So I know that I'm not the best author blogger. I do have a life and review site to keep up with but I'm going to try this out every Sunday. My thoughts on what I've read or seen on Facebook. I'm not much of a Twitter person. In fact I'm impaired in that area so I'll talk about what I've seen and heard on Facebook.
So I'm scrolling through my news feed on FB and I see that an author has been booted out of her home room mother status because she writes erotic books. She is not ashamed of what she does and I agree that it shouldn't matter. But there is a slippery slope when it comes to writing and in some cases reviewing, too. I know another author that has had to put up with some nastiness in her town because of what she writes and that she lives the lifestyle. I've come up with some thoughts in random order about that slippery slope.
1. Pen name or not? I use a pen name even though most of my FB know what my real name is. My family and residents of the town I live in do not. So why do I keep my pen name a secret from them? Simple...I live in a very conservative area of Texas and trust me, I'm proud of what I do but I have also taken into consideration my son and my husband. They don't need the backlash (play dates, friends, business that my husband would lose).
2. Does it sound wrong? Should I shout it from the mountain tops? If I lived in a bigger town it wouldn't matter but it does here. It's not that appearance is the goal but in some ways it does. Would my husband be a baseball coach in our town? Would I have been accepted as a new person in our town? (Trust me, in our old town I never was and we lived there for 6 years. And no, they never knew what I did.) Would Brian have had the easy transition from the only life he knew to what he knows now? No he wouldn't.
3. Some things should be kept private in my opinion. What goes on your bedroom is one of them. I'm no prude but I don't go peaking between your sheets, so I would respect you enough to NOT go peaking in mine. Just because FSOG is out there, doesn't mean that everyone in the world has accepted it. Most haven't. It's human nature to not accept things that you don't know about but last judgement doesn't come from other people.
4. Remember that anyone and everyone reads Facebook. Nothing is sacred anymore. Big Brother is everywhere. Hence why I started using Facebook under my pen name. In laws were just a bit too nosy and somewhat judgemental. Yes, I have issues.
5. People have lost their jobs over Facebook postings. They've been outed. Again, keep this in mind when you want to talk about things.
6. Do I sound like a hypocrite? I hope not but I've decided to keep some things in my life private. My parents know the type of books that I review. They know that some of them are "naughty" but hey, my first naughty book my mom gave me to read. Lucky by Sandra Brown and I've never looked back. LOL! My dad got me hooked on James Patterson and Tom Clancy. Again, my family knows but most people in my town don't. Well...a couple of peeps do and they love it. ;)
What I'm trying to say is, THINK before you speak. Should it have mattered what the author did and been booted from home room mother duties? No and to make it worse, she had been the home room mother since her son was in preschool. I think it was at least 6 years. But just because of what she is doing now, she's not good enough? I cry foul on that.
Should the other author have to explain or not explain her lifestyle and then deal with the backlash that her son will eventually have over it? No she shouldn't. But again...some things should be kept private and she didn't keep some things that way.
As you can tell, I'm a conservative but I also feel that people should accept everyone for who and what they are. No one is perfect and no one will ever be. I don't lay in judgment over what someone does. I wasn't raised that way. I was raised to love everyone regardless of sex, race, religion, creed. Plus, living in the US we have the right to do what ever we want, say what we want and more importantly not be persecuted for it. But too many people have decided to be judge and jury and I find that horrible.
You died and made you God?
