Thanks for sharing your hate mail with your fans. Many of us are writers. Knowing people send SEAN DEITRICH such awful reviews will prepare us for when the hate comes our way. You have to know for every Sean hater out there there’s a million Sean lovers asking you to keep doing what you’re doing. We love you AND your work! PLEASE don’t listen to them. If you quit, we will lose Samantha too.
I feel sorry for people with no sense of humor. They lose out on the best moments of life, don’t they? Keep on doing you, Sean. You are a blessing and a light. ♥️
As someone who was yanked up in the Baptist church, I agree. It was, besides school, the only social outlet I was allowed from 12 to 20, at which point I left home. If anyone wants to write a tell-all - uh, soap opera - about the South, go to a Baptist church! Oooh-weee!
All of us writers have similar stories! I've told mine before, about having better grammar than the average college freshman, but I had nothing to say. So I didn't write anything for more than 30 years. Then I realized I like to write. I took an online writing course, learned a lot and tried again. My short stories didn't win prizes, my novels never found an agent, but I persevered. One day I became a reporter and I began interviewing people. That made all the difference. I put the interviews into a book, self-published it and although I didn't make a bundle, I did pay all my costs with the sales, and the compliments I received made it all worthwhile. Yes, there are haters, and yes, they are envious if you make money selling articles, books, whatever in the written word. Now I own my own digital news source, and sell enough every month to pay all my costs. So, Samantha, you may not get rich, but if you love to write, keep doing it and you'll always enjoy your life! Thank you, Sean, for persevering and sharing your awesome stories with us every day! We love you and appreciate your writing!
I agree completely. Began writing as a teen, for my own entertainment, continued all my life. Now I'm 80 and still can't get published, but I can't stop writing. Good, bad or indifferent, it's a compulsion I cannot ignore, deny or dismiss. Gotta do it.
When my daughter was a Junior in high school she took an AP English course. Her teacher, Mrs. Gibbons, hated (no exaggeration here) D's writing. She told me in a parent teacher conference, "I always read D'Marie's essays last because I dislike her writing so much. How in the world can someone make Black Like Me a romance? I would recommend that after this course D'Marie never write again." I responded, "Mrs. Gibbons, that essay was a creative writing assignment. I believe that making Black Like Me a romance novel accomplishes the creative aspect of the assignment. You have to know that you have made quite the impression on my daughter. When I ask her about the most disappointing moments of her day you are the first person she talks about."
The summer between her Junior and Senior year she did an 8 week accelerated program at Boston College. She took an English Literature course and a Creative Writing course. Her professor called me 3 weeks into the program to tell me that he was so impressed with her writing. He suggested to D' that she pursue writing as a possible career choice. He said that D' had mentioned her interactions with Mrs. Gibbons and he was dismayed that someone who was supposed to be an educator would be so critical and cruel.
So Sean, you keep writing. You keep telling us about Baptists. You keep seeking attention. And we will keep reading and enjoying. Thanks. d
You’ve been listening to your critics all your life, not only about your writing prowess, but pretty much everything else about you, if one is to believe all these daily missives of yours I’ve been reading for the last six months. You haven’t quit yet! And you’re going to let a burn in Hell Baptist malcontent stop you now? Don’t ever tell him that Episcopalians read your column…he will blow a Baptist gasket!
I am reduced to tears every time you talk about Becca. I am comforted when you talk about a fatherless childhood on the far side of the tracks. I smile when you talk about your marriage to the most wonderful woman whom you can’t believe would marry someone like you. I sat behind mine in the third grade, dated for nine plus years, we just had our 55th anniversary, and I still have no clue why she married me! You give voice to me and my life by being willing to share yours. In my 79 years, no one has ever done that for me in a published column except you, Sean! Stop the flow of prose and I just might have to leave my little piece of Heaven at the foot of the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains and head south to Alabama, Georgia or Florida…wherever you hide…to help you understand the gravity of putting your pen down for the last time. For 41 years, I’ve been involved in a 12-step recovery program. One of the many things I’ve learned from it over the decades is that what other people think of me is none of my business. Quit writing because of a Baptist minister? Say it ain’t so, my friend! Say it ain’t so!
