That Daily Mail Article again

As it's a week since that stupid, inaccurate - fictitious - article  about the RNA Summer party  I should mention that as well as organising the brilliant 'This is What A Romantic Novelist Looks Like' campaign and page on Facebook. Kate Johnson also wrote to the Daily Mail protesting at the 'mistakes' their columnist Claudia Connell made.  Her letter and her photograph - proof if anyone needed it that  the description of  RNA members as having blue rinses and twin sets and pearls  was distinctly wide  of the mark - was published yesterday - see above.  Brilliantly done  Kate - congratulations.


My only concern is that now I'm sure the DM thinks it has rectified the problem and provided a new balance - well, no, not in my book.  Kate has her point made and her picture in the paper but  where is Ms Connell's explanation/apology for creating such a fiction in the first place?  Where is there any indication of awareness of the 158 members of the This is What A Romantic Novelist Looks Like - not to mention the hundreds of other members of the RNA /all romantic novelists slighted or ignored in the original  article. And why were the comments on that article closed at 24 replies when  people  still wanted to comment - criticising the inaccuracie ?

 I'm so tired of lazy,inaccurate, bigoted reporting  - on any subject - that resorts to using old, worn-out stereotypes without any concer as to whether they are  still - or ever were - maccurate and relevant. Why do journalists always drag out images of Barbara Cartland and Catherine Cookson to illustrate a profession in which neither lady has been active for over ten years?   What next? Illustrating an article on the present day Members of Parliament with images of  Harold Wilson or Margaret Thatcher? 

Hopefully the point has been made - to this newspaper at least. But I'll be watching with interest for the next article/comment/report on anything to do with romantic fiction or romantic novelists  and I'll not be surprised if some of the same old, same old surfaces again -  the words bodice-rippers, slushy stories, "heroines swooning with alarming frequency and heroes, with names like Troy and Cassius"  repeated ad nauseam. Probably illustrated with photos of Barbara Cartland ..  .sigh!


But at least Kate  - and everyone else who joined the This Is What A Romantic Novelist Looks Like pages - have  scored a well honed point - we can hope that it is just the start of a change in the way this wonderful, successful, bestselling form of fiction and the  fabulouswriters who create it are portrayed.

Charlie's Diary - 6 months in

Hello  - Charlie here.

 My Mum  is busy with some Argentinian guy called Diablo - well, that's what she calls him when she's being polite. I've heard her call him some other names that she  says aren't suitable for this blog. After all she is a Romantic Novelist with a reputation for decorum and restraint to uphold (I can hear you all laughing!)

Anyway, I've been living here for six months now and it suits me just fine. You have to get used to some boring things - like the amount of time spent with books for one thing. But the food's good and there's plenty of it.  And these days I get to go Beyond The Door.

 

I love going beyond the Door - there is the ace thing called the Garden and it has grass and shrubs and trees to climb. I can spend all day out there.  Oh and I can chase Flora around the garden too. That's a lot of fun.  There are things called birds out there and I've caught one already  but it flapped and fluttered and I didn't quite know what to do with it so I dropped it and it flapped and fluttered off - but I'll get another one. there are plenty of these Bird things Beyond The Door.   I found where they have their food and I'm waiting!

There are also weird things that Flora calls The Prickles. They only come out at night so I haven't seen them that often. My mum says they are called Hedgehogs and you people know them as The Hecks.  I suppose that's cos every time I see one I say 'What the Heck is that!'

Flora and I are almost friends now. But she does get cross when I try  to pinch her box - she loves her box and doesn't let anyone play in it. And old man Sid is great too - sometimes we sleep on the bed together he does a lot of sleeping (because he's nearly 16)  so he doesn't come out Beyond the Door much.

So that's it - that's where I'm at after 6 months here.   I like it. I think I'll stay

Oh - a message from my Mum. She says that   the great  This Is What A Romantic Novelist Looks Like campaign now has it's own Facebook page - so you can see what Romantic Novelists really look like  - and 'like' it as well. You'll find it here.  not a blue rinse in sight!

Best Purrs

Charlie   - This is what a Romantic Novelists' Cat looks like   ->