Posted by Natasha Kern on April 18, 2002 at 23:44:28:
In Reply to: An article about Robin Lee Hatcher that may surprise you posted by LLB on April 11, 2002 at 13:25:16:
I read several of the posts on this topic a few days ago but was too irritated and disheartened to reply at the time. I wish I had taken the trouble to do it then. I am one of the few people in a position to know the actual truth about virtually everything discussed, rather than the uninformed opinions so many posted here. Various motives, attributes and behaviors have been ascribed to Robin by people who barely know her or are making assumptions about her career, her writing, her integrity and so on. It is time to set some of this straight.
1. I, too, was interviewed by the Idaho reporter so I am perhaps the only one in a position to know something of his interview style and point of view and how the article got somewhat skewed. He is not evil incarnate any more than Robin is. He is a guy assigned this interview who has never read a romance or an inspirational book and had his own point of view about them (without bothering to find out facts like many of you)and that inevitably affected the way the article was put together. Of course being sensationalistic helps to sell papers which is his job. He wasn't even attacking romances, but just picking things out of context and adding a slant that didn't happen to be Robin's. Denigrating him or the press in general is as pointless as denigrating Robin. Yes, I too, have been misquoted and worse yet absolutely slandered in the press. Outright lies and errors printed about me. It isn't a great experience. certainly not one Robin needed right now.
2. I have known Robin and worked with her for over 15 years. she is not only a person of utmost integrity, faith and honesty but also a person of great courage. she has been a source of inspiration to me personally regarding issues of faith but also in regard to her willingness to be open about her own failings and trials in life. She really is the wonderful person that some of you have met or known. How many authors would write a book like the Forgiving Hour and admit in public it was based on an incident from their own life? One thing I am absolutely certain of: if any other writer were being treated as she is, Robin would be the first to not only defend her but to remind us that we can take the higher ground. Character assasination and attributing all kinds of negative motives to others EVEN IF THEY HAD ACTUALLY DONE SOMETHING WRONG (which Robin has not) is a viscious, small-minded practice. What on earth does anyone gain from doing this to her or any other human being?? Is this the best expenditure of your time and energy? Where's the compassion? Robin is one of three people in my life who inspires me to think and act with compassion and kindness when I might be more inclined to be vengeful under some extreme provocation or merely thoughtless. She reminds me (and I am not a Christian) that we are all, indeed, in God's hands.
3. Which brings me to point out that none of you have actually considered the origin of this whole brou-haha. I am sure none of you are avid readers of the Idaho paper. So isn't it curious that some public-minded citizen who happens to reside in Boise and reads this paper felt it necessary to call everyone's attention to the fact that "a former RWA president had denigrated the genre". There are only a handful of possible writers who decided to initiate this whole chain. Why do you suppose it was initially presented in this negative way? Clearly, it was by someone who does not know Robin personally because anyone who knew her at all would know she has been a member of RWA for 19 years, attended every conference, and been a champion for the genre at every turn because she values it and considers it to be important. It might in the future be worth considering the motives of the messengers bearing messages with a negative spin.
4. Since I was directly involved in the switch Robin made from ABA to CBA publishing I can tell all of you flat out, she has never done a self-serving or insincere thing that I know of and certainly she did not do this because a) she did not like writing sex scenes or b) it would pay more money or c) she felt uncomfortable in ABA. She did it after much soul-searching and going for a much longer than comfortable time without a contract because she felt called to do it. I mean this in the most literal sense. It was not act of career planning but a leap of faith. Her work was censored in ABA because the faith aspects she included were deleted by editors (which I certainly protested) and she has faced censorship in CBA because the mention of words that are in the Song of Solomon are not generally accepted not by CBA publishers by by booksellers who are the gatekeepers of that aspect of publishing. She pushes the limits set on both worlds and I along with her.
5. For those of you who had the temerity to suggest that Robin had the time, energy and money to undergo the lawsuit against Dorchester again in some self-serving way, that her career did not suffer, and so on-- I offer you the opportunity to do what she did. Put your own time and money where your mouth is! Like virtually everything else here, you are rushing to judgement without having awareness of the facts. In fact, I would think it a safe bet that none of you had even attended her RWA workshops explaining the lawsuit, its purpose or outcome. Robin did this because it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do because other authors were having the problem she was having. The publsiher was not paying the royalties due and very modest royalties they were, at a time when she worked a full time job, was a single mother and needed every penny that she had actually earned. She wanted justice for herself and for all writers, especially romance writers. For those of you who think this is so easy and fun to do, I have some lawsuits you can participate in. It is one of my clients who is the primary plaintiff in the current suit against HarperCollins. Regardless of your publisher, I can assist you to experience the same altruism and the results so you will know what it took to earn that Rita award that was so well deserved. So feel free to step forward and take the risks Robin did, the gruelling subpoenas we have both been subjected to from these corporate attorneys. I have been called as an expert witness on several occasions in 4 different recent suits and I can tell you it is no fun at all. I am perfectly serious here-- it is time for writers to stand up and agents to act on behalf of their clients in this regard. And I think it is also time to inform yourselves about what you as writers do have at risk and what you stand to gain. How many of you have any idea of the precedent-setting rulings in the Harper case that now allow writers to act as a class for redress of their grievances? I have to say I will be stunned if I actually hear from any of you who are willing to put your name down as a primary complaintant. I'll also be delighted. If you lack the courage, think hard about what it takes to do this when it is the primary means of supporting your family.
6. Finally, I have always taken great pride in representing romances. I think they are not only entertaining books, but valuable and important books that have contributed a great deal to changing the view of the roles women have in life as wives and mothers as well as career women. In fact, I think fostering mutual respect, love, cooperation and joy between the two sexes is a pretty important thing-- and the basis of our current and future world. Incorporating a spiritual aspect of life in addition to physical, emotional and mental ones seems to me to be a profound shift that is happening in many ways, certainly in literature of all genres. This agency has pioneered the development of spiritual thrillers and I would like to see more romances that featured characters that were whole women and men (whether in the bedroom on Friday or Church on Sunday) expressing the full gamut of human experience. It is so recently that women and men of ethnic minorities have been included. It is time to include people of all faiths as well. Time for a little more oneness and unity between covers (of both kinds) and in public life. And perhaps compassion as well. reading these posts has been like vicariously participating in the old (and I wish obsolete) practices of stoning or putting people in the stocks for public humiliation. I am not a reader of this site and am hardly inspired to become one by this exchange-- but I hope it is devoted more to inspiring one another, assisting one another, and informing one another about this truly daunting world of publishing and its many changes and challenges. Sharing perceptions and insights that are truly worthwhile.
7. No, Robin did not ask me to write this. I just couldn't help myself. If you have any other questions and are actually interested in the truth of the matter, I'll be glad to help out insofar as it is not an invasion of Robin's privacy.
8. Rather than denigrating the romance genre, I perceive Robin as uplifting it both by her personal example and dedication to such things as literacy and also the kinds of risks she is willing to take in her writing. She is still writing love stories and probably always will be. I wish I could find more clients who are writing books that affect readers profoundly, inspire them, and, yes, for me at least, include a prayer or Bible in the bedroom as well as a negligee--reveal who we are in internal as well as external nakedness--and bring us to new insights about what it means to be human, alive, in love, and in faith (whatever that faith might be). Isn't this the room where we express our deepest fears and sorrows, anguish and prayers, face ourselves in the mirror, as well as experience the heights of passion and joy. Why can't our novels include all of this without limitation? Why can't romances be a place for experiencing the truth of life as well as a fantasy of what life and love might be?
Natasha
Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Comments: