Colleen's blog on this subject is a beautifully written post and I won't dare to summarize it. What she talks about every Indie sees. Even me. And I've only been in Indie World only 2 1/2 years.
I try to avoid the Indie wars. I don't take sides. I exist in my own zen place, even when I'm the target and I have been--once--I stay out of it. It's not my thing. Maybe it's because I'm a mother and some of it feels like the awful my daughters went through in junior and high school. Or maybe it's simply because half the time I don't understand it. I read post, angry post, after post where everyone in Indie world seems to know the 411 except me.
Sometimes I wish there was a one stop FB page, not for the drama but to decode it. As easy as it is not to participate doesn't make it easy not to have it churn in your mind. For a few weeks I kept seeing different Indie Rants #byefelicia. I didn't want to know about it, but the unavoidably human thing happened: I kept wondering, who the hell is Felicia. I've never heard of that author. I didn't want to think about her, but curiosity is a bitch. And I kept wondering. I wanted to focus on my writing and couldn't.
It was driving me crazy. I had to find out who Felicia was. And then my dear friend, the amazing Andrea said, no Susie, bye Felicia is a phrase. It means...
OH....
Now, I probably shouldn't share a story that makes me look really not 21st century, but I'm using it to illustrate what happens when we vent our unhappiness on social media. We assume everyone knows what we're talking about. I sure as hell didn't. And we assume everyone knows where we're coming from. I sure as hell didn't. And we make our hurts and offenses worse. I've seen things blow up on lovely authors and I've seen authors I don't know ruined by the social media Indie wars.
I guess what I'm saying is, we take for granted the power of social media and our own ability to express our thoughts clearly in this forum. And I would hope, people would think twice before they post something to harm another. You might end up harming yourself.... or in the least, sending a grandmother into ruin for a day and not writing because she can't figure out who Felicia is.
As ever I wish you love, happiness and peace.
I try to avoid the Indie wars. I don't take sides. I exist in my own zen place, even when I'm the target and I have been--once--I stay out of it. It's not my thing. Maybe it's because I'm a mother and some of it feels like the awful my daughters went through in junior and high school. Or maybe it's simply because half the time I don't understand it. I read post, angry post, after post where everyone in Indie world seems to know the 411 except me.
Sometimes I wish there was a one stop FB page, not for the drama but to decode it. As easy as it is not to participate doesn't make it easy not to have it churn in your mind. For a few weeks I kept seeing different Indie Rants #byefelicia. I didn't want to know about it, but the unavoidably human thing happened: I kept wondering, who the hell is Felicia. I've never heard of that author. I didn't want to think about her, but curiosity is a bitch. And I kept wondering. I wanted to focus on my writing and couldn't.
It was driving me crazy. I had to find out who Felicia was. And then my dear friend, the amazing Andrea said, no Susie, bye Felicia is a phrase. It means...
OH....
Now, I probably shouldn't share a story that makes me look really not 21st century, but I'm using it to illustrate what happens when we vent our unhappiness on social media. We assume everyone knows what we're talking about. I sure as hell didn't. And we assume everyone knows where we're coming from. I sure as hell didn't. And we make our hurts and offenses worse. I've seen things blow up on lovely authors and I've seen authors I don't know ruined by the social media Indie wars.
I guess what I'm saying is, we take for granted the power of social media and our own ability to express our thoughts clearly in this forum. And I would hope, people would think twice before they post something to harm another. You might end up harming yourself.... or in the least, sending a grandmother into ruin for a day and not writing because she can't figure out who Felicia is.
As ever I wish you love, happiness and peace.
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