#DontBeADick – final words of ex-author CM Foss
Author CM Foss quits writing, partly because of negative backlash.Whitney Dineen asks us to consider her final words as an author… #dontbeadick.
I’ve recently stumbled into a bit of controversy in my career as a romantic comedy author. A couple of months ago I released an anticipated sequel to a much loved book. As a result, some of my fans are infuriated with me, as in spitting, hock-a-loogie mad. As in, “I’m never reading your books again, you horrible woman…” irate.
Every author receives negative views, it’s expected. It’s almost a rite of passage to get your first 1-star review on a new release. Yet I’ve noticed a trend lately. There’s a new nastiness to reviews that didn’t seem to exist before social media became our “go-to” avenue of communication. It’s been a human characteristic since Aesop – familiarity breeds contempt.
Once upon a time, when the only way to communicate with an author was to write them a letter and send it to their publisher, people didn’t unleash their vitriol so freely. If it took time and effort and they had to think, “Is this really worth doing? Do I really feel this passionately?” many would realize their feelings were not particularly that strong, or could be phrased in a more constructive way. It was a heat of the moment thing.
In our current media-driven “my life is your life” culture where nothing is private, the barriers are lowered. People feel comfortable slinging their opinions willy nilly as though there aren’t real people behind the tens of thousands of written words and hundreds of hours of sweat and tears involved in completing a manuscript.
I was toodling around a fellow author’s page on Facebook the other day and came across an announcement that author CM Foss was stepping out of the writing game. CM is known for writing contemporary romances. In her swan song letter of resignation, as it were, she states the following:
“I have watched others (and certainly been there myself) literally killing themselves to get a book out. They do a million takeovers, give away thousands of books, give gift cards of their own money, mail out paperbacks and swag like it’s free, politely beg for reviews, entertain, hold their tongue when their work is torn apart and shrug off senseless character attacks. Daily.”
She goes on to say:
“As for me, I’ll be closing my laptop and unplugging my Kindle. I’ll be reading old-fashioned paperbacks and re-reading old favorites. My writing life is a chapter closed. My books are unpublished. My last stash has been signed and shipped to The Bookworm Box, so if you get a hankerin’ for one, give them your money. They’ll do right by it.”
She signs her letter: “God bless, peace out, and #dontbeadick”
I’m not exactly sure what pushed CM Foss to walk away from six published works. She’s held strong to her word on leaving the industry and hasn’t responded to my attempts at communication. It seems, though, her decision is at least in part a result of shoddy treatment by some readers. And she is/was an author with very good reviews.
The #dontbeadick hashtag got me to thinking. Vitriol has become acceptable in our world. I’m not sure where manners have gone. Perhaps we are all so desperate to have someone hear us that we go overboard in our opinions to reach that aim.
I, for one, am pleased when a reviewer doesn’t like my work and takes well thought out time to explain their opinion – honestly, not hatefully. Often I don’t agree, because hey, I’m my biggest fan. But I do think about what they say and it does impact my future work.
One woman counted the times I used vulgarity in one book. It was part of her review. At first I was offended. Vulgarity is part of our world. When my character is screaming mad, I will not have her yell, “Geezy Pete, you hurt my feelings!”. But you know what? That review weighed heavily on my mind when I wrote my next book and I consciously realized vulgarity was not needed as frequently.
Book reviews are just one small part of this epidemic. Last week I saw a video on social media about a woman berating a checker at Walmart for being slow and messing things up. It turns out his mother had died that morning and he had to go to work because he was now the head of his household and they needed the money, and because he had added burial expenses.
I was in a restaurant last week when a lady at the table next to us unleashed a torrent of rage on the server because her food wasn’t prepared exactly to her specifications. She made threats and demands with spittle flying. The poor server was near tears.
This morning, I was driving down a road near my house, to see the car in front of me tailgating the car in front of him. When the road opened to two lanes, he drove by the other car, laid on his horn and gave the driver the finger. As I passed, I noticed the slow driver was an old woman who looked scared out of her mind.
What’s happened to our ability to react proportionately? Do we all feel so small, so under-appreciated in our lives that we need to lash out at others in an attempt to regain our power?
There’s something to be said for catching more flies with honey than crap. If your food comes out cold, send it back. If your checker at Walmart is slow, cut them some slack for being human with problems just like the rest of us. If you don’t like a book, say why you don’t like it in a constructive way. When an old woman is driving slowly in front of you, don’t tailgate her and make her more fearful. Go the extra mile to be thoughtful and on point, not malicious and out of control.
Don’t let compassion become extinct. Let’s use it and do unto others as we would have them do unto us. And when you’re full of righteous indignation and fury at an author, waiter, checkout clerk or old woman in traffic, remember the thoughtful words of author, CM Foss… #dontbeadick.
