The Internet is awesome. With it, you can go up and down the intellectual spectrum, rapidly spreading things you love — from a hipster-ironic version of America’s Funniest Home Videos (“Look! A Youtube video where a guy gets hit in the nuts with a cat playing a keytar!”) to a Wired article on how some dude replaced his head with a high-octane wireless router and now he’s the world’s first human internet server.

Thing is, the Internet is also good at rapidly spreading — and at times magnifying — negative energy, too. Hate, racism, sexism, prejudice, other negativity. And countering those: outrage, which is itself a kind of negativity (though one aimed at positive effect through negative reach).

Outrage is a very real currency on the Internet, as every week gives us a metric fuckbucket of new things to get mad about: “Canada is electrocuting adorable river otters in the streets! In DC Comics’ continuity they just just killed off all the female superheroes in an event called The Gynopocalypse, and they’ve replaced all the female characters with scantily-clad hat racks! Snowden just revealed Project: Polyp, where the NSA has been implanting listening devices in our rectums for the last 30 years! Penny Arcade just said something stupid. Er, again! GUNS HEALTH CARE FAKE GEEK GIRLS CENSORSHIP SOCIALISM AAAAAAAH THANKS OBAMA.”

*skull melts like a chocolate bunny in a microwave*

As of late I’ve felt a little bit of outrage fatigue and, as a result, a kind of outrage-based anxiety — a tiredness of various causes resulting in an unexpected hesitation to dip my feet into the rivers of social media because to do so risks that pinching inside my guttyworks. And this isn’t because I think the outrage is fake or manufactured. Rather, I feel it, too. It’s the real deal. Entirely justified and understandable. Frequently as tangible as a sharp knife turned palmward.

But it’s weary-making.

So, I started noodling on it and when I tend to noodle on something that noodling results in a blogpost of dubious assertions and uncertain ideas. This is the result of said noodling. Here, then, are my thoughts on how to manage and mitigate outrage on the Internet.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Assume That All Outrage Is Authentic

Start from the presupposition that someone’s concerns or complaints are real. Not bullshit. Not faux-genuine. But honestly authentic and coming from a very real place. To assume otherwise requires a very cynical attempt at guesswork where your first step out of the gate is to question everyone’s — even your own — reasons and motives for being upset about something, and it also assumes you know just what the hell is going on inside their heads and their hearts. You don’t know their history. You don’t know what upsets someone or why. If your outrage is real, it’s best to assume everyone else’s is, too.

Just because you don’t like or agree with their outrage is no reason to dismiss it.

Silencing Outrage Is For Assholes

Outrage exists for a reason. We get upset because something has affected us — whether just under the skin or spearing us all the way through our exoskeletons and into our vulnerable hearts. It is completely and utterly shitty to try to take that away from someone: when your only acknowledgment of someone else’s outrage is to suggest that it doesn’t belong, isn’t deserved, and should just get banished from the public conversation, you’re the problem, not the solution. And it’s the same when you have a fire burning in your own belly: there’s nothing more frustrating than having something you believe be dismissed and diminished by another ignorant motherfucker (usually someone who disagrees and hopes that by silencing your outrage they gain a kind of moral upper hand). Do not be silenced. Do not silence others.

Don’t Compare Causes

Prioritize your outrage; don’t prioritize the outrage of others.

You see this a lot. Someone says, “I’m mad about that thing that company did this week,” and someone pipes in with, “YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT SHELTER DOGS (or SEXIST COMICS or RACIST GENETICALLY-MODIFIED HIGH-FRUCTOSE ORANGUTANS), BUT THERE ARE CHILDREN IN SYRIA BEING KILLED.” Which is entirely true. And entirely sad. But one concern doesn’t steal from another. We feel what we feel and we all contribute our part. That has to be okay. Maybe that person doesn’t know enough about what’s going on in Syria. Or they’re so angry they literally cannot parse it. Maybe they talked about it a week ago and you missed it. Hell, maybe they just don’t care that much. That has to be okay, too. We can’t turn the volume up on every issue the world around: that’s a good way to invite a complete and total mental breakdown.

We all compartmentalize and prioritize.

