We Are Human Too
I’ve been a writer practically all my life and I’ve been an author since Dec 2013. Since then I’ve seen a whole other side to the book world. Things that I would have never thought were a factor. So much unnecessary pettiness and jealousy. As an author we are expected to be these flawless creatures when the truth is we are not…we are human too! *Gasp* What do you mean?
I mean we are not perfect! We have bad days, good days, and in between days just like everyone else. We are expected to be these little balls of sunshine and light, when the truth is some of us are awkward, don’t like to socialize, and day dream 95% of our time. We aren’t intentional trying to be rude or come off as being too good for anyone else. What we are is human. And with being human it’s a fact that we will not do or say the right thing all the time. Sometimes we have just had enough and we snap. No warning…and it’s not because of one thing. It’s many things bottled up together and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the dam broke. You end up drowning in the backlash because you happened to be the poor unfortunate soul that was the last one to cross the line and we’d had enough.
But once this happens we end up being the bad guy. The drama queen. The one who doesn’t play well with others. But what everyone seems to forget is that we are human too. Everyone’s had a bad day on the job and lost their cool. Authors are no different but yet we are held on this pedestal and the one time we fall from it, the world suddenly seems to stop spinning and everyone losses their collective minds and the “she’s a bitch”, “I can’t believe she said that”, “I’ll never buy her books again” talk goes from 0 to 60 within the blink of an eye.
Someone says something negatively about us and we’re expected to sit there and take it. Someone steals something from us, we aren’t supposed to react in a way that is thought to be distasteful. And the list goes on and on and on. Now I understand everyone has opinions and they are entitled to them but with that being said, it seems everyone is entitled to their voice except authors because people buy our books. They want to be treated like customers but when you treat them like customers they still aren’t happy. They want the customer service and common courtesy aspect of purchasing our books but yet they want us to be approachable. However when we allow ourselves to become comfortable in their presence and share our lives with them, the first time we do something they deem inappropriate according to their standards they become enraged and shun not only us but our work. They say we should be more professional and our attitudes suck but what they fail to realize is we’ve taken them into our circle and have shown them the person behind the mask. However since that person isn’t who they wanted or thought they were all hell breaks loose. Then we are told to sit back and let someone drag us through the mud all because they paid the $2.99-$4.99 four our digital books. So we can no longer be human because a price has been added to our name?
You can’t have say you want us to interact and engage with you more but when we do so in a way you don’t want, immediately try to ruin us because we haven’t conformed to the standard you believe we should. We are human too and that means we are complex and most of us our set in our ways. I’ve never agreed with the concept that I had to like a person to enjoy their talent. My motto has always been “unless you directly burn me, do you boo boo.” Who am I to demand a person act/be/portray themselves in a certain way because I purchased a book from them? No one that’s who. If I don’t like something someone says I move on. I don’t need to bash everything about them because they don’t believe the way I believe or do things the way I would do them. Sometimes I think social media has ruin a good thing. It’s ruined the mystery and intrigue and it’s put people into tiny glass houses that can be crushed at the slightest perceived wrong.
A lot of people will probably be offended by my words and I may even lose a few readers, co-workers, etc but I don’t care. I’m tired of standing in the background and watching people say they are letting someone else chase them from their dreams. I’m tired of watching videos of fellow authors in tears because of something someone’s said or lied about them and now they are devastated. I’m tired of people believing they have the right to say whatever they want to an author because they purchased their book/s. If that is the case then please don’t purchase mine. I am not for sell. My behavior is not for sale. My obedience is not for sale. The last time a person believed because they spend money on someone they had the right to tell them what to do, how to act, and what to believe, I’m pretty sure it was called SLAVERY and I will not be a slave to anyone. The day I even feel like I am a slave to what is my passion I will pull everything that is me from the internet as best I can and take my life back.
Spending money on a product doesn’t make you the owner of the person who developed it. Purchasing music or a movie doesn’t give me the right to tell the artist or actors how they should be living their life. They did a job and they were paid. How they behave outside of that is frankly none of my damn business.
The next time you decided to speak about something that an author does and you don’t like/think they should have done please…if you remember nothing else…remember this one thing: WE ARE HUMAN TOO!!!
The Ramblings Of Me 