How many readers actually buy books because they found them on Twitter? I’m about to find out.

When I first hopped onto the tweeting train it was just a fun place to tell jokes and meet other writers. Lately my feed has become nothing more than division, politics, and amateur writers begging for aid from pros. Oh and of course internet hobos asking for free books. #NoThanks

Like all authors I want my writing to speak for itself. I don’t need to be a model, or some “inspiration quoter” who posts lines I wrote to inflate my ego. If you like my work, that’s all that should matter. The digital age shifted all forms of art into a “Look at me! Look at me!” parade. Now, I’m a Leo, so I can definitely play that game. It’s fun for a time. But it’s vain, selfish, and distracting from actual meaningful work.

Over the past few months I’ve watched the publishing industry have to make some serious changes. I too need some serious changes.

Numerous respectable publications have deactivated their twitter accounts because a loud minority of well-intentioned SJWs misunderstood a line or two and attacked said publications. Sure, celebrities like Terry Crews can fight back with humor and decency because they have millions more followers that drown out a few thousand crybabies. But publications and authors are not movie stars; we don’t get rock-star treatment.

J.K. Rowling, no matter how much you agree or disagree with her stance on women’s rights, has worked very hard to carefully and gracefully present her points, yet she gets threats and all sorts of negativity thrown her way by people who refuse to engage in respectful discourse.

Twitter is definitely run with political bias. I usually just laugh it off because I’d rather protest voting for Coke or Pepsi when we all need water. You can’t paint me blue or red because I live in a rainbow world of varying balances between idealism and reality.

COVID definitely has people acting up. The #WearAMask screamers don’t take into account those of us advised not to wear one for health reasons. They treat everyone who doesn’t agree with them like morons. In my experience it is usually the first person to call someone stupid that is lacking in IQ points because smart people generally offer others the benefit of the doubt, but whatever.

None of this is what put me over the edge and made me decide to say good-bye to Twitter.

I don’t take this lightly. And there is some vanity to it. I had over 16,000 followers that included some of my favorite famous people like: Margaret Cho, Pauly Shore, and Jim Mahfood. It’s not easy to let go of those connections, but it’s not like I really KNOW these people.

My hope to work with Mahfood is not gone. We’re both from STL and have other contact info.

Pauly Shore was awesome enough to thank me for writing a piece about him and that will always be a fact.

And I sometimes fear that the only reason Margaret Cho followed me is because I’m bisexual and used to be active in the LGBTQ community. (I say USED to because things have become very shady within the movements growing inside this once fun, clear-minded community, namely how the #LoveIsLove movement has started allowing pedophilia as part of the campaign in some crazy super deranged areas)

No matter what, I must live by my convictions.

So here’s the deal. Last week another of my very favorite magazines to write for jumped ship. They witnessed political tweets being automatically taken down, while child porn was left up for “review.”

Yeah.

You heard that right.

With the Epstein scandal and the truth about so many of our officials, world leaders, and entertainment giants being brought to justice for sex trafficking, I cannot possibly offer any support to social media platforms that don’t take a #NoTolerance stance against this worst of crimes.  

It’s funny.

I once took a twitter poll asking the men on my TL if they would rather be anally raped or killed. Guess what the answer was?

Death.

It was not a government backed poll of millions of people, but hundreds of men admitted that they would rather die than be raped. Now imagine if I took a poll asking if they would have rather been molested or killed. Think about suicide rates, depression, PTSD, substance abuse and think about the millions of children who are sexually abused every damn day and how they struggle to find healthy coping mechanisms. It’s all connected.

So yeah. I’m done with Twitter. Facebook has been scrubbing certain posts that loudly proclaim we should all take a stand against sex trafficking. It may be next on my “cleanse.”

I have my website and other social media pages. Anyone can email me anytime and I try to respond ASAP. In-person events like signings and readings may be on hold for the rest of the year but I’m ready to get back out there and be with you guys soon enough. That’s where the real connections are anyway.

I know this is what is right. Whether you have faith in a higher power or not, my Gods and my link to the universe have been telling me this is what’s right. My path needs to be pure. My readers deserve better.

Every meditation leads here.

Just like every dollar we spend is a vote, every page we click on, every post we like and share is support for someone or their cause.

Are you backing the noblest?

#FollowTheMoney

#ReasearchMediaOwners