As promised, in lieu of the administrative nightmare that distributing a newsletter turned out to be, I’m planning to do monthly “newsletter” posts here, and just in general use my blog more productively. If you want to make sure not to miss a post you can subscribe right here:
And now onto the news and musings!
BECOMING A SWIFTIE WHILE BARRELING TOWARD SIXTY
Though I am old enough to be Taylor Swift’s mother, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon, assimilated into the collective, joined the Army—pick your metaphor, I have become a full-fledged Swiftie and fallen quickly into the whole sparkly culture.
It’s not like I suddenly discovered her, or that I hated her before, or anything like that. I think my story is pretty similar to a lot of elder Xers and even Boomers coming to Swiftie-dom in 2023: Based solely on the songs I heard randomly as I moved through my life, I thought her music was too young and poppy, and she just didn’t make my radar very often. I was angry on her behalf when Kanye stole her moment, I was on Twitter enough to be hip to the phone call thing while it was happening, but I wasn’t invested.
During lockdown in 2020, I watched Miss Americana, and there I saw how impressive a person, a woman, she is, but I still was like, “My favorite music is stuff like The Stooges, Rancid, Patti Smith, Nirvana, Liz Phair, not that sugary pop stuff. I admire her as a human, but her music is not for me.” (Still never having attempted to really listen to it.)
She started rerecording her albums to reclaim her art from a jerk, and I thought, “What a badass!” And still didn’t try to listen to any of her music.
Then this past year, when coverage of her absolutely blew up, and I saw her supporting her friends, living her life on her terms despite the cacophony constantly circling her, saw her joy on tour and her fans’ giddy devotion, and I was like, “Okay, I like this woman so so much. I’m going to try to find an album I like.” I made my first actual attempt to appreciate her work.
I struggled at first, scanning songs, looking for a sound or a beat or something I could get purchase on, and not finding anything that really hooked me.
Then I heard “Willow,” which grabbed me from the first bar (I am also a big fan of folk music—which isn’t as strange a pairing with punk as you might at first think). I love all of Evermore and Folklore, and by the time I’d heard (and pretty much memorized) those albums, I had such admiration for her lyricism I could work my way through the rest of her discography and finally hear the storytelling. I even like “Shake It Off” now, and that was my go-to example for why I didn’t like her music.
And then she met Travis, and he is SUCH A GOOD GUY. AND JASON AND KYLIE AND THEIR GIRLS AND MAMA KELCE AND OMG.
Now I am all in as a fan of them all, and completely obsessed with the real-life romance novel going on before our eyes. I’m even into football now, like honestly into the game, a fact that has the men in my house absolutely stunned and delighted. As Missouri is my home state, I have doubly good reason for being a Chiefs fan.
I hope Miss Americana and her football prince live happily ever after.
(But Jason is my guy. When you read about David “Thumper” Allen in Signal Bend, go ahead and picture him.)
HOT TOPICS ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Reviews & Ratings
(don’t worry; I don’t think I’m going to say anything really controversial about this)
Twitter was my number-one go-to social media platform for a long time, but I deleted my account in October 2022 and haven’t been back to whatever that site has become. I’ve been on Threads since the day it went live, and it’s starting to be a decent replacement for what Twitter was in its heyday. It’s developing a lively “BookThreads” community, and, just like everywhere else people congregate online, the conversation rolls through controversies and hot topics. Recently, there’s been discussion about how readers “should” review and rate their books and how authors “should” deal with reviews. That topic comes up regularly, and there are always a gazillion different takes and squabbles about who’s right and who’s an asshole. You know, just a day that ends in Y on the Internet.
Anyway, I don’t throw “hot takes” around, but I thought I’d share my feelings about the topic here. I don’t think these are especially roasty takes:
- Reviews and review sites are for readers. Full stop. I would not presume to dictate to a reader how they should review my book, or what number of stars should be the lowest, or whatever. I might cry with the Freaks over a bad review, but I will never comment to the reviewer or share it publicly to complain about it. If you hate one of my books, I expect you will say so in a review and share it as widely as you wish; it’s part of the gig. I don’t think you’re an asshole for hating my book. (I’ll think you’re an asshole if you send me an email telling me you hate me because you hate my book—but it’s still extremely unlikely I’ll say so out loud.)
- That said, my first sentence above –Reviews and review sites are for readers—means exactly that: authors should not be involved in your reviews at all. I personally do all I can to avoid reviews. I actually have one of my sons go to review sites looking for lines to quote on promos and stuff like that, so I can avoid it all. Please don’t tag me in a negative review, for sure (I’m good with not being tagged in any review), and please don’t send me negative reviews. (If you write because you loved a book, I’ll write back. I delete angry/critical emails without answering, and report threats and abuse, but they get their pint of blood on the way out the door.)
- This is not to say I’m not deeply touched when a reader reaches out to tell me how much one of my books means to them. I love good reviews, obviously, and I love hearing from readers. I avoid reading all reviews, for the most part, because whether 5-star reviews activate the fear of disappointing fans, or 1-star reviews make me feel like a failure, they all get in my head and make me timid about trusting my muse.
- I know some readers reach out with criticism not out of malice or anger but in a sincere attempt to offer feedback. But feedback from random people out of the blue is not constructive to me, because it is pure opinion and wholly out of the context of my writing process. I take feedback from people I know, whose opinions and expertise I trust, and who are familiar with my writing process and style—and who know me well enough to know how to deliver the feedback so it helps without harm. (That said, if you come across a really problematic typo–like the time I missed the first “L” in “publicly” in a very poignant scene, which will haunt me until I die, I’ll be grateful if you let me know.)