Our dear friend-brother from another mother- lost his sight gradually and it was gone around 4th grade, so your videos, writings, and posts about your bestie B are most appreciated. I'd love the two of them to meet somehow. Maybe someday they will! thanks Sean. You are a gift. You whore. I mean Attention Whore. People are hysterical. and not always in a good way!
I am also a professional writer and I've heard my share of snide comments. The best response I've ever heard from a writer addressing mean comments came from John Grisham during a Today Show interview. The host read him a negative - okay, a scathing - review of one of his books, then asked, 'What do you think of that?" Grisham smiled and replied pleasantly, "Well, Katie, I think that review was written by someone who can't get his first book published."
Keep writing, Sean! All your followers can’t be wrong. The same goes for Samantha! Ignore the naysayers and keep writing from your heart. This is advice from someone who taught literature, writing, and journalism for 38 years. ❤️
None of these reviewers would have liked St. Mark (Twain) either. To each his own. I don’t care about their ridiculous assertions, and you shouldn’t either. Some people only care about the mechanical process of writing and forget about the wonderful thoughts and ideas that make for enjoyable reading.
My Friend, I Love Your writing, i start every day reading your daily work. It makes me laugh sometimes cry and every time I read your work. I forget about my pain for a while. Both of my kidneys are failing and I can see a certain specialist till June 10th. Please keep writing. Love to you and Jamie also to your Blind Goddaughter Becca!
Sean, I read the response to your article with a bit of a giggle. Some people are just self important and humorless. I love your writing. Please don’t stop!.
But steal your neighbor's dish rag to rub on a wart, Steve, then bury it under the porch steps! (And your axle lube reference evoked childhood memories of Ichthammol ointment with which my varied wounds had been marinated!)
Yes y'all do, Sheree! A while back, I attended the funeral with repast for the wife of a beloved deceased preacher up in Tallassee, Alabama, and one well-stuffed attendee noted afterward, "Those Primitive Baptist Ladies surely can cook!" Having had decades of experience to fine tune my masterpiece, I call my Potato Salad "Southern Baptist Revival Dinner on the Grounds Tater Salad," reassuring my dinner guests that they don't have to have a Hellfire and Damnation sermon to go with it....but that I can give 'em one if they wish. (And I impartially use DUKE'S or HELLMANN'S Mayo, whichever is available as a BOGO at Publix....let's not get into one of those vitriolic Mayo wars...and may we be thankful for folks having a Sense of Humor!)
As a self-proclaimed expert on bullies, I would say all of these comments are made by very BIG bullies, and we all know that bullies bully because they feel bad (or is it "badly"?) about themselves in some way. As for sweet little Samantha, I am so sorry she has somewhat of a bully for a teacher. Teachers should be trained to realize that making a child feel worthless does not promote learning, but instead hampers it. Hopefully her next year's teacher will boost her confidence. She needs to keep writing for all of us, because if YOU quit, Sean, I just don't know what we all would do without our daily fix of humor, happiness and love from YOUR writing!
