Thursday
Feb022006
Poison Pen -- Feel The Love
Thursday, February 2, 2006 at 11:59AM
I have had this 'lovely' missive sitting here, meaning to share it, since the end of December, but the month of January turned out to be quite busy and hectic, with new excitement, publication deadlines, post-holiday cleaning up and clearing out, as well as January birthdays and family participation in the USFirst/Lego Robotics State Tournament at Georgia Tech (more about that later)!
My editors and writer/media friends assure me that this is just part of the gig--a sure sign of success, in fact. As Steven King says in On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft: "If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it..." As my husband says: "How cool is that?!" At least I know SOMEONE is reading, and cares enough to troll the far reaches of Google to take me down...yay, success!! ;-)
So here it is, with [comments] below...
"December 16, 2005
Dear Atlanta Magazine,
Attached is information[1] about your writer, Sherri Caldwell, and her plans to abuse your "Modern Manners" column. This column will give Sherri Caldwell the opportunity to justify and perpetuate her bad behavior in our community[2]. You may already know that she is very skillful in twisting the truth and creating her own reality[3]. "Manic Manners" is probably not the direction you intend for this column. Allowing this uncivilized author to write for you will hurt your magazine's credibility and may turn away a community of readers.
Sincerely,
A disappointed Subscriber
and A [reference to school][4] Mom
cc: [school] PTA Executive Committee Members[5]"
[1] My stalker took the time to search out and find two pieces of information on Google, which she printed out and attached to her creepy typed letter. The first was a comment I made, taken out of context, about the "Modern Manners" column in what I thought was a non-public online writer's group. Sure enough, my husband pointed out to me, those 'private' conversations can be trolled and researched in a simple Google search. No big deal. The second attachment was a copy of one of the worst reviews ever about The Rebel Housewife Rules that came out more than a year ago on an obscure website called "bookslut.com" -- consider the source there.
[2] MY bad behavior?!?! Who is trolling the Internet and typing creepy little notes and sending them out anonymously??? This was in response to a humor article in the December issue of ATLANTA Magazine, about buying a classic Jeep on eBay, for goodness' sake!
[3] I'm actually quite flattered at this line--as a writer, after all, this is my job!
[4] & [5] And this is the creepy part, which leads to certain suspicions (this is a psycho we know, or someone just like her)--we've just moved to a new community, the kids are in a new school, and I have never published those specifics. I doubt that I've had time to piss anyone at the new school off to this extent, but thanks for sharing with the "PTA Executive Committee" -- they were impressed. Just like my husband, "How cool is that?!"
My editors and writer/media friends assure me that this is just part of the gig--a sure sign of success, in fact. As Steven King says in On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft: "If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it..." As my husband says: "How cool is that?!" At least I know SOMEONE is reading, and cares enough to troll the far reaches of Google to take me down...yay, success!! ;-)
So here it is, with [comments] below...
"December 16, 2005
Dear Atlanta Magazine,
Attached is information[1] about your writer, Sherri Caldwell, and her plans to abuse your "Modern Manners" column. This column will give Sherri Caldwell the opportunity to justify and perpetuate her bad behavior in our community[2]. You may already know that she is very skillful in twisting the truth and creating her own reality[3]. "Manic Manners" is probably not the direction you intend for this column. Allowing this uncivilized author to write for you will hurt your magazine's credibility and may turn away a community of readers.
Sincerely,
A disappointed Subscriber
and A [reference to school][4] Mom
cc: [school] PTA Executive Committee Members[5]"
[1] My stalker took the time to search out and find two pieces of information on Google, which she printed out and attached to her creepy typed letter. The first was a comment I made, taken out of context, about the "Modern Manners" column in what I thought was a non-public online writer's group. Sure enough, my husband pointed out to me, those 'private' conversations can be trolled and researched in a simple Google search. No big deal. The second attachment was a copy of one of the worst reviews ever about The Rebel Housewife Rules that came out more than a year ago on an obscure website called "bookslut.com" -- consider the source there.
[2] MY bad behavior?!?! Who is trolling the Internet and typing creepy little notes and sending them out anonymously??? This was in response to a humor article in the December issue of ATLANTA Magazine, about buying a classic Jeep on eBay, for goodness' sake!
[3] I'm actually quite flattered at this line--as a writer, after all, this is my job!
[4] & [5] And this is the creepy part, which leads to certain suspicions (this is a psycho we know, or someone just like her)--we've just moved to a new community, the kids are in a new school, and I have never published those specifics. I doubt that I've had time to piss anyone at the new school off to this extent, but thanks for sharing with the "PTA Executive Committee" -- they were impressed. Just like my husband, "How cool is that?!"