- And finally, since Amazon began allowing ratings without reviews, the overall number of actual reviews posted has gone way down for everybody, and I totally get it. I deeply appreciate reviews, of course, but I am not an author who thinks a rating isn’t enough. Maybe it’s because I’m indie and I don’t have to meet anybody else’s expectations (and also don’t do ARCs), but I’m just glad you bought and read my book. A rating is the whipped cream on top. I assign enough homework in my day job; I’m not assigning it to my readers, too. Review if you want to, but don’t feel guilty on my account if you don’t.
BACK IN SIGNAL BEND: Signal Bend Heritage News
Probably my big news for this month’s post (which I guess means I buried the lede): It’s almost time for the reveal of Book One of the Signal Bend Heritage series!! Reveal day is Saturday, 10 February, and the preorder will be live then as well. Release day is Saturday, 2 March, so only a month away!
Signal Bend Heritage is a next-generation series, and Book One is Gia Lunden’s story. Her guy was introduced in Christmas in Signal Bend: Zaxxon, who was the prospect that Christmas, getting grief from the patches for his name . But the new series picks up a few years later, and Zaxx has his patch.
Stay tuned!
INSPO SPOTLIGHT: lilyloutay
Up above, I noted that Jason Kelce is the inspiration for Thumper, a Horde patch who’s in the background so far, but might (will likely) get a book. Though many of my characters are wholly invented in my head, a notable number have been inspired by real people–people I know IRL, famous people, people I discover online, wherever. I’ve been following lilyloutay (Hannah Taylor) on Insta, and just absolutely love her to pieces. I’m probably not the first author to be inspired by her videos, but I am definitely among them. I’ve created a new character in Signal Bend inspired by Hannah—Abigail Freeman, who gets a brief mention in Gia’s book. I am planning for Abigail to get a story of her own, and win her man’s heart with some good home cookin’. 😉
AND FINALLY: A Snippet
Here’s a taste of Gia and Zaxx:
She wasn’t ready to know what any of this meant. But she didn’t want to have a big convo about it, either.
So she kissed him again.
This time, Gia kept the reins. She went in more forcefully, pressing her open mouth to his, sending her tongue out in search of his. Zaxx followed her lead, sucking on her tongue, shifting his stance to wrap his arms around her, drawing her firmly against him, lifting a little so her heels came off the floor and their bodies fitted exactly in place together. His hand slipped under her jacket, then under her top; the heat of his palm seemed to scorch the small of her back. She moaned again and felt the vibration of his answering groan on her tongue.
“Hey. You okay, Gia?”
Gia had been so transported by that kiss, Nolan’s voice, right at her side, seemed to come out of nowhere. Zaxx backed off at once, still holding her but also suddenly too far away. She opened her eyes and saw her own shock reflected in his expression, her own frantic heartbeat echoed in his panting breath.
There was something happening here, between them. Something with weight and substance.
But Nolan stood beside them, his attention shifting back and forth and his expression shifting with it—a scowl for Zaxx and a worried frown for Gia.
Adored child or sacred artifact: what the Night Horde MC thought of her. Gia shook her sensual stupor off. Vaguely, she registered that the band wasn’t playing; they must have finished their set at some point.
“You’ve been drinking, Gia,” Nolan said and then turned a pointed scowl at Zaxx. “What the ever-lovin’ fuck do you think you’re doing, asshole?”
“I—” Zaxx started. He was still focused on her, but his expression was taking on shadows of guilt and worry.
Absolutely not. Nolan did not get to play proxy daddy and fuck around in her business. She was a grown woman with the ability to make her own choices and the intellect to choose well. Fuck, she almost had a goddamn PhD.
She grabbed Nolan’s arm and pulled his attention back her way. “Hey, back off. I kissed him, and it’s not your fucking business, anyway.”
Nolan’s expression became so paternal she wanted to punch him. “You’ve been drinking, Gia. It’s not cool—”
She cut him off. “Do I look sloppy drunk to you? Am I acting compromised in some way?”
“You’re practically fucking against the bar in front of about a hundred people, so yeah, I’d say you’re compromised.”
She’d already been pissed at Nolan’s meddling; now she was furious. Red hot. But she kept her voice deadly calm when she told him, “I tell you what, Nolan. Why don’t you worry about yourself and stop trying to play daddy with me. You’ve got your own kids, and I’ve got my own father. You are neither needed nor wanted here, and frankly it’s creepy you’re so interested in my sex life. So kindly fuck all the way off.”
Nolan did not reply. He looked at her for a long time, his jaw fixed in an aggressive jut. Gia saw in his eyes that things between them were changing, right now, in this moment. She’d hurt him, and he would never again be there for her like he had most of her life. That was what she’d wanted, why she’d said exactly what she’d said. But there was loss, too. That teenage version of her still held Nolan above most men.
Shoving aside incipient regret, she lifted her chin and stared back at him defiantly.
He turned to Zaxx. “Are you prepared for what this means?” With a dismissive flick of his hand, he indicated that this meant Gia.
Zaxx met Gia’s eyes again, but he didn’t answer right away. Those shadows of guilt and worry had overrun his expression.
That in itself was an answer, wasn’t it?
“Fuck you both,” Gia said and shoved her way between them.
“Gia!” That was Zaxx, calling after her.
She didn’t stop or look back. She strode to the door, keeping her back straight and her head high, ignoring all the people watching her go.
Fuck this whole day right up the ass. She should have stayed at school.
©2024 Susan Fanetti
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