If you’ve been holding back from your best writing because of backlash fears, you are hardly alone. There are generations and communities of writers who had to go underground, write under pseudonyms, and maintain a closeted identity. They had something powerful to say, and they had to be ready for the reaction.
McCarthy’s Blacklist, who can forget? Women in fear of losing their kids. Gay writers with good reason to know they could be prosecuted. People who smuggled their work out of the country with their lives on the line.
“But that’s not me!” you may say. Your apprehension may be closer to home.
Your family members— your parents or children— might not be pleased with the “unexpurgated you.” Do you really have to wait ‘til everyone dies before you can write your opinion, your observations?
Finally— a group I hear from a lot: academics and scholars, who see their university &/or government watching them like hawks to pounce if they so much as comment negatively about the weather. “Alw…
