What I’m wearing as I type this…
Victoria’s Secret Modal Tank & Pants set (in black, obviously). I walked into a VS store in NC and spent too much money, but this was the very first thing I grabbed and I have been living (working) in it. I sit cross legged at my desk and this allows all of that to happen with extreme ease. It’s like working while being cocooned in a cloud. Please buy this. I will be buying it again as soon as more Wall Street investors upgrade to that paid option, and I will wear it Monday through Friday, 10:30-3:30 (my work schedule; I take an hour and a half to workout in the morning and obviously I cannot sweat in this because that’s offensive).
I’m wearing it here while standing precariously on the stairs, and the aforementioned ab workout ended with the next shot:
Asking people if it’s okay to write…
The “cancelling” or even simply a very strong aversion (coupled with a little bullying) to controversial topics in books seems to be gaining steam. TikTok and IG Reels are notorious for “here’s what we hate” hot takes (I made that bit up in the quotes; sometimes it’s what “gives them the ick”, what tropes they avoid, what’s a dealbreaker for them, etc, etc). Often it’s pretty big red flags like non-con (non consent; arguably a prettier word for rape) or cheating, which can be fairly common in the subgenre of dark romance (and this category in itself should have its own more niche genres, too), but sometimes it’s less red flag and more “hmm, that’s an interesting take.” Some things I’ve personally seen listed: Pregnancy, friends to lovers, nice guys, blond guys, etc, etc.
This can leave writers scrambling, which in itself is fascinating.
If a video like those mentioned above has went viral and you’re writing a novel with one of the disliked points in it and see hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of readers dislike the same things, you might question your entire manuscript. Maybe even toss it into the trash.
I’ve seen posts lamenting just that, asking for advice, crowdsourcing Threads that they’re allowed to continue writing what they had, please go on, I’ve been looking for specifically this.
Because it turns out everyone has an opinion, they just don’t all get to be the loudest in the room. The quieter ones, though, their money works just fine too and while they might not go viral talking about how much they love your book, you still got the sale. It counts. Keep writing it.
But maybe more importantly: No one ever came to the top of their field from doing a paint-by-number situation of someone else.
In other words, why do we care so very much—to the point we quit before we’ve even begun—what everyone else thinks of our work that’s never been seen? It’s like standing at the starting line of a race and ensuring our steps are in sync with the next woman over when the whistle blows, and also we need to wear the same shoes and have our socks pulled to the same height and while we’re at it let’s grab the same brand tank top and you know what, forget participating in the race, I need to go back to the store to copy her outfit completely then I’ll jump back in (race is done; go home).
Yeah, strange analogies are my thing but really, why have we forgotten how to think on our own?
Maybe because it’s safer to have the backing of the majority. It always has been, of course. This goes back to our need for survival where standing out too much in the early history of our evolution could mean death. Abandonment, being a lone wolf, it doesn’t nourish a human.