Slams

Sylvia Day wonders why the romance blogging community is such a shark pool with Can't We All Just Get Along? Alison Kent recently talked about how she is dealing with the shark attacks, and Holly discussed why she doesn't keep quiet on the tough issues.

I don't want the sharks to be nice to me. I avoid sharks. I don't worry about who is in my corner, because I already know exactly who is there, and I trust them implicitly. However tempting it is to defend myself, I generally don't.

Can't expect everyone to adore me. I really do try to live by those words.

Example: this morning I got a couple of e-mails about Lee Goldberg's recent post, and folks asking if I was going to respond. I could counter with my view, and a few facts about the reality of writing for the genre fiction market, but Lee's entitled to his opinion. He also has some insight into how the process is different for other writers. It's a good counterpoint post, even if it isn't particularly flattering.

You can't expect people to like you, or flatter you, or suck up to you 24/7. Not going to happen. Okay, if you're Neil Gaiman, maybe. But for the rest of us, it's an uphill battle with very few allies and lots of enemies all the way. And you already know the first thing that slides downhill, right? Expect to have many days when you get hit with a face full of it.

Wipe it off and keep moving, or throw it back. It's up to you.