It seems everyone has a blog these days. Even me.

In the romance community, author blogs are plentiful. There are lots of authors with big names and new names and everything in between, who regularly post on their blogs about everything from social issues, to writing/publishing and everything in between.

As a reader, I've enjoyed some of these blogs immensely, as they have given me insight into the author that I might not have had otherwise, and very often, the blogs are a reading treat, as the authors are more free to show their humorous side and tackle any subject they fancy at that moment.

But I admit, there are times when an author's blog irritates the hell out of me, even when it's an author that I have really enjoyed reading before coming across his/her blog. I also admit that I'm sometimes put off enough to push their books to the back of my tbr pile or walk past their books on the shelves in favor of a new to me author, during my period of irritation. Fortunately, most of the time, I get over it, but there have been a couple times, especially recently, that I admit I haven't been able to get over whatever issue it is that has put a wall up between me and a particular author(s).

This seems to have happened more frequently since authors and readers in the romance community have been blogging about political issues with an us against them tone, whether it's us authors vs them Christians, them Conservatives, them White women or whatever.

I've debated myself over this. Why would I let the views of an author stop me from buying or reading her books temporarily (or in the cases of a couple, long term)? Am I denying myself the pleasure of a good read by doing this? Am I being petty?

In the end, my answer seems to be, no, I'm not denying myself any pleasure. If an author has put me off with her blog, it has always been that she's taken on a topic, and I've found her way of expressing her views insulting (in other words, it's not that she has different views, because that's not always the case, but that she's insulted me in the way she's expressed them).

Therefore, it's the author's personality that has interfered with any pleasure I may have derived from her book. When an author's personal voice is strong, and when she openly bashes or puts down a particular group of people that I may be part of, with blanket statements about people in said group, I can't always separate her blog from her books, any more than I could separate a political commentator's editorials from their fiction books.

It's one thing to state that Christians, Conservatives, Women, or Whites (all groups I happen to belong to) overwhelmingly believe this, that or the other, because in many cases, it is a fact that certain social, religious or gender or ethnic groups DO have a tendency to lean a specific way.

Example: Christians will overwhelming believe that the Ten Commandments statues belong in court houses (even if their reasoning isn't necessarily religious, it remains that the tablets and what they signify is NOT offensive to them, and they DO represent the foundation of our laws). Conservatives overwhelmingly do not believe abortion as birth control is the best answer. Women overwhelmingly support issues dealing with equality in the work place. Whites overwhelmingly believe... hell, I can't think of anything that whites overwhelmingly believe in or identify with as a "white issue."

What I find offensive are statements like Christians are responsible for RWA's stance on graphic sex covers on authors' websites (a lot of self described Christians read and write erotic romance). Or that Conservatives are responsible for RWA's poll in regard to whether a romance is between 1 man and 1 woman or 2 people of any sex (there are LOTS of gay Conservatives, you know). Or that a woman's choice in reading material is fluff if it involves fiction written for women (romance, chick lit, erotic romance), though I've only seen this on the occasional male author/reader blog. Or the insinuation that the reason that Arabesque romance isn't selling as well as possible is because white women who don't read Arabesque are inherently racist, because, damn, the stories are just as good as those written by white authors.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you are an author and you are constantly playing the Christian card, the Conservative card, the Women card or the Race card, you will be showing me YOUR personal issues, YOUR discrimination.

If you are a politically motivated author, that's fine. But when you use your blog to put down my religion, my beliefs or my reading habits (or those of other people), you're likely to alienate me, and I'm being honest enough to admit that if you alienate me, I'm probably not going to buy your books, no matter how much the plot might appeal to me. (The same alienation happens at some reader blogs, but since they aren't selling anything, alienating me won't have any effect on them, other than I will avoid their blogs.)

That doesn't mean authors should keep their opinions to themselves by a long shot! What it means is that authors - people who make their living finding the most effective way of utilizing words - should employ a bit of that skill to their blogs. Because really, anything can be said, almost any point can be gotten across, without being overtly offensive.

Don't like what RWA is doing? Fine. But constantly pointing at one religious or political group as the culprit - when you aren't certain it's any religious or political group - is not only wrong, but you risk alienating those political or religious groups. Don't like that Arabesque sales are down? Don't blame you. But don't blame whites. Look at the industry and the authors who've not directed their advertising to the whites.

Christianity is the majority religion in the U.S. Conservatives are at least half of the population in the U.S. Women are better than half the U.S. population. And, hey, there are a substantial number of whites who read. Why would anyone go out of their way to alienate these women readers when women who fall into one or more of these groups account for at least half of your potential book buyers?

For the record, I have no issues with neked people on covers on an author's personal website.  I have no issues with gay romance, but I think it has its own genre already established, and therefore there is no reason to make it a mere subgenre of traditional romance. I think what women read for entertainment is just as valid as the brain candy SF or mystery that many men read for entertainment. And I believe it's more likely that more white women aren't buying Arabesque romance because many of those women prefer historicals or paranormals rather than contemporaries or romantic suspense, or because the industry has done a crap job of marketing these books to white readers, and bookstores tend to put those books in their own section - hardly anything to do with racism (though I would go so far as to say there are white women who are not interested in Arabesque romance because they don't think they can relate to the "cultural aspect", just as there are many, many black women who cannot relate to the "cultural aspect" of historicals set in England or Scotland - still not racism or some hidden scheme by whites to keep Arabesque romance sales down).

Oh, and I read smutty erotic romance novels with graphic neked covers, and I've read many Arabesque authors (right in front of me, on my desk in my tbr pile are Toni Morrison, "From My People" (anthology), a couple by Donna Hill, Francis Ray, and at least 3 romance anthologies - all that I can see without digging into the back piles)

I love my books, many of which are written by Liberals or ultra-Liberals. Many of which are written by black authors (mainly black women). Many of which are probably written by those who don't share my faith.

I'm practically begging authors at this point to stop throwing out those Race cards, Christian cards, Conservative cards or Women cards at every opportunity or whenever you're feeling angsty, because I don't want anything interfering with my ability to read the authors whose book I enjoy.