Robin and I recently met at Linnaea’s Café to go over my edits to her manuscript, The Happiness Project. We were also interested in watching some of the speeches from the Democratic national convention on her laptop.
After the first speech, Robin and I had so much to discuss (thankfully, our political views are almost identical). And I made an offhand comment that it was unfortunate we couldn’t talk about politics on our blog.
And Robin said…
Yes we can!
But I didn’t think it was appropriate to use this blog, where we discuss our lives as children’s book writers, to express our excitement…or disappointment…in political things. I mean, sure, even children’s book writers have worldviews that lean us in certain political directions and almost certainly seep into our written words, but I still didn’t think we…
Yes we can!
Maybe if we wrote non-fiction books dealing with the state of the world it would be more appropriate. But the Disco Mermaids, when we write, we just make stuff up. We write fiction! Contemporary fiction. Contemporary realistic fiction, which basically means we take the real world and add a unique point of view or an interesting plot twist to discuss the way the world works. But, no, I still didn’t think…
Yes we can!
By that part of our discussion, Robin’s laptop ran out of juice (she forgot to bring her plug!), so we hightailed it to Mom and Dad Asher’s house to catch the next big Democratic speech. As she drove, I continued discussing my changes to her manuscript. One of the storylines in The Happiness Project, oddly enough, deals with a girl’s upcoming oral report on the Declaration of Independence. And Robin brings up some great points in there about what the founding fathers hoped Americans would do if our country ever found itself in desperate need of change. Too bad we can’t…
Yes we can!
When it came time to figure out a topic for my next blog post, Robin suggested that I simply describe our back-and-forth about whether or not to discuss politics on our blog. So that’s what you’ve got! And if any of my views seeped into this post, I sincerely hope it wasn’t too irritating.
But a little political…that’s something else I can believe in.
- Jay
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4 comments:
Yes, you can do anything you want, but I won't comment on politics or religion on blogs anymore. I disagreed on a political issue with an editor on a blog once and it may have cost me a relationship there. You just never know what the person next to you is thinking.
I was at a little league game last year sitting next to someone I thought I knew well. We had been having some go-round in our school about 'safe schools' and gay rights (we have a fairly large gay and lesbian population in my neighborhood) and it was being discussed in the newsletter. My friend turned to me and said "Did you see the newsletter?" "Yes," I said thinking how great it was that the district was finally taking a formal position. "Well," she says. "If they are going to push the gay agenda, then I'm pulling my kids from school." She then continued to rant some anti-gay sentiments while my mouth hung open (once I closed it, I had a few choice words of my own). She did pull her kids and we never spoke again.
You never know who you're sitting next to.
What politics? Wait... is there something going on? I haven't been watching much tv lately. Well, other than House Hunters. Huh. Maybe I should turn on CNN.
But before I do, let me say that The Happiness Project sounds wonderfully inspiring. And non-political. ;)
Go Robin! Yes you can! lol.
Love the title...The Happiness Project...I'd buy it based on those three little words.
As for politics, hmmm. Hard to say. personally, I feel it's a very exciting time in the history of our country. That alone is worth talking about.
Hey guys! I felt a little weird ranting about politics at first. . . but not too much. There's so much information not getting out through the usual channels, I sort of felt like I might be able to provide links to a few people who might not otherwise get them. It turned into a very interesting discussion!
Your writing/critique get-togethers still make me jealous. You guys are so lucky to have each other. Robin & Eve, can't wait to read your books as soon as may be!
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