It is the political season, and in some sense, it feels very strange to let that time go by without comment on this blog. That is because–I have to admit it–I am a politics junky. I like keeping abreast with what’s happening (although I don’t have a TV–it’s all newspapers and online youtube clips, which these days encompasses everything). I think about policy. I care about the result of this election.
It somehow, though, seems almost . . . wrong . . . to blog about it as an author.
Why? It’s what a friend of mine calls “jurisdictional boundaries”–big words that basically mean, if I am wearing my Author Hat, I shouldn’t surprise you all by putting on a big Politics Hat. You didn’t ask for it. You don’t care what I think. If you want politics, you’ll open your OpEd page. At best, you want to read my books–I hope you want to read my books. So as an author, politics are not my bailiwick.
Likewise, you shouldn’t care whether your doctor votes Democrat or Republican, as long as she’s a good doctor. You shouldn’t care if your doctor supports raising the social security age, nor should you switch physicians because you discover that she just doesn’t get what all the fuss is about Harry Potter. None of that matters to the fine art of doctoring.
But there are small pieces of overlap. For instance, I would want to know what my doctor thought about the quality of local water. And, truthfully, no matter how little a writer says about politics, her books inevitably betray at least some of the things that are nearest and dearest to her heart. So do you disclose it? Do you admit that it’s been done that way on purpose? It’s never intended as a lecture, but when an author chooses a “happily ever after,” the way she makes her characters happy often shows what she thinks people need.
Likewise, while I never plan to make this blog political, and especially not overtly so, is it horrible to think about becoming a supporter of my favored person on Facebook?
How much is too much? I’d love to hear thoughts on this.
