For all you soon-to-be authors out there who really want to know what being in the public eye (really just a glimpse of the public eye because I am not Hollywood) can be like, I’m sharing this with you.  I want you to understand that you have to take the glory and the “stank” with the job.

Plus…

I might as well put it out there.  Only because I’m not sure how crazy this person is. 

And…

Everyone likes gossip.  We all curl up to our computers when a juicy story hits the wire.  We laugh and say “oh my goodness” knowing the entire time we love it when there is “crap” in the game.

So here it goes…

RiverHouse has asked the person who I recently discussed as part of my “This Is Where I Draw the Line” blog entry to permanently stop emailing me.  I had to call my lawyer this late at night and have him type up an email to her, because I have received my fourth lengthy email from her in less than 48 hours.  She went from attacking the book to a long apology to now just pissed off! 

Evidently, as soon as she said she didn’t mean to offend me, I was supposed to forget that it ever happened.  But what I wonder is if she would have apologized at all if I had not stood up for myself.  And the entry was not just about her, but people like her in general.  She was just the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. 

I’m sure now, she’ll move on to blasting me whenever and wherever she gets a chance.  I’ll have reviews that start out, “I hate her” or “This author is unprofessional and petty” or “I want to put a hit on this woman” But like my mom says, “I have the blood of Jesus.” So, even if it gets to that, I’ve got someone who has my back.

In the email, she threatens to go to book retailers and ask them to take down my work, accuses me of milking my fans for sympathy and basically getting pissed, because I did not accept her apology.  Childish.  I know.  But in the vein of PR, it’s better that I say something now, before she starts a full-on assault campaign to smear my name like Philadelphia Cheese to a warm bagel. 

But you know how these things go.  Scorned people have a tendency to get really “crazy”.  Lord knows I have had my share of crazy people communicate with me.  Probably ten percent of the emails I get per day.  At over 100 emails a day, you do the math.  However, they tend to send one email, not four.

A smart person would take down their email address, but there are so many great readers and reviewers, until you have to take these things as part of the job.  As a courtesy to her, however, I did take down her email address so that the 10,000 readers and hits on this blog wouldn’t have personal access to her they way that she has to me.  Imagine how full her email box would be!  Plus, a dose of her own medicine would be fun but not cool on my part.

I think she’s pissed that I told her and people like her how I really felt about personal attacks.  I know that she’s pissed that I actually stood up for myself.  I think she thinks that just because she purchased a book, I must then be deaf and mute, unable to defend myself against her.  Some of the best authors I know are some of the feistiest.  I dare you to send some of these authors a crazy email and expect not to get a reply. Or better yet, many authors don’t reply at all one way or the other.    So it’s a catch 22.

Some of the authors I know go as far as getting on Amazon and going head up with people about their work.  This woman came to my blog, posted and then got upset when she got a response.  Go figure. 

Anyway, tonight, we’re holding a burial ceremony for this subject and this reader. 

Keep in mind, this is not for all reviewers who just don’t like my work.  I’ve learned a lot from the reviewers who have taken time to share their thoughts and make suggestions.  Even the ones who have been really crude have had great points, and I used them to make myself a better author.  I still encourage them to write to me, to share their thoughts and not worry about being attacked.  It’s just that if you have something “horrid” to say, expect a horrid response. 

This burial ceremony is for this particular reader.  I don’t want to deal with her anymore, and I’m growing bored and tired with the entire thing.   I say her, but I don’t even know this person’s name.  She could very well be a 600 pound man who lives on the computer, cross dresses and likes to be called Mary.

I don’t have a priest here at the house, so I’ll just say about this reviewer who is now dead to us all that God Bless Her and Give Her a Life of Abundance and Grace, and please Lord don’t let our paths cross again.
XoXo and all that jazz,

Latrivia