There’s a Place For Us…

For whatever reason, I have old songs running through my head lately…like the one from West Side Story. But old musicals aren’t the topic of my blog today. Instead, I wanted to talk about something that I read in a Facebook post. The other day I read a post that greatly saddened me. Apparently, an author told a fellow author their stories were crap packaged in a pretty color (I’m paraphrasing here). Now, I want to say for the record, I didn’t see the exchange, nor do I know the accuracy of what was shared. I was only reacting to what I’d read. Granted, social media is notoriously full of misinformation. But this blog also isn’t about reviews per se, either.

What I thought to myself was, if there was even a grain of truth to this, there’s a place for all of us. Most every fellow author, no matter how large or small they are, has a loyal following. A group of readers that come to the author’s defense at even a hint of negativism. It seems almost grossly exaggerated in our tiny pool of lesfic/WLW/Sapphic literature (whatever label is preferred, and yes, I also know about the debate on those labels, that’s a topic for another blog). We can co-exist in the pool and cheer one another along as we make our laps. I don’t even mind when we cross into another’s lane to keep them from drowning. I’m a reader as much as a writer, so I get that leaving reviews is acceptable (except on Amazon where they have rules against one author leaving a review for another in the same genre).

With the increased competition in our tiny pool, maybe getting our laps in is a lot harder now, and that leads to bad behavior. But let’s remember that everyone deserves to be in that pool because someone out there is cheering them on. None of us will appeal to every reader. That’s just a fact. Try to remember this pool does not exist in an exclusive club. It’s a public pool. All are welcome. As we lift our heads to take a breath, listen for the claps, not the boos because the claps are always there. Write on, fellow writers, and live your passion! I found mine again, so if you want to check out my books to see if they appeal to you, just click one of the links below! Want to keep up with all my new releases and get FREE SHORT STORIES…sign up for my mailing list by clicking this link: http://eepurl.com/cS3amj