Preconceptions

I find it very interesting that people who read my books feel a need to personally reach out to me. (This, by the way, feels wonderfully gratifying.) Even in the author community, where I sometimes post my writing for reviews, people who read what I have written want to reach out to me. This is good. It is very good. But then you have the flip side: People who have not read my books, and are reluctant to do so, seem to greatly enjoy criticizing me and defaming my character. They think they know me by what they think I probably wrote based upon their own preconceptions of my books' titles and what the books might be written about. It is a very strange and interesting phenomenon.

Why just a few days ago, a Facebook friend with whom I was just barely acquainted bought both of my books. He sent me a message to tell me he had bought them and looked forward to reading them, which I appreciated since I am trying to get word out about my writing without a publisher's backing. The interesting thing to me, though, is that when this man finished my first book he sent me his phone number and asked me to call him to talk about it. Through my writing, I had made a personal connection to a virtual stranger, living hundreds of miles away from me. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, and he had some glowing things to say about what I have written. I have to admit, his comments really boosted my spirits.

Then today, I was online and participating in a friend's discussion forum. One of her other friends, a man (who has his own discussion group in which I barely participate because I am put off by the negative tone of it), thought I said something I didn't and resorted to personally attacking me. Of course, the man knows almost nothing about me, so he had little material. But one thing he did have was the titles of my two books. Has he ever read the books? No, he has not. But he had no problem judging them to be valueless whining.

Then of course you have my husband's cousin down below (See “Facebook Fight”) who assumes he knows what my books are and publicly trashes both my books and me for days, and a full week after he is done attacking me on Facebook, he posts comments on this blog! But compare that to the Reader's Favorite reviewer (See Amazon.com) who gave my book five stars and recommended that husbands and wives read it together. And here are two really interesting things: 1. The book and I are judged as one entity and 2. Nobody is in the middle. Either the book and I are horrible – or - we are wonderful. Tell me that is not strange and see if I believe you.




"Don't judge a book by its cover.”

I find this saying slightly inaccurate. People seem to judge not so much on the cover of a book, but on their perception of what the book must say based upon their own experiences. My curiosity about this behavior is heightened by my recent observations. I do not understand it but I think it deserves consideration and heavy thought.

By the way, the working title of my next book is “Walking Between the Miracles.” I have jotted down all of about a page and a half. What do you suppose people will judge it is about? Maybe they will be surprised when (if) they read it.