I was running through my usual list of blog and forum suspects today and I saw a link to a post on a blog I’d never read.  And the person linking to it said it was a really great post that they frequently re-read for inspiration (or as a reminder that you don’t have to publish everything your write – one of those two).

And, since I love to soak up information from everywhere I can find it, I clicked on the link.

And after reading that post, which quoted heavily from a trilogy of books that can only be described as highly offensive to, well, anyone, I wanted to gouge my eyeballs out.  Some things just cannot be unread.

I want to tell you about it because it was THAT AWFUL.  But I don’t want to continue the spread of this vile, vile, vile crap.  (Discussing this really awful trilogy is what prompted the first post that has now permanently scarred me five years after it was written.)

Unfortunately, it was a well-written blog post, so I read it to the bitter, bitter end.  (It recapped the plot of all three books.  All three heavily misogynistic books.  Like so misogynistic you wouldn’t be surprised to find their author in jail for what he’s done in real life.)

The Internet is great because you can find pretty much anything you want on it.  It also sucks because you can find pretty much anything on it.

Good news is I don’t feel bad for the stuff I write after reading that post.  (I will never read those books.  The blog post about them was bad enough.)

I just want to have never read it in the first place.  (And I know, I just know, the next time I’m out drinking with friends I’m going to tell them about it, too.  Ugh.)

(Well, this does make me feel slightly better for taking a little teensy tiny bit of joy in the rejections of my fellow writers.  I know it makes me an awful person to do this, but I don’t have concrete success yet.  All I have is that really great personal rejection I got.  So, every time I see a form rejection from that same market now, I feel a little happy.  Like, “see I wrote a story that was better than that random person.”  It’s HORRIBLE.  I know.  Especially since the next thing I send them will also likely be a form rejection.  But I have to find some small little silver lining to keep me plodding along…)

At least I don’t write about – NO!  I will not tell you about it.  NO!!  Mind trauma.  Do not share the mind trauma.