Do not judge, lest ye yourself be judged. And maybe punched in the genital configuration.

Engage Diplomatically With Outrage (Yours And Everyone Else’s)

When you bring a cause or a concern to the world, folks are gonna wanna talk about it. Maybe they agree. Maybe they want more information. Maybe they don’t agree one little bit. But engagement is on the menu — and presumably that’s okay, since that’s the whole reason to mention it in the first place.

Be nice. Don’t be a dick.

You’re a diplomat representing your own anger — but that doesn’t mean your anger needs to be on display. We feel that way when someone disagrees with us, but what’s the value-add there by responding with anger? Responding with honesty, sure. Even frustration, okay. But anger? Insult? Throwing pain on top of pain, countering negativity with negativity?

If you see nothing to be gained by interacting with someone on a particular topic: just don’t engage or allow them to engage you. Ignorance is fine. If you do see value, then engage with as much politeness as you can muster. Because then a wonderful thing might happen: one or both of you might actually (gasp) learn stuff from each other. How fucking goofy-cool would that be?

Your Two New Best Friends: “Block” And “Unfollow”

If someone persists in being an asshole — or if you just don’t want their signal in your frequency anymore — then embrace the power of unfollow or, in extreme circumstances, block.

Yes, social media is frequently in danger of being an echo chamber where we throw out an opinion and our crowd boomerangs it back to us — that way, we learn nothing, we gain nothing, we do nothing. But you’re also not required to tolerate intolerance. You’re not forced to engage with people with whom you will never see eye to eye on any issue, ever. Our social media circles are bigger, more bloated versions of our friend circles in real life. If you wouldn’t tolerate hanging out with them in person for any period of time, why allow them into the digital version of the same? (Online friends are real friends, by the way.)

When Presented With Challenges, Present Solutions

It’s easy to just… you know, be all RAZZAFRAZZA GNNNNRRR BLARGH RAGEMONKEY FURYCHIMP KICK HOLE IN THE UNIVERSE EEEEYAAAAAARGH, but that’s not entirely productive. It’s honest! It’s understandable! But again: what’s the value proposition, here?

Take your rage. Form it into an arrow. Shoot that right into the eye of your enemy.

Meaning, translate your anger into something actionable. Something productive. It’s very easy to point out problems, but more difficult — and far more valuable — to find solutions. Otherwise, all you’re doing is yelling into an empty bucket hoping it’ll fill up. (Spoiler alert: it won’t.)

Charities! Corporate email bombs! Petitions! Boycotts! Voting booths! Whatever it is you feel might make a difference: do that thing, and try to spread it around.

Embrace Outrage In Areas You Influence

This isn’t to say you can’t be mad about stuff outside your sphere of influence and/or control, but you will find it far more clarifying and productive if you embrace the issues that affect you and your community. Fix the things you can fix. Cleave more closely to those spaces that you control and that matter to you directly.

Try To Be Informed

The Internet makes it easy to spread around love and hate, but even more viral is the syphilitic transmission of misinformation. We sometimes get pissed off based on things that never even happened or aren’t even remotely true — “HOLY SHITQUIDDICH, JUSTIN BIEBER STOMPED A BAG OF BABY BADGERS TO DEATH ON THE TODAY SHOW THIS MORNING.” Mmnope, not true, and really easy to fact-check, except we’re all a bunch of gullible slack-jaws half the time willing to believe any chain mail that comes poop-plopping into our inboxes.

I’ve done it.

You’ve done it.

We need to do less of it.

Pay attention. Do a little research. (Hint: if the article comes from some fringe journal — WHITEPOWERGUNLIBERTYNEWS.COM or BLACKHELICOPTERSORGANICPRODUCE.COM — then dig deeper to see if it’s actually a thing other people are saying or if it’s purely the artifice of some whackaloon “Internet news” outlet.) Try not to spread outrage based on bad info.

Be A Fountain, Not A Drain

Counter your outrage by trying to also put happy stuff into the world. Talk about things you like. Share good news! If it’s a picture of a hedgehog in a jaunty top-hat and a serious-looking monocle, for shit’s sake, I wanna see it. WE ALL WANT TO SEE IT.

