Amazon Royalties.

Diane,

You have a balanced mind, and an open one. It is what makes you so special and brilliant. Knowledge and Emotions and Experience are what color our opinions and our voices. Without our brains we would just be another pretty face. Snort! You, my friend are so lovely in mind, soul and voice. My best love to you, my friend.

Love,

Betty

Edd had a falling out with me some time ago. I don't remember all of it, but it had something to do with a woman who had never seen a military battle presuming to write a book about a military hero. It was his problem, not mine, but, as a result of the thing, we were never Facebook friends. I liked him, actually, and we had some cool discussions back on the PAMB. Phil and I are FB friends, and I have several friends there who are incredibly conservative. Some of them may have unfriended me, but if so, I don't know about it. The only person I know of who did unfriend me had decided to make herself a persona-non-grata on this forum, and insisted that Shelagh remove all evidence of her presence here. She later seemed to have changed her mind and requested friend status again, but I declined. No animosity or anything; we had some good discussions here but all-in-all, I felt that the unfriending was probably for the best.

I am learning to take that attitude generally. A few years ago, right here on this forum, as you know if you were here at the time, I managed to get myself into some high-pitched battles. Some of them, I provoked, by expressing my indignation and offense over their positions and stances, which differed from mine, to what I felt was an unacceptable degree.

It's weird, but in writing the Redstone material, I have had to get inside the heads of the characters - mostly Daniel's head, and have learned a lot from him about acceptance. I've also continued to read what Joe has had to say to me every morning through his little google widget, and from the stuff my fingers write to me as i journal.

I use Facebook to keep up with family and friends. I "like" and sometimes share the pages, photos, and comments that seem to speak to me, and listen to the advice of old friends like Malcolm Campbell and Ron Kruger, who both inspire me, and have led to me forming other FB friendships. Shelagh has bene a positive influence on my perceptions there, too.

Facebook has its flaws, and nasty comments can be very disheartening. I've run into a bit of that on Twitter - not directed at me so much as at some of the few people I follow. I don't tweet often, but I enjoy reading what others tweet. The other day, I posted a very very rare reply, and got a very positive, if very brief, response from my writing muse. (and I can write about it much more calmly now than I would have been able to at the time.)

Overall, though, I have found the internet to be a positive place. These days, I try to use it as a place to learn stuff and share that stuff with other people. I am glad I have the options it offers, even the rare "unfriending" of those whom I realize are not really my friends, or they would not put me in the positions they wish to put me in.

So, next time someone "unfriends" you, consider yourself lucky that you no longer have to deal with that person - if they had truly been your friends, they would not have taken that step.

Just me

Annie

Unfriending is a difficult choice to make. I think hiding someone in order to ignore their posts would be less offensive in that they wouldn't know you made that choice. I think "unfriending" is a good choice if posts are a source of frustration or aggravation. Who needs that? I have unfriended a few when I could no longer deem their posts were simply made out of ignorance and they were not receptive to learing the facts. Repetition of ignorant statements is stupid and I can't tolerate stupidity.

I have not been able to maximize twitter or facebook. Though I am on twitter, I cannot sign in to twitter no matter how I try. As for facebook, I have two facebook accounts that I wish I could merge. On one, a person posts so often there is no room for anyone else and though I agree with their philosophy, I don't know how to unfriend them or stop the voluminous posts. Lots of "friends" who were added as authors from the PAMB when I first joined facebook unfriended me during the election because I posted responses with facts to their FOX and Limbaugh tripe and people who believe that stuff don't want the facts, especially those that talk in prejudicial code language to disparage respectable and good people. I have no tolerance for some of the horrid cartoons and posters that had nothing to do with facts and lots to do with hate mongering.

My facebook friends list was over conservative because in thinking about it, a lot of the people who had PA publish their books could not get publishers because their books had religious and personal content that was very conservative and did not appeal to the mainstream readers. They were anxious to share their beliefs to an audience, but publishers want material they can sell. Therefore, it was only natural that many self-published (PA) authors were on the conservative side. So when the election came up and I did not accept that I was going to the firey pit because I no longer felt the republican party was in tune with my beliefs, the conservatives weighed in. When I felt that people who had beliefs more in line with democrats were actually very patriotic and supported their fellow military citizens, flag-waving conservatives on the site were abusive with language toward me and used crude sexual inuendo, actually ganging up. It was disgusting from people who put on a face of piety, patriotism and religious fervor. Fortunately, most of those people are long gone though a few still post their FOX and Limbaugh stuff that shows up on my site because they are somehow still on my friends list.

I prefer healthy discussion. I prefer being among people of diverse views and sometimes a carefully heated discussion forces the mind to think. However, mindless emotional repetition of the pundits of lies and half-truths does not an intellectual conversation make and leads to words and accusations without foundation.

The election time was very divisive. I had good friends who insisted on sending me President Obama hate videos and "documentaries" even though they knew I had no interest in the lies they promulgated or the hate they were designed to create. Those friends are no longer as close. They also had opinions like "I made mine; let the less worthy suffer and pull themselves up" when they "made mine" with GI benefits, and currently receive medicare and social security on top of earning low taxed dividends on investments.

I find it easier to post here than facebook because it feels more intimate even if it isn't. That feeling of knowing people here for a long time (at least since 2006) and sharing ideas with past and current people (there are quite a few new people posting with great ideas to offer and eager minds) makes it easier for ideas and thoughts to flow. at least for me. I also think you will forgive my sticking keys...grrrr.

I have no problem with unfriending hateful folks Opinion are one thing, hate is quite another.
What really frosts me is how holier than thou they can get.
It is better for me to not be their friend.

Congratulations, Betty! Think about all the priceless pleasure those books have brought to your readers as you enjoy the tastiest of treats--groceries paid for by your art.

Quote :

On one, a person posts so often there is no room for anyone else and though I agree with their philosophy, I don't know how to unfriend them or stop the voluminous posts

That's easy. Just move your cursor over their hyperlinked name. An arrow will appear over to the right. Click the arrow; a "hide" option will appear. Once you click it you'll get more options, like "just show important" or "hide all." I've done that on people who post tons of internet memes, lulz cats photos, "profound" quotes, etc. Like some here have said, it's kinder than just unfriending them. Which I don't want to do, as once in awhile they'll post something they actually thought up themselves.

dkchristi wrote:

Ditto.

Is PPP in ebook? If not, Alice, put it up on Kindle as an ebook.

Great idea, DK, It was an ebook and priced too high. I will do it myself.

Thanks, LC; I'll give that a try. The person is fine, just overloaded posting. I look forward to your ebook at a price that works for you, Alice. May open a whole new audience - in fact you could do some sort of online blog tour to market the new look and price.