I'll use this blog to discuss the journey of my writing process, connect with those who share my passion for reading, and have a little fun along the way.
I love social media. I love posting and reading posts, laughing at memes, sharing information and building an online community. As with many others, it takes up far too much of my time. As a writer, I maintain my Facebook presence in the hopes that I will build followers who will want to read my book. All of the advice for writers wanting to become published offers the following: “build your online presence.” In fact, we are told that it will be to our detriment NOT to have a presence on Facebook.
That advice was back in the good old days when truth was valued and Facebook employed personnel to ensure misinformation and disinformation was controlled as best as possible. Their decision to do away with fact checking and leaving truth to dissolve into nothingness has left me with no other choice but to walk away from that social media platform.
Storytellers, writers, authors – those who write fiction involve themselves in world building in some form or other. Even those of us who focus upon historical fiction are world builders. The moment we insert a fictional character or event into history, we are world building. Our worlds all have one thing in common, whether those worlds are earthly or extra-terrestrial. They all have societal norms; characters who choose not to follow them; and/or those who choose to follow those norms.
Here on Earth, Truth is a societal norm. When we fail to recognize and follow that norm, we fail as a society. Facebook has reached that stage – by failing to uphold Truth, it fails as an online society. And I choose not to be a part of it.
I am in the process of building a new community on Bluesky. It does not have all the features of Facebook – I can’t create an “event” on Bluesky, for instance. But I am finding a welcoming community of readers and writers with #booksky and #writingcommunity hashtags.
I hope you will understand and accept my reasons for departing Facebook. It’s a very personal and individual decision that everyone must now make.
In the end, for me, truth matters.
I will be departing Facebook on February 1, 2025. Find me on Bluesky at victoriamillerston.bsky.social – I look forward to engaging with you there.
