I keep feeling like I want to say something about the current situation re: historical romance reviewing but it all feels weird and I am pretty emotionally raw.

So lemme just say this: I personally would feel terribly if others tried to shut down criticism of problematic elements in my book by saying I’m an author of color.

That’s it, that’s the tweet. Thanks.

Okay, here's some other big thoughts: I hope the genre actively evolves to the point where we look back on my earlier works and nod and say, "ah, product of their times."

I frankly think it's already happened with some of mine.

I am grateful for people who do the Big Picture work of questioning the status quo in romance--questioning why we celebrate people who have plantations, questioning why we celebrate people who underpay workers.

I am also grateful for people who do the Big Picture work of pointing out double standards, where marginalized authors are held to harsher standards than white authors.

These two things are not in opposition to each other; they are two parts of the same whole.

As a general rule, I think most of the people who are doing #1 are also doing #2.

But--in general--the way we make a less problematic genre is by discussing this big picture stuff.

Not by not discussing it.

I have a lot--A LOT--of thoughts about the intersection of marketability and problematic elements especially with regard to class, et cetera.

I suspect the areas that are slightly light gray now may end up looking a lot darker in the future.

Plantation owners are not even slightly light gray at the current moment.

(To clarify: I think they're not acceptable.)

If anyone ever wants to hear me talk myself into a complete standstill when writing, this is *excellent* subject matter.

(By the way "it all feels weird and I'm emotionally raw" is referring to me being sad about my cat, and not anything else.)