A Great New Opportunity for Independent Authors

There are so many guilds and places out there in the web stratosphere claiming to be the next greatest thing, offering tips, insights, helps and yet most of them don't live up to their claims. This makes me so proud to announce the formation of WASSUP-AUTHORS.COM  It's a true guild for independent authors without the life crushing requirements of other organizations. (you've looked at them and know exactly what I mean!)

WASSUP is truly unique in what it offers to authors as support, opportunities, and a tight knit community of authors, editors, bloggers, and graphic design artists supporting each other. Stop by and check them out!

Best of all, you don't have to be an author to visit/browse the website. In fact, many of the sections are public to visit where discovering a new book/author is easy! Members only have access to a wealth of information and support. So stop by and check them out!

the Life of a Troll

The definition of a troll is: a mythical, cave-dwelling being depicted in folklore as either a giant or a dwarf, typically having a very ugly appearance.


With that being said, it's easy to see how that connotation has been modified to fit many keyboard warriors that have nothing better to do with their sad, miserable existence than seek out others and belittle, taunt, bully, and attack from behind a screen where no one can see them. These people are self important, feeling grandiose in their little attacks, that somehow they make the world a better place because they have rid the world of someone who doesn't think like them... WHATEVER.


The truth of the matter is that 97% of those little keyboard trolls wouldn't have the gonads to say it directly to another person's face. To be very honest, that probably is smart because if you did something like that to me I would have no problem macing you with pepper spray when you wouldn't back off. Personal space is valid and should be respected regardless of who you are.


But now, it seems we reward this kind of behavior, even offer book deals to people who act like trolls, stalk people who leave bad reviews, and go so far as to drive to that person's home. Yes, I said drive to their home. I will not mention her name directly because I am not giving someone like this free publicity. You want to look up this person and purchase books written by someone that would act like this, be my guest, but I will never purchase anything she's ever written or say her name because all that does is put money in the pocket of someone who should have been arrested for stalking. This was the first publicly released incident of something like this. After having stalked this person, she also released her address to the public, traveled to her home and harassed the reviewer by phone.


A bad review on Goodreads is how this whole, twisted story began. It began with that review, someone stating the book was horrible and it ended in this author stalking the person online as well as in person. There is a whole list of Goodread Reviewer Bullies out there, those who get together and attack specific authors and post bad reviews. Right now on Goodreads, Erin Morganstern, author of The Night Circus has finally announced a new book called The Starless Sea. It’s due to be released in Nov 2019. It is has hundreds of 1* reviews on Goodreads. The book hasn't even released yet. This is what happens in an uncontrolled setting, on that used to be fabulous site until it was purchased by you-know-who and his minions.


Now it seems behavior like this is how you get an agent and major publisher... The author admitted she paid for a background check on the owner of the house, and rented a car, with the completely crazy intention of driving to the blogger's home. When the other woman would not agree to a video chat interview, the author asked to speak to her over the phone but the blogger pulled out of the video. I don't blame her.


So there are two sides to this. 1. A crazy author that allowed the words of someone she doesn't even know to drive her into crazed behavior. 2. A person wrote a 1 star review of a book they didn't like, and that person could also possibly be part of this Goodreads Troll Reviewer List or just honestly hated the book for whatever reason. Honestly, we will never know all together what the truth is behind either side, but I will say it sickens me that the completely insane behavior and lengths the author took has led to a book deal. Let's encourage more people to act this way by showing them how if you behave badly.... you get your dream reward.


No thanks.

I don't go to Goodreads. I stopped the moment it was sold to you-know-who and I will never go back. There is no desire to associate with people who believe behaving this way is fine.


The sad truth of it is, they are everywhere! You can't post anything anywhere without it becoming the bane of someone's existence and being verbally attacked. Facebook. Twitter (the worst of them all), Instagram... all of them. Post anything that someone takes a offense to and you will attacked by not only them, but their tribe, and tons of people you don't even know who the hell they are. It's like a call to arms. They just fall out of the woodwork like termites.


It's sad when you are reduced to posting only cat videos, cute memes, and an occasional book teaser due to the combative nature of some of the population. In America free speech as become.... speak freely unless I don't agree with you, then I will hate on you, attack you, and possibly stalk you plus, if you are lucky, end up on television being paid to tell your story and get a book deal....

When the mind doesn’t cooperate

Writing is not the easiest thing in the world to do despite what anyone tells you. As a matter of fact it’s probably the hardest endeavor that anyone can attempt. Anyone can put a pen to paper. It takes someone with a strong will to be an author in today’s world. While social media is the place we can connect with potential readers, meet other authors and share our work, it is also the bane of doubt, a sense of being unworthy and wondering at times why we bother. We wonder why we persevere, why we continue to fight being seen in a sea of other authors. If you can’t put money behind advertising then you will never be seen. It’s a dark yet real truth of writing, of following that passion. It’s especially hard if you’re somewhat introverted like me.
Facebook is the place to go if you really want to feel horrible about yourself because you are constantly bombarded with posts about how successful others are or claim to be after launching a book. Getting friends and authors to share your posts is more painful than grabbing a pair of pliers and ripping out your big toenails simultaneously. For whatever reason, authors that are self published will not band together, which in itself is the most ludicrous and large hypocrisy to hit the planet. If we stand together and not apart, if share the works of others, if we are supporting our fellow authors a few wonderful occurrences happen. More people will discover your books. Readers will see you as a caring individual, that author will then share your posts. It becomes not a vicious cycle but a wonderful cycle and center of support. I’ve attempted many times to create such a circle. It always flops miserably with a thud that echoes through the atmosphere at the speed of light. That’s where the  writer’s block creeps in slowly but surely. The success of others can kill even the most creative mind, driving it to a halt, filling it with doubt, and making you wonder why you persevere in the first place.
It’s different for everyone. For me it’s the passion about sharing a story that lives, yes lives, in my mind. My characters talk to me, they tell me what they are, who they are, and how they want their stories told. While they may continually scream, attempting to get my attention, that doesn’t mean I can sit at my computer and write something worth reading. Those days are reserved for note taking, mindless scribbles that make sense only to me and to them. In the end, all those strange notes become the beginning of being able to write again with a voice strong enough and worthy enough to be the character. So while there might be lapses in physical writing of the story, it is written and worked on daily, even if just in notes until that courage returns.

Until that rooster crows again, happy creating, reading, plotting and planning from Hargrove Perth.