I'm giving up on Twitter.
As you may already be aware, I have severe general and social anxiety. Being on Twitter has made me more anxious -- the constant information about the latest government scandal, the threats to LGBT people, the constant bickering among the book folk.
And now, apparently, someone is sending email to anyone who has written nice things about my book, and claiming that I'm not who I appear to be -- that I'm actually a straight white guy who wants to cash in on marginalized identity. As if that weren't ludicrous enough on the face of it (I'm just pretending to be gay for all of the wonderful social benefits?), I have between my various journals and social media accounts something like fifteen years of documentation of me being me. That seems a bit far to go for a hoax, but what do I know?
At least one book blogger has accepted the allegations against me as true, and has written a disclaimer on what she'd previously said about FoL which was complimentary. That felt like a punch in the gut, because she never even contacted me to ask about what the person had said was true.
And I'd fight it, but in the end, it'll come down to she said / she said, and you know... there's no way for me to win. And it'll just cause more stress and more anxiety and more grief.
So I'm giving up on Twitter.
Published on May 19, 2017 19:18
As an aside, have you considered Mastodon? It's a similar format to Twitter, but with more of a "village" feel, and an international feel at the same time. It's much more chill. No pressure to go there, just offering an alternative that I find more comfortable and may be a better fit for you too.