Support Writers!

"I don't like that no one has written about this" has the potential to be super offensive. The chances are that someone most definitely has published writing on the topic, but the person making this statement hasn't bothered to look for it.

I see this all the time in academic essays that I peer review. The author will claim that "there has not yet been any serious writing on this topic," either having failed to do their research or thinking it's somehow okay to dismiss prior research without reading it.

Along the same lines, "members of [minority group] never get published" is incredibly hurtful to writers who have gone through the arduous process of publishing only for their existence to be denied by people who would rather perform outrage than seek out and promote their work.

Support emerging writers!
Support lesser-known writers!
Support marginalized writers!
Support writers!!!

Constant Vigilance

Every weekend I go back over the posts I reblogged on Tumblr during the previous week to make sure that there aren't any typos in the tags...

...and this weekend, as I was doing that, I realized that something I reblogged is probably propaganda for the Church of Scientology. I did a bit of digging, and I was able to confirm that yes, that gorgeous sci-fi painting is indeed propaganda for the Church of Scientology.

Oh man. It happens to the best of us, but how embarrassing.