A Declaration for the Coming Year(s)
I remember taking this picture, it’s one of my favorites. I wasn’t supposed to pull a face.
I was supposed to be sitting down to get my hair done by my mom, which even she would tell you was a miserable part of every day of my childhood. I wasn’t the most cooperative or patient, and I have the world’s most tender head. I didn’t want to be doing any of what we had going on – whatever I was dressed up for, or getting my picture taken in the living room – but this is still one of my favorite pictures of me. Why? Because it’s truly me. Bad hair, chin up, hands on my hips, tongue out, defiant in the moment. It’s just me. I wasn’t a bad kid, or even that difficult most days, but I’ve always wanted to be myself, and this is my reminder of that.
When I decided to try this whole becoming an author thing, I heard and read advice from professionals in the business about minding your P’s and Q’s. About building a “brand’ online and maintaining it. About maintaining composure and output and opinions. Prior to signing a publishing contract, I did that to a degree. I created a professional Facebook page, a long time ago I had a Twitter account, and an Instagram account. I wasn’t any good at it. So bad, in fact, that I have fewer followers on my professional Facebook page than I do on my personal Facebook page, which is really kind of funny if you think about it. Even people who know the real me weren’t impressed with that pretend author me!
When I finally did sign a book deal for The Myth Maker, I thought a lot about what I was going to do with it online. I’ve tried to be cautious and not swear too much but, my previous existence online is already there and the day after FB dropped moderators, my book cover was marked as indecent content. A few minutes later, I got notice that my headshot had also been flagged as indecent content. Neither image could be shared by my page, and because it was my banner and my profile picture, I couldn’t share anything from that page at all. I fought it for two weeks before I gave in and changed both. That I had to give in, even though the same images exist on the page without issue, still pisses me off. Almost as much as it pisses me off to clear the dating site emails out of my trash box after someone recently signed me up using my author email as an eligible single lady. The internet trolls are so much fun!
I considered staying quiet about my opinions. I considered not making that part of my “author persona” and I’ve even given it a shot. I’ve never posted politics on Instagram or my author’s Facebook page, and I have separate Bluesky and Substack accounts so I could try to keep one about books. It hasn’t worked. It’s just my luck that this big break into publishing would coincide with world chaos. I’m not going to obsess about it on this blog or my other socials that I still maintain, but I can’t promise it won’t pop up. I can actually promise it probably will pop up.
The world is changing around us in ways I have no control over right now, and a lot of it is changing in the wrong direction. While we monitor these changes, I’m going to write more novels, and celebrate selling a novel – No small feat! – and I’m going to enjoy the parts I do have control over. There’s a novel I’m finishing up now that I hope will follow on the heels of The Myth Maker, because I have so many characters and stories I want to share, and I can’t wait to write about them all. And while I’m not that 9-year-old in the photo anymore, I still have opinions – so with my chin up, hands on my hips, and my tongue out in defiance, I will write about things that touch me. I will write about politics and policies. I will write about fighting for our rights. I will write about protests. Out of spite or fear or excitement, sadness, rage, or joy – I will write – and here on out, I will write only as me.