That hedgehog will make the world a better place.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the outrage and just be a rage-faucet 24/7. That’s not helpful to you. That’s not helpful to everyone else. Mitigate. Countermand the negativity by introducing a little positivity back into the world. Fight back shadows with flashlights.

You’re Allowed An Outrage Vacation

Repeat after me: “I am allowed an outrage vacation.”

Sometimes you gotta just stop talking about it and engaging with it. Sometimes you have to kick back and ignore all the shitty stuff going on because your own mental health is paramount. Maybe that means just not talking about Today’s Problem. Maybe it means taking a social media vacation — a day, a week, whatever you need. Don’t let it pull you apart at the seams. Protect yourself. No need to get some kind of outrage based Internet-specific PTSD. Because again, as I keep asking throughout this post: what’s the value in that?

Last week I wrote a thing about 25 steps one might take to become a proper professional-grade self-published author, but in that post I expressed a little distaste for the term “self-publisher,” and somewhat inadvertently coined a new term: “author-publisher.”

I’d like to unpack that and defend it a little bit.

“Self-publishing” as a term is one I’ve never really liked.

A couple-few reasons:

First, it’s already got a stigma from the guys who printed their own books 10-20 years ago and tried to sell them at farmer’s markets or on their Geocities pages. (I had a guy at an eyeglasses place in the mall push a free copy of his Young Adult Softball Jesus subgenre book — self-published, obviously. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever tried to read. Ironically, I think if I had read it all the way through it would have burned out the eyes that needed eyeglasses.)

Second, it’s clunky in the mouth. Aesthetically, I just don’t like it.

Third, it says nothing about actually writing a book. One supposes that the “self” part makes it implicit, but given that the problem with self-publishing is (or at least was) the failing quality of the material, I feel like we should have a term that explicitly states that first you gotta write a professional-level book. More on that in a moment.

Fourth, “self” is very misleading — the best self-publishers make use of Other Smart and Instrumental Humans in the process. Cover artists and editors and copy-editors and author-wranglers and liquor store employees. Self sounds like you’re doing it all alone. DIY! Except not.

So, author-publisher.

Here’s why I diggit:

First, it sounds like RPG MULTI-CLASS. I’m a warrior-mage! A rogue-monk! A drunken-sorcerer-bard-waitress-wombat-jockey! Author-publisher sounds like you’re buying points in both of these professional classes and you can wear the weapons and sigils of each house.

Second, it’s more accurate. You are both an author and publisher. Why not emphasize both?

Third, I like hyphens.

Fourth, while author is a bit of a pretentious term, hey, fuck it, I think we could use a little pretension. Maybe it’s a word that raises our noses up a little. Maybe it sets a higher-bar to counter the idea of just click publish no really just do it who cares if you wrote the literary equivalent of a Target bag full of old poop-heavy toddler diapers fuck the gatekeepers dude just fling that up onto Amazon man and let the sweeeeeet money come rolling in.

So, there you go:

Author-publisher.

Use it. Abuse it. Discard it. Bury it in a shallow grave by the train tracks.

But I like it.

Here’s a thing that’s happening at Der Wendighaus:

I will soon be the sole provider for our family.

*hold for applause and/or laughter*

My wife has been in a year-long extraction from her job — transitioning from full-time to part-time (for the last year) to, come next month, no-time. She’s doing this to spend more time with our son and to allow me more time for my writing career (and further, the costs of daycare are so high it practically eats away the value of having a job in the first place).

This is, of course, terrifying.

Don’t get me wrong — while I wouldn’t call being a writer the most, erm, stable job one would find, I think I’d made a pretty good go of it. Our finances are in good order. I do well as a writer. Not go buy a boat money, but definitely support my family money.

The scary part comes in that we are losing our health insurance.

And it’s pretty good health insurance we’re losing.

Thus I solicit you, THE HIVEMIND, on the subject of independent health care. We’re in the market — we’ve got an agent who is suggesting Aetna and United to us, and we may lean that way, but not before I explore any and all options. Do you have independent health care? Are you willing to talk about it — problems, pluses, costs, benefits and concerns? Can you confidently speak to me about just what the hell Obamacare is going to mean for us?

