I’m going to start out my blog this week with a slightly more serious topic for me:

“Hale No” Movement

For folks who are not in the book writing/publishing business, you probably haven’t heard of Kathleen Hale.  I’ve included a link below that tells her story, but the basic facts are these:

• Kathleen Hale wrote a book
• She received a negative review from a book blogger
• She conducted a background check on the book blogger to find her home address
• She called the blogger at her day job and then showed up on the blogger’s doorstep to discuss the review

How Not to Respond to Negative Reviews: The Kathleen Hale Edition

Authors are being asked to pick a side on this subject, but to me there are no two sides.  What Kathleen Hale did was so outrageously inappropriate that I am happy to consider myself “Hale No.”

Hale tried to justify her actions by stating that reviews can make or break a book and she felt that this reviewer – by hiding behind internet anonymity – was trying to destroy her livelihood.

Um….okay.  I will agree that reviews have a huge impact to sales, and that an author’s success or failure (and therefore our livelihood) is largely beholden to these reviewers.

But guess what folks, that is what writing (and creating music, art, television and movies) is all about.  You work really, really hard on something and hope that people will like it.  Sometimes they do, but sometimes they don’t.  And when they don’t, people have every right to tell others what they thought.

Just to personalize this a bit, so far I’ve received three one-star reviews on my book. I’ve gotten way more positive reviews and still have a fairly high overall rating on Amazon, but still, I think it’s human nature to dwell a bit on the negative reviews.

Or maybe that’s just me?

Anyway…

The first one star review I received stated that the rating was entirely based on the fact that one of my characters called the other one “gay”, which the reviewer found to be an offensive term.

What. Ever.

I felt that word was appropriate for the character and the situation and stand by my choice.

The other two reviewers legitimately didn’t like my book. Sure, it upset me to know that someone didn’t like something I created, but these opinions were honest and I held nothing against the reviewers.

Did it ever cross my mind for a nano-second to try to force the issue, find out who these people were and sit them down for a chat?

Hale No!

Selfie

A discussion of reviews and reviewers is actually a great segue into a discussion of the TV show Selfie which was just cancelled.

“Selfie” cancelled by ABC

I get that the show had low ratings, and I’m not saying that it was perfect, but it had one of the most appealing couples I’ve seen on a TV show in years.

Karen Gillan and John Cho were the perfect odd couple and you were rooting for them to figure out they were meant for each other from day one.  The scripts needed some work and the supporting characters weren’t fully drawn, but with every episode I could see improvement.  I felt this show could have been a hit with a little more time, and it is sad that the story of Henry and Eliza will be coming to an end.

Oh well, I can always pop in my DVD of My Fair Lady.

Supernatural – 200th Episode

My beloved Supernatural will be celebrating its 200th episode on Tuesday!  That fact is especially hard to believe considering that I’ve been a fan since the beginning and watched the show teeter on the brink of cancellation more than once.

To celebrate this milestone, Entertainment Weekly identified the Top 40 episodes of the show.

While I agree with the #1 episode, they got the rest of them wrong.  Here is a correct (and by that I mean MY opinion) list of the Top 18 episodes of Supernatural:

1. Swan Song  – Season 5 finale
2. Devil’s Trap – Season 1 finale
3. What Is and What Should Never Be – Season 2
4. All Hell Breaks Loose, Part I – Season 2
5. Bad Day at Black Rock – Season 3
6. Jus in Bello – Season 3
7. Bloodlust – Season 3
8. The Song Remains the Same – Season 5
9. Lazarus Rising – Season 4
10. Born Under a Bad Sign – Season 2
11. The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo – Season 7
12. Abandon All Hope – Season 5
13. Weekend at Bobby’s – Season 6
14. Mystery Spot – Season 3
15. A Very Supernatural Christmas – Season 3
16. Dark Side of the Moon – Season 5
17. Death’s Door – Season 7
18. Point of No Return – Season 5 (Show’s 100th episode)

Hey Sherlock – No pressure, but do you think you could work a little harder to bring your total episode count up to an even 10?