Say Anything: From back to school to trigger warnings by Anjee





I know, I know, where the hell have I been? Last you heard of me I was rejoicing in my love of Game of Thrones. I took a sabbatical since but I’m going to try and get back into the groove. I mean let’s face it, the kids are back in school and once the summer is over life will be back to normal.
I hope everyone has had a good summer, though. I took a huge break from reading and mostly the internet, sans real life stuff. I came back with wishful thinking that all the internet trolls would magically disappear back into their mountain. Alas, no such luck. I came back to tons ’o’ drama.


What do you think about the book world these days? With everything from trigger warnings ,*gasp* the horror, to people slandering each other in the name of internet bullies. I am not sure I want anything to do with said people. I get it, though, everyone has their thoughts and opinions. Hell, I have my own, which I try to express daily, but sometimes, just sometimes, I try to show a little tact. I have a very, very small tribe I can complain to without repercussions and backlash about everything in the book world. Do you have a tribe? How do you handle the ever changing so-called indie book world?

Let’s talk about this infamous trigger warning bullshit, shall we? Along time ago in a far away land before the internet, there was this thing called going to the library. We had sections and card catalogs; you would pull a book off of a shelf because of the title or cover, and you would look at the blurb on the back of the book.  Very vague ones, if my mind serves me correctly. I know it was a long time ago. Ancient even. Can you imagine? Trying to go through all those books just reading a vague blurb. I mean, when I picked up a Dean Koontz book for the first time I had no idea what it would be about, except some strange phenomenon and mystery, and that made me excited! Reading is about adventure.

I guess what I am trying to say is I do understand the trigger warning, but what I don’t understand is the incessant need to harp constantly on an author about said trigger warning. If you know by chance that there is going to be something in that particular book you don’t like, then just move on. It’s simple, really. No need to harp on it for days on end. No need to chastise the author for their creative works. They probably wrote the book for a reason, and it was not you. Yes, you are their cherished prize, a fan, and yes, you have a right to express yourself, but for the love of god, stop feeling like the whole world of authors owes you something. Nobody owes anyone anything. I am almost positive they love it when they make their readers happy and are extremely down when they don’t.  They have enough shit on their plate already. And as far as the authors go, they too need to stop playing into every damn drama induced social media forum and expect no backlash; I hope you realize people provoke you for a reason. Everyone is hiding behind their computers. There is no filter from our brain. I don’t have one right now, as a matter of fact, but what I do know is if I talked to you in real life I would say exactly this, and I wouldn’t take it back.  

I hope you find your tribe.



5 comments:

  1. Anjee, I am so in awe of this post and I frankly want to state the following, I love to read, I love to hear what a book is about. What I do not like is getting on Facebook and seeing all the mudslinging going on. It makes me want to never get on Facebook again!

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  2. You go girl!! Good point, well made.

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  3. I totally agree! Authors need to stop responding to every bit of criticism on social media. There are always going to be people who are going to criticize you or think you did something wrong, but you don't need to respond to it. Complain about it to a group of trusted friends, you don't need to respond to every single thing or try to explain away your reasoning. I think that's what annoys me even more than those criticizing.

    I just want to choose the books, read the books, review the books, and then discuss the books. Let's not complicate things, people!

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  4. Thanks ladies. I felt it needed to be said.

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