Tag Archives: Romanceland

Dearest Romanceland, A Humble Request – Can We Please Not?!

CGI Individual standing in front of a stop sign with arms crossed Why Lime[cello], you might ask – what on earth do you mean?

Clickbait. That’s what I mean. For nearly a month now I’ve been seeing posts, anywhere from joking, to snarky, half serious to entirely serious social media posts about “how to write an article about romance [novels].” Or possibly more accurately how not to do so.

But you know what? (And I hope I’m wrong … but I doubt I am) – It’ll happen. Some [likely idiot] will write some shit about “bodice rippers” and Romanceland will lose its collective mind. Because also sadly, on those days, it sometimes seems as if we do only have one mind between all of us. Which… is saying something because amongst the citizens of Romanceland we’ve got some really fucking brilliant individuals!

Now, I love Romanceland. I really truly do. Even on its bad days. Even when it’s like a sibling thing wherein I can say shit about it but boy howdy nobody else that isn’t family better say a word. Hell, some days I half want to push [Romanceland] down a flight of stairs. Still. Overall we’re still a wonderful, delightful, caring, amazing group of people.

All that being said – could we maybe, perchance, possibly just not read or share that clickbait article? Resist! Just. DON’T. Do. It. Be the anti-Nike in just this one thing. Don’t do it. Don’t click it, don’t read it, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD please don’t share it! Just let it die in ignominy. Please.

I imagine most news sites – or wherever the clickbait lives – gets advertising dollars that are driven by clicks. Even if you’re going “just to rip on it” – you’re playing directly into their hands. For a while romanceland tried donotlink etc but … it never really took off. We failed there. (Plus it doesn’t stop them from getting ad dollars anyway … just less search engine status…)  Not only am I not a fan of giving the site/person a huge influx of [rage] traffic … creating furor while “exciting” – and admit it – we all enjoy some piling on – I’d say creates more harm than good. I also admit to clicking and sharing and doing all that shit in the past. But at least in recent years (especially? the last few years) – I’ve tried to just avoid it. Help those of us out. Dare I say … help yourself out?

Even if it’s someone who is an “ally” or thinks they are to romance – if they write a shitbird article … don’t share it. Don’t post the link. Screenshot if you absolutely must but … honestly, I’d ask we just all avoid that unnecessary drama. Also, it’s pointless to just echo chamber rage. Might I suggest writing a letter to the editor. Contacting the paper. Something like that. Not … ironically making a lot of money for the paper for something that makes your brain explode in rage. Which only encourages them.

TL;DR – avoid the clickbait. Or if reading the romance denigrating article is your kink … keep it to yourself. Don’t send hundreds (if not more) people racing to a site that’ll just bring them outrage dollars, enticing them to do more of the same next year if not sooner. Kill it dead. Don’t give it attention, and let it die. And while I’m calling out romance trashing articles specifically … I wouldn’t mind if we do this across the board.

Let the clickbait articles die.

Thanks.

SWHM Guest: Janet Eckford

Hi friends! Shew. So we know … gosh like everything is fraught with danger and tension online these days, right? And yesterday was no different. In fact it was actually so much more than even those with drama fatigue were sucked in. The “crazy” thing though is most likely nobody will remember next week. Or perhaps I won’t even remember this weekend when I look back at this post what I was talking about. Such is the ephemeral nature of the internet. What isn’t, however, is kickass women. 😀 We might not know about them, or hear much about them, but the amazing things they’ve done are lasting. Today we have a post from Janet Eckford to help us celebrate [Smithsonian] Women’s History Month! Whee!

Finding UsWhen invited to contribute to Limecello’s Women’s History Month blog extravaganza (my description because anything celebrating the accomplishments of women should be an extravaganza) I was immediately pumped. I can pontificate about women and women’s issues forever. I’m sure there is some personal investment from this, because, as a human that identifies as a woman, I’ve got some major stock in ensuring issues that impact me get highlighted. Back in the day (5,840 days give or take a few hundred to be exact) when I was a baby feminist, heading off to college, I wanted to make sure that desire to engage in social change was something I never compromised on. Continue reading

Special Guest: Fedora

Friends, we’ve got a totally awesome post from Fedora today! She’s a lovely reader I’ve met online at various places. I definitely don’t get to talk to her as much as I’d like to, but I’m glad to have finally pinned her down for a guest post. 😀 She was really nervous about it, so I hope you show her some love.
Also? She’s amazing – we’ve got another post coming (hopefully later today) about my annual charity drive, and we didn’t even discuss and – and look at what she wrote! *big hugs to Fedora*

Hi, I’m Fedora, and I’ve probably met some of you already! That’s one of the lovely things about the Internet and how the online world has been a great thing for us readers! I’m a wife, mom, and life-long reader, and thanks to the dawning of the Internet/electronic age, I’ve been blessed with an ever-growing TBR and so many friends that I’ve yet to meet in person. 🙂

Although it’s a little early for Thanksgiving, I think it’s never too early to be grateful and I also think it’s never the wrong time for kindness. One of the things that I do love about the Internet is that in some ways, it’s truly made the world a smaller one, in a good way. Not only can we make friends with all kinds of people in all kinds of places, we can use our connections for good.

I know I’m a bit of an ostrich—I don’t like to watch the news and rarely read the papers. I don’t care to hear about the bad stuff—I guess if that makes me a fool, then so be it. It isn’t that I don’t think bad things are happening—alas, they are a part of reality, but I don’t feel I need to put them front and center in my life or the life of my family.

What I WOULD love to hear about is the good things—what is one kind thing, one generous thing someone has done for you or you have done for someone else recently? One great thing about the world we live in today is that we can truly reach out and touch someone else (remember that commercial? No? Feelin’ old here ;)) without leaving our homes. A heartfelt thank you that needed to be said. Words of encouragement just as someone’s feeling really down and out. Even a giftcard or gift shared with another person. Or just a hilarious post on FB that’s cheered you.

Some of the causes, groups, or people that most touch my heart are ones that support children, families, the military, and of course, reading. There are local ones that our family supports throughout the year, but a few that are farther reaching include:

Paperbackswap is a way to trade books you’re done with for books you want; they regularly also have ways to share books with schools in need, military personnel, and so on. I joined PBS years ago because DH thought it’d be a great way to get rid of some of the books in the house, and well, I wouldn’t say that we now have fewer books—we just have more books that we actually want to read 😉

Another for us readers is Operation Paperback, which works directly to connect military personnel with books to keep them company.

This one focuses on serving military families, who make huge sacrifices on our behalf every day: Operation Home Front

And I recall Reading Is Fundamental advertising even from when I was little.

And while it’s key to hook kids on reading, there are adults who need that same gift. ProLiteracy addresses adult illiteracy and helps get these people the lifechanging help reading provides.

I personally also like the work that Partners International does, especially with women and children. Plus they have a cool Harvest of Hope catalog which is very fun for our kids to go through, especially as we’re heading into the giving season.

So, what is near and dear to your heart? Please share either a group or an instance with us, and let us know how we can help, too! (I have books and swag I’d love to share with at least one of you—that’ll help me, too! My husband is often ready to toss my packrat self into the street ;))

I embedded the links to the organizations into the organization names – so just wanted to point that out to you in case you wanted to look for them. Thanks! (Also, as such I take full responsibility for weird sentences etc.)