Day 309 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author/publisher,
Dane F. Baylis

A LESSON IN BEING CAREFUL WHAT YOU MENTION IN PASSING

OR

SAVE ME FROM THE OTHER 'A' TYPES IN THE WORLD.

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Yesterday I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I was going into an intensive period of preparing my novel for an agent I met recently. I let it be known that I would be withdrawing from a lot of other activity for a while. A few days before this, I let someone know of a project I was thinking about down the road. Well, as they say in the fantasy/adventure world (or at least they used to), lo' and behold if this person didn't decide this was a great idea to take before one of the local governing boards for consideration as material in a public education setting. Why, he even gave me a whole hour's notice that he was going to do this with my name tagged on to it!

 

What's wrong with this picture? First, his concept goes far afield of what I had originally conceived. Second, an hour? Are we kidding? No, I'm not happy with that. An hour is barely time enough to maybe formulate all the questions I would need answered. Maybe! Third, unless I specifically agreed to this ahead of time, he has nothing even approaching permission to use my name in his proposal. Lastly, I appreciate that some people are devoted to children and the educational system. I'm not one of them. My idea had nothing to do with using this as an entry into developing course work fo public education. Why? Because the restrictions and censorship involved in anything that gets okay'ed for use in public classrooms just chaps my ass. It's too stifling and allows far too many voices with no authority or expertise into the mix.

 

I write for myself and the general public. I like things that have a serious edge to them. To think of the pablum that I would be lending my name to in order to have it meet community standards in a public education forum is just too much.

 

Does this come off like a rant? I sincerely hope so. I want no misconceptions about where I stand on this. Do I feel I could have a beneficial influence on young minds? Hell, yes! Do I think I could get bloody well pilloried for that influence in the public square? Hell, yes, in spades!

 

The lesson in this dilemma is to be careful who you discuss your ideas with. As for me, in the future, I'm going to keep mine to myself and emphasize that any thought of using my name had damned well better be brought up to me first!

 

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Meanwhile...live, love, write. Just don't tell anyone!

 

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Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author/Publisher.