Doh!!
I’ve had a bit of an epiphany.
I’ve just realized that I’ve been totally disregarding a section of the general public that may, from time to time, have a need to look up my name for say……A SCHOOL PROJECT! I have to admit that I’ve been a bit slow on the uptake here and completely forgot about just who my potential audience may be. Yes, I’ve neglected the kiddies and may have a potential Dooce-like situation brewing? Not that I’m actually in a position to be fired from my job, per se’, but it could damage my reputation as a children’s author and even affect sales. Of course I could just say “Hey, get a life!” – after all Madonna sells books without any problems……..but then I’m not exactly Madonna now, am I?
Mmmmm, it’s hard to say what to make of it? I do know that I haven’t exactly been carrying on like the “normal” children’s book writer/illustrator when it comes to some of the things I write on here though. Of course I do find it kinda funny that I’ve done about three months of blog now without even realizing that fact. I’m not sure that some of my previous posts would be considered “acceptable reading” by parents and school teachers…..Though, as I say, tis funny! It also kinda puts a bit of a damper on my “Tom Cruise Week”.
So I now feel I’ve got a bit of a conundrum here? Do I trash, or hide, or limit the viewing of all of my previous “unsuitable for kids” blog posts and then censor myself from here on in, or do I try something else? Maybe change my name to a pseudonym – though I don’t think that would really work that well considering I’m occasionally talking about or promoting my work on this blog. Will doing anything like that have the negative effect of making this blog boring? Or is it already boring (it’s hard to tell from here sometimes).
It’s a bit of a dilemma and I’ll need to give it some thought – possibly even sleep on it, maybe? What do you guys think I should do? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Ohhh yeah, and Tom Cruise is a silly little individual!
ah… if it were me, I would keep the website promoting the books and author/illustrator separate if there is content that is potentially not child friendly. Both could be under your name, and you could even post the child friendly content to both…. but the blog of all topics, might need a disclaimer at the top to warn folks… just a thought.
I’m fairly chicken and I don’t author books and children’s material (journal articles are an obscure category, and I still haven’t published any of those, either, but some are in the works). Still, I blog with a pseudonym.
make people log in if they want to read “the good stuff” ? that’s what i do, at least.
oh, and i’m glad you realize you’re not madonna
Stormwind – Might be a bit late for that now though? Keeping the two things separate I mean. I might set up a disclaimer and have some of the more “adult” posts only viewed by people who log in (as janine has suggested). I might also have a look around to see how other people have handled the same dilemma.
What’s your obscure category by the way?
janine – Good idea! And I KNOW I’m not Madonna because I would credit the illustrators of her books more. I mean they’re doing a much better job on her books than she’s doing!
The Under 18 crowd will read anything and personally, I don’t think your entries are risque.
I know when I used to frequent the public library I was about to read a lot of “unsuitable material for children”.
Some of the celebrities with the wild past often become children writers: Fergie, Madonna and one more actress I can’t think of right now.
I’ve been reading your blog for ages and I wouldn’t have thought any of your posts were THAT bad.
I’ve got three daughters 15, 10 and 6 and I’d not be pulling my hair out if I caught them reading your blog.
Having said that, I really think that parents and teachers should be monitoring what a child reads anyway and you shouldn’t have to worry about stunting your own creativity.
alice – Maybe not as risque as they could be, no. Put it this way I’ve read A LOT worse things on the Internet. As a kid I also read a lot of stuff that was probably deemed “unsuitable” by a lot of parents. I also think that in the world of children’s books celebrities are a law onto themselves?
Deb – I agree with you there! parents should be monitoring what their children are reading and doing. For the most part my posts have been OK – with just a sprinkling of expletives here and there. I’ve been through them and I decided to “hide” only two posts. I also trashed all the “F” words (but left the derivatives such as “freaking” and “frigging” as they were). Likewise I trashed the “S” word, but left the ass’s and assholes alone.
No wait….That sounds all wrong?? Mmmmm, you know what I mean though.
Shel Silverstein…know what…he drew cartoons exclusively for Playboy for years and then later went on to write extremely successful children’s books of poetry. My favorite is Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out. So…here are the choices as I see them…Start a new blog under some kind of anonymous format and let all who love you know where it is…or…become so wonderfully successful that you could shit in their hat and they would publish you anyway…I vote for the second! You deserve to be that famous!
It’s true – there are exceptions to every rule, that’s for sure! Your second option seems the easiest to do (as in whatever happens happens and it’s not so much up to me, but other people) but it’s sure gonna make my ego run rampant!
**Smacks ego back into line**
Thanks for the compliments though.
**Smacks ego back into line – AGAIN!**
I REALLY have a problem with him sometimes!