Off With Their Heads

Hello awesome people! Let me preface by stating this isn't a topic I wanted to discuss. In fact, I've straddled the fence on whether or not to say something for months. However, due to recent events I feel it's necessary to take a stand and address the situation.

*Takes a deep breath*

Okay, ready? Here we go.

Recently I've been getting a lot of rude, disrespectful and disgusting emails. At first I did what I always do: I responded with a brief "thank you for your time," and let it go. My hope was that eventually the haters would go away or find something better to do with their time. Sadly, this isn't the case. Not many know this but I had to change my phone number, get a post office box and contact the police due to a situation with a stalker. Downright scary when you have children in your home and a weirdo calling your house. Trust me, you don't want to know how it feels. It's gotten so bad that I've turned to colleagues for advice. The majority of them say the same thing -- stop using social networks -- which is disheartening. After all, I love chatting with all of you. I try to make myself available to every single fan who emails me and always make a point to respond. No longer doing so would make me sad.

So I'm writing this blog entry here and now to say that, while I will respond to emails, I will delete those sent from anonymous (throw away) email addresses or those that serve no purpose but to insult, degrade or delve into my personal life. Granted, those who do this probably don't visit my blog, but in the event they do there you go. This isn't to say people can't email me if they have questions about future works or want to point something out. Rather I'm letting everyone know that I'm a person -- a mother and wife -- not a simple name, and I will no longer tolerate this behavior from strangers. My characters are fictitious, as are my stories. They do not represent who I am as a person. They are figments of my imagination, nothing more.

I'm going to put away my soapbox now and wish you all a fantastic holiday. I hope you're enjoying time with your friends and family. As always, I can't thank you enough for your support. It means the world to me. It's a shame some people try to ruin a good thing.