious as to how the readers on Fictionpress were reacting to the name Beth, just know that I had absolutely no problem with it.

As for actually reviewing the story, I can say that it was written better than most, and although it does walk the line between cliched angst and self-pity, I felt that Beth had enough flaws to make her human enough to read. Even though written aptly in third person, it's mainly from Beth's point of view, so it's not a huge leap that she doesn't understand why her parents (and her family in general) doesn't notice all the sh*t that's prevailing her life: as the narration says, "they really didn't notice." The reasoning behind them not noticing is a little much. We aren't given much in terms of an explanation; the family is just too busy. At least, this is how Beth sees it. Third person narrative allows some leeway into shedding light on things that one character might not necessarily see, but since this is probably what creative writing teachers would call "Third Person Limited", we are in essence limited to Beth, not her family. Towards the end, it's sad that Beth doesn't reconcile with her parents, but then again not everybody does. We get a small glimpse into her mother's take on things, but again it's mostly about Beth. I'm guessing that it was put there for some reason, so I'm going to assume that it's important. And if it's important, it can be expanded upon. If I can suggest anything, it would be that you answer this question: "Why does Beth's mother think Beth isn't good enough?" Where Beth comes from has a clear impact on who she is today, as this story aims to convey, so at least in my mind it's worth exploring.

One final note. The entire story being in italics is different, but I don't really see the point of it. If it were a flashback to some other story, then italics would make sense, but since this is a stand-alone short story, is it really necessary? I suProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ose we could always chalk that decision up to style, but I thought I'd raise the questi