Saturday, April 9, 2022

If it smells like censorship...

 


April 9, 2022

And a good spring morning to all! Deuce and I were up early this morning, awoken, I'm guessing, by the rain. Or more precisely, the sump pump starting to work because of all the rain. We can hear the pump if the house is quiet. I don't mind because it assures me the basement is staying dry. Managing the basement is one of the annoying things about country living, but there's nothing like owning your own house and property and being your own boss of it. 

But homeownership isn't what's on my mind this morning. Because my focus and energy is on getting all my ducks in a row to retire, writing prose has been put on the back burner. I decided that instead of worrying about that, I'd do some promo through social media, primarily the Facebook groups. 

Well..........   ...   ...

I've never made a concerted effort to promo an entire series before, but I'm working on the Men of Marionville. That's twelve stories. Yesterday, I was at my job office just hanging out while my replacement did all the work, so I opened my laptop and posted some promo. Facebook shut me down, locking me out of my account.

I was not pleased. 

Admittedly, it didn't take much to click my way through the unlock process and be up and running again. Did it annoy the fuck out of me? Yep. 

I understand the need for the various social media platforms to be on the watch for nefarious activities, but now I wonder if someone somewhere clicked a little button to try to censor my post about a book. And that's one of the things I just don't get about people. 

There's an old joke about how you can tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat simply by watching television. Let's say there's a new TV show that is designed to be offensive. A Democrat will go to war to stop it from being aired believing no one should see it, but a Republican will allow First Amendment rights and so just change the channel. 

(Remember Tipper Gore and her crusade to ban some songs over their lyrics? Google it. I rest my case.)

The point of that is some people are willing to allow others to live and let live, and some are not. Some people are willing to allow your point of view to be heard. They'll just change the channel and listen to something else while others will do everything in their power to silence you. 

My books are hardly subversive. I write about people falling in love and embarking on a journey together. I don't voice my opinions anywhere but here at Between the Keys, and I keep my political leanings to a minimum. I'm not all "this way" or "that way" as I think each issue needs to be considered on its own. 

I'm disturbed by the new little downvote button Twitter has. If you don't like what a person is posting you can vote them down and eventually, the algorithm will bury their voice. Just remember they can do that to you. Why not just change the channel for a little while?

Censorship is not healthy. Twisting, and yes, masking the truth is dangerous. Lies are being told every day and only by being able to listen to multiple sources are we common folk able to ferret them out and learn what is true. Censorship is proof positive there is an agenda at work, and anyone or anything that embraces it is suspect. 

As a society of free people, and still free thinkers, we need to protect the right of everyone to voice an opinion, even if we do not agree. The rabble-rousers are winning in their efforts to set We The People at odds with each other. The less each and every one of us is allowed to hear all the voices of all sides, the more those censoring us win. 

Which, of course, means we're all losing. Think about where we could end up before you press that dislike or downvote button. Just change the channel instead. 

  _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks


Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys








Monday, April 4, 2022

Memories: The A to Z Blogging Challenge


April 4, 2022

It occurred to me this morning that it was April and I never checked out the A-Z Blogging Challenge page. I did the A-Z for six years, from 2011 to 2016, and it was fun - for the first five years, anyway. I don't remember what it was in 2016 that made me decide that was my last year, and it hardly matters now. 

The A-Z is currently underway, so given that I donated so much time to it in the past, I thought I'd jump on its bandwagon and post links back to the beginning of those previous years. It will be a nice stroll down memory lane for me this morning. 

_*_*_*_

2011 A-Z Blogging Challenge. I forgot I shared my A-Z calendars! I heard about the challenge at the eleventh hour and blundered forward with it. And it worked out fine!                             https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2011/03/gearing-up-for-a-z-blogging-challenge.html

2012 A-Z Blogging Challenge. Again, I shared my calendar to get it going. And I hadn't yet gotten on the fact that someone had made alphabet blocks for each day. That came later. 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-to-z-blogging-challage-kick-off.html

2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge. My 2013 challenge had a theme: All About the Books. Once again, I did a calendar and A Hard Habit to Break was my "A." I'd finally discovered the alphabet blocks at this point. 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2013/03/welcome-to-2013-to-z-blogging-challenge.html

2014 A-Z Blogging Challenge. In 2014 the mere blocks were green and I used that color on my calendar. I don't know if I did that on purpose for a tie-in or if it was mere serendipity. My theme in 2014 was "A Rural Life," and I shared bits about living in far out in the country on the side of a mountain.
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2014/03/readysetgo-2014-z-blog-challenge-begins.html

2015 A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme was "Many Sundry Things," and the blogs were all over the board. Someone at the challenge headquarters did a calendar, and while I had my own, I didn't post it. 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2015/03/ready-set-go-2015-to-z-blogging.html

2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme was, "It's All About Time." Apparently, time management was on my mind at that point in my life. Amber Quill had just closed and I needed to self-pub a lot of books, we'd had a blizzard, my mother had surgery, my best friend moved away, and I'd just gotten an eight-week-old puppy - Deuce! And to top it all off, I'd had the hair-brained idea that my alter-ego, Rayne Forrest, should also do the A-Z. 

2017 A-Z Blogging Challenge. My walk down memory lane has jogged my memory. Something in the format was changed in 2017 and I bowed out. 

So there it is. My history as part of April's A-Z Blogging Challenge. I hope you'll enjoy the old posts if you decide to go back and read them. 


 _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks


Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys



Sunday, April 3, 2022

Men of Marionville promo goals

 


April 3, 2022

Setting goals is a good way to self-motivate, so I set one for myself. I will promo the entire Men of Marionville collection in the Facebook groups I belong to over the next few weeks. I've never done that but it feels like the time to be intentional about it. 

Promo has always been hit or miss for me. One takes the time to do it, but it's difficult to say if the results are immediately positive. Sales spikes do happen, but often it is a week or two after the promo is posted. It's a crazy business. 

I enjoyed writing the Men of Marionville, and I'd like to revisit it someday. Marionville is not that far from Centerville, and maybe I should take a trip back there, too. Hot guys and fast American-made muscle cars. What's not to like? 

Now I'm off to Facebook to execute my plan. I'll do that for a space of time, and switch off to work on other projects. I can only stand doing so much promo in one day before my brain shuts off. 


  _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks


Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys