Guess I should give my opinion on the Whole Stalker Thing

So the internet exploded a few weeks ago. Then it got worse.

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about it from both sides – from outrage to defending stalking, and some actions people are taking. I totally support the idea of doing a media blackout – as far as I’m concerned, no one has the right to demand only positive reviews. It’s not authentic, and I find as a writer (specifically, now that I have something out there and I’m not theoretically wangsting) the hardest part for me isn’t that everyone doesn’t adore my ideas, so much as they won’t discuss the moral themes, but eeeeeh, I’ll take my first world problems and suck it up.

More importantly, no one should be threatened for speaking up.

I just want to throw some more food for thought out there. I have online friends who I’ve never met IRL – after a few years, we start to trust each other and can mail stuff and whatever. However, I’m overly cautious and I think everyone should be really careful of who they trust online. I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t use your real name/picture and what not. There’s a lot of people online, not all of whom are in healthy places mentally. That’s completely ignoring the people who are genuinely mean or like drama, or think they need to teach people ‘lessons’. I meet a lot of people in my day job – keep in mind I see a very select portion of the population, and no one calls 911 because they’re having a good day and they’d like to celebrate responsibly – and I just want to say that a negative review isn’t a sign of disrespect. However, there is no reason to find people out or cause them harm – especially over a book. If we happen to meet IRL at say, a book reading or a writing thing, and you happen to say something like, “Yo, you kinda suck LOL.” I promise I’ll only be a sassy bitch if you’re being overly obnoxious in other ways. It usually take meeting me more than once for me to talk like that (ask me coworkers), and I know when to and not to use it. Oh, a skill I wish I would have developed earlier in life…

I guess all I want to say is book reviewers, keep sticking up for one another, and if you think someone is in trouble, please say something to someone, even if you don’t know what to do. Monsters are real, and they want you to be quiet and let them tear you apart. Don’t let them.

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