HALP PLEASE OKAY THANK YOU

*hyperventilates*

Any advice or information you have: I’m listening. Thanks!

Casual reminder:

Every Thursday, I run ten questions with an author regarding that author’s book.

I tend to run one or two per day. I don’t think I’ll do more than two.

How you get a slot: email me at terribleminds at gmail dot com.

Use the subject header: [Author] [Book Title] [Release Date] [10 Questions]

(Meaning, fill in those bracketed topics with relevant data, please.)

You can solicit me as early as you like, up to a month before your release date.

I will favor traditionally-published books. I know, this isn’t very nice or very fair but if I don’t say that, then I assure you, speaking from past experience, I will get a whole lot of Very Bad Self-Published Fiction Interview Requests.

I will not do 10-Qs for books that are already out. I prefer to keep them in and around the weeks surrounding the actual release. So: new upcoming releases only, please.

I do accept pitches for graphic novels or other forms of storytelling. Books, games, video games, comics, graphic novels, films, television, novellas — as long as it’s professionally produced, I’m happy to hear the pitch and consider the idea (though, again, no guarantees).

If you email me, I will try very hard to email you back.

Once I say yes, I will want your answers two weeks before your interview posts.

I like those answers in a separate file — .doc, .rtf, HTML, something that makes it easy for me to copy into WordPress without wonky formatting. Pulling it from the body of an email can be a Sisphyean task, and I’m totally lazy, so don’t make me do that.

In that file I also want:

Any and all relevant links to your book.

That means: your website, your Twitter, and any Buy Links you want included.

Please also give me or (preferably) link me to a full-sized graphic image of your cover.

Final request:

I get a copy of the book. Preferably physical (and I’ll give you my mailing address if that works). If that fails, a digital copy will do just fine. I prefer to have it before the interview posts.

(I don’t really do guest posts from people by request. Those are only from me soliciting authors who I consider friends or compadres of the website in some way.)

The questions are:

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?

GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:

WHERE DOES THIS STORY COME FROM?

HOW IS THIS A STORY ONLY YOU COULD’VE WRITTEN?

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING [story name]?

WHAT DID YOU LEARN WRITING [story name]?

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT [story name]?

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

GIVE US YOUR FAVORITE PARAGRAPH FROM THE STORY:

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AS A STORYTELLER?

Last week’s challenge: “Choose Your Setting.”

See this article?

I love it. Totally bizarre. Utterly unexplained.

Probably something boring, but that’s not our area of expertise.

We are writers and storytellers. It is our job to explain. And more importantly, to make stuff totally awesome. So, your job is: write a ~1000 short story of any genre including and explaining this weird little web-towers. You’ve got till next week to get it done, due by Friday the 13th at noon EST. Write the story at your online space, link back here so we all can read it.

Include it. Explain it (to whatever degree you are comfortable). What is it? What made it? Where does it come from? What is its purpose? What madness is this?

Go forth and write.

See you on the other side.

School Library Journal Reviews Heartland, Book #1! (Note, mild spoilers within.)

In the Heartland, the corn has been genetically modified until it can be left to its own devices, leaving those who work the fields with few tasks but harvesting the crop that funds the flotillas, which hover high above the land and house the elite ruling class, the Empyrean. Cael and the others in the Heartland toil endlessly to keep the corn and the mysterious illnesses that accompany its growth from their lives. When Cael’s sister sneaks onto the flotilla, the consequences for her and her family on the ground are severe. And after Cael’s first love’s family wins the lottery to be relocated to the flotillas, he knows he has to go after her. Through all these trials, Cael realizes that the only way to save the Heartlanders is to challenge the idea that corn must be king. Wendig convincingly illustrates the kind of culture and environment that might be the result of today’s agricultural practices and genetically modified industrial crops. The dystopia that arises from this projection is believable and chilling, but it never overpowers the stories of the characters that live in this world.

SLJ reviews, Sept 2013 (reviewed by Anna Berger)

Under the Empyrean Sky is on sale now ($3.99 Kindle, $10.79 hardback, available in audio formats, too. B&N and Indiebound buy links below. Thanks!)

UNDER THE EMPYREAN SKY

Preorder: Amazon / B&N / Indiebound