#{{ there's other stuff but long story short; regardless of what my mom does or doesn't do--I'll be okay bc I'm doing what I need to do.

[acoldsovereign]

{{ I be alive! Kinda on an unofficial hiatus until further notice (due to active job hunting!!!) if I didn't already say it, but still alive!

[artistrichardhfay]

To Heck with the Trolls!

Fellow artists and writers have to stop heeding what social media and real-life trolls say about their works. Criticisms from trolls carry little real weight. Such criticisms are meaningless. I'll say that again, criticisms from trolls are meaningless!

Regardless of who folks are in "real-life", if they spend their time harshly criticizing others and their art, these folks are more than likely being trolls. A troll is as a troll does. Trolls spread negativity and toxicity. If someone spreads negativity and toxicity, whether it be online or in real-life, then they're a troll. I've known a few real-life trolls in my day, long before social media platforms became common.

I will also say this — not every social media troll is an unemployed incel living in their mom's basement or a worker in a troll farm. My biggest and worst online critic is, in real-life, a published author, former journalist, supposed critic, and alleged "public figure". That doesn't stop the guy from being a rather infamous writing world troll over on Twitter/X. I'm far from the only person to have been trolled by this jerk. At one point, he tried to claim it's his civic duty to troll "morons" (apparently, in his mind, a moron is anyone who ever disagrees with him or his trollish ways). I suspect, knowing this dude is such the troll, that he'd repeat his criticisms of me and my work in a real-life situation. I certainly wouldn't be surprised by it!

I recently ran across a thread over on Cara in which an artist said they got a sour taste in their mouth after others called their art "childish". This sounds like standard troll talk to me. Ironically enough, that very same troll I mention above has called my own work (in this case published poetry and short stories) "childish". Actually, his exact words were, and I quote (I kept screenshots):

"I can't say I think much about Fay. All his stuff is embarrassingly childish and one-dimensional. On-the-nose puffed-up stuff. He self-promotes aggressively his paste gems. He needs to spend more time reading, less time writing. And his art is, to be kind, a travesty."

Other terms the same troll has used in regard to my art: "enuretic ooze" (referring to my poetry) and "tragicartoons" (referring to my visual art). He's also claimed that I'm a "poetaster disaster" and "possibly the least competent visual artist in the Western Hemisphere".

To say this troll doesn't think much of me is actually an understatement!

Thankfully, numerous editors, publishers, customers, and clients, haven't felt the same regarding my works, both literary and visual art. A plethora of my "embarrassingly childish" and "one-dimensional" poems have been published in a multitude of small-press publications, print and online, "4 the luv" and paying, American and international. As for the "travesty" that is my visual art, a profusion of my visual artworks, full-color and black-and-white, have been published in a myriad of small-press publications, at times alongside my written works, at other times in publications that never published any of my written works. I've also done work, both visual art and writing, on-invitation/request/assignment for various clients in the realm of small-press publications. Additionally, customers have bought and continue to buy print-on-demand merchandise featuring my art. Such merchandise literally sells internationally. I've sold stuff to customers in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and so on.

So, should I start heeding what the troll says, accept that my art is a "travesty", and give up being an artist? I don't effing think so! To heck with what the troll says! My advice to fellow creatives is to say the same — to heck with the trolls! Again, let me repeat — to heck with the trolls!