So far there are 3 things I’ve gotten crazy Twitter attention for: trolling white supremacists, talking about Asian representation in Anime and now romance novels. What a wide variety of subjects 😂
Had a few questions about why I even went to the hearing. Answer: I read smart romance and am part of this huge community (hi 600 something new followers) and thought it ridiculous that a trademark was being pursued for a generic adjective.
I am not a court reporter. I work on photo features that focus on climate change and weather things (see bio). But when I saw this entire cockygate (plus bookstuffing) situation going on, I kept wondering who’d cover it.
I was telling this to my friend at dinner tonight, but I vibe that people have this idea that romance readers are hopelessly waiting for someone to woo them and or are always uh in the mood. (Could be both, could be neither.) But honestly, who hates romcoms...
I did lots of waiting. Hoping someone would pick it up bc lord knows Twitter & Facebook was shouting about this. So that’s why I decided to go to the hearing. There was a void in telling this story, so I decided it would be me.
Former prof will say this too, but I wasn’t the greatest reporter or writer. I was told that I wasn’t curious enough to be a journalist. Well, I sure as hell was curious about what would happen at court today.
I can’t be the only journalist, editor, reporter etc etc who reads romance. Idk if y’all noticed, but I tweeted everything the way a reporter would. No opinions, just facts and analysis. This community should get that as a given.
Not sure where this thread is going tbh, but all I can say is that there is something missing for a massive group of people — a disservice.
I obviously do not have a solution. Just wanted to put this all out there that I see this and it’s frustrating as journalist/editor that (maybe) bc of stigma, things like cockygate will barely get coverage.
I mean come on, a judge declared that y’all are sophisticated readers. That’s pretty “real” to me that this is a “real” genre.
Just because romance genre is not your cup of tea, it doesn’t mean that the genre’s writing lacks merit. A short novel also shouldn’t discredit worth or quality. I don’t see anyone calling romcoms “fake” movies.
And we all know, everyone loves those cheesy af holiday movies on Netflix and lifetime. It’s okay in a movie, but not as a book? K. Cool. 🤷🏻♀️
But there is a huge array of intelligent, smart, amazing storyline romance novels. It’s not just porn in writing. In fact, most of my personal favorites have very little sex or intimacy at all! Nothing more than a PG-13 film.
Everyone deserves better in the genre —authors and readers. Being hushed to talk about anything or not saying your two cents in hopes that someone else will say something you’re thinking, all that is a no.
If anything #cockygate proved that there was a need to reveal truth, bring light to the situation. I wouldn’t have gone to court or start a tweet storm if I didn’t see the convos about it. Cockybot wouldn’t have been made. Cocktales wouldn’t have been published.
There is always something to be gained, a bit of wisdom at the least, when a group of people can openly discuss without fear holding them back.
That concludes my second unintentionally extensive thread. Oops. Happy Friday everyone 😊
