Dear Carolyn,

I'm going to state for the record, because the internet is forever so this statement will be too, that I can take criticism. If I write something and you don't like it: I'm okay with that. If you think my personal hygiene is questionable, my child is a mess and my house looks like gypsies threw up: well fine and dandy.

My point? I'm on a few author loops from different publishers and for the most part its all about promo and asking for blog tours and really boring shit. But last night got interesting.

On one of my loops an author posted a link to one of those high falutin' dudes who suggested that romance novels are cheap porn for the ladies. (So easy for them to say but so hard for us to write.) Big effing deal. Bashing romance is nothing new and seriously quite boring. You read your porn and I'll read mine, Mr. McHeadUpYourAss. But one of the authors on the loop had something to say.

Oh my, she was vitriolic because you see, someone posted a comment on a novel she'd written calling it bad porn. And from that the author went on to say that any reader who didn't like her books was

1. Incapable of writing books.
2. Ashamed that she was so turned on by reading it that she blasted it.
3. Had a bunch of romance/porn in a box under her bed.
4. Was against breast feeding in public.
5. Needed a life.

I stared at that for quite awhile and wanted to reply. I wanted to say

1. Put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
2. Remember not everyone loves everything.
3. Might have better taste than you can write for.
4. Might have a point.

So again I state, if someone doesn't like my writing or gives a bad review, I can take it. A constructive bad review is something you can learn from. I know from years of working with poetry editors and magazines that a bad review/critique is an opportunity for a better writer to emerge.

If it's mean spirited then so the fuck what? I won't lose sleep over a stranger.

And I'll not stop writing.