There are things that I sometimes get asked that make me itchy. I know then that my Baptist allergies are acting up. I had a strange phone call today asking if we say we believe in the communion of saints in the Lord's Prayer. That's not in the Lord's Prayer, I told him. I told him that was in the Apostles' Creed, one of the oldest creeds in the church - Presbyterians and others tend to say this, even by memory in worship. Baptists, being a non-creedal church don't say it. My inquisitor, er, inquirer kept at his question. I asked if he was talking about what comes right before that - I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, etc. Yes, that was it. Do you say that in the Lord's Prayer? No, it's not in the Lord's Prayer. It's in the Apostles' Creed. It's not about the Roman Catholic Church, a very respected tradition, apart from their troubles with some significant misbehavior. It is catholic in the creed, small "c" meaning universal church, the whole church, all of us together, bigger than denominations or nondenominational churches. But do you say it in the Lord's Prayer? No, that's not in the Lord's Prayer. I suppose I had a rock-rib Presbyterian on the line who would've probably tried to give a good Baptist a run for his money. That's all to say, there are critics everywhere. Some times they just don't have anything better to do. And it is so much easier to tear somebody down than it is to build someone up. My critic, I discovered is unemployed, recently divorced, and has had to move back in with his elderly folks. He deserves some encouragement. I almost got a laugh out of him reminding him that Presbyterians say debts and debtors in the Lord's Prayer because we're a lot more concerned about owing somebody than whether someone is trespassing. Encouragement is good. We all need it. Appreciation can go a long way. Building somebody up, even a little, maybe goes toward paying an indebtedness we all owe. I hope your young writer will persevere and feel encouraged. She deserves it. She sent it off to a perfect (well, maybe not quite perfect) stranger, something many of us wouldn't do. And if you're needing a little encouragement, here's to you, your perseverance, your grit, and your enjoyment of writing. Ya' done good.
Thanks for sharing your hate mail with your fans. Many of us are writers. Knowing people send SEAN DEITRICH such awful reviews will prepare us for when the hate comes our way. You have to know for every Sean hater out there there’s a million Sean lovers asking you to keep doing what you’re doing. We love you AND your work! PLEASE don’t listen to them. If you quit, we will lose Samantha too.
I'm also a writer and know one who posts her worst reviews on Instagram. It's delightful! Haters gonna hate. 😂
Yes we love you and your work!!!!
I feel sorry for people with no sense of humor. They lose out on the best moments of life, don’t they? Keep on doing you, Sean. You are a blessing and a light. ♥️
As a Baptist, I represent those remarks.
As someone who was yanked up in the Baptist church, I agree. It was, besides school, the only social outlet I was allowed from 12 to 20, at which point I left home. If anyone wants to write a tell-all - uh, soap opera - about the South, go to a Baptist church! Oooh-weee!
😂
lol! 😋😜
Hahahahaha
All of us writers have similar stories! I've told mine before, about having better grammar than the average college freshman, but I had nothing to say. So I didn't write anything for more than 30 years. Then I realized I like to write. I took an online writing course, learned a lot and tried again. My short stories didn't win prizes, my novels never found an agent, but I persevered. One day I became a reporter and I began interviewing people. That made all the difference. I put the interviews into a book, self-published it and although I didn't make a bundle, I did pay all my costs with the sales, and the compliments I received made it all worthwhile. Yes, there are haters, and yes, they are envious if you make money selling articles, books, whatever in the written word. Now I own my own digital news source, and sell enough every month to pay all my costs. So, Samantha, you may not get rich, but if you love to write, keep doing it and you'll always enjoy your life! Thank you, Sean, for persevering and sharing your awesome stories with us every day! We love you and appreciate your writing!
I agree completely. Began writing as a teen, for my own entertainment, continued all my life. Now I'm 80 and still can't get published, but I can't stop writing. Good, bad or indifferent, it's a compulsion I cannot ignore, deny or dismiss. Gotta do it.
When my daughter was a Junior in high school she took an AP English course. Her teacher, Mrs. Gibbons, hated (no exaggeration here) D's writing. She told me in a parent teacher conference, "I always read D'Marie's essays last because I dislike her writing so much. How in the world can someone make Black Like Me a romance? I would recommend that after this course D'Marie never write again." I responded, "Mrs. Gibbons, that essay was a creative writing assignment. I believe that making Black Like Me a romance novel accomplishes the creative aspect of the assignment. You have to know that you have made quite the impression on my daughter. When I ask her about the most disappointing moments of her day you are the first person she talks about."
The summer between her Junior and Senior year she did an 8 week accelerated program at Boston College. She took an English Literature course and a Creative Writing course. Her professor called me 3 weeks into the program to tell me that he was so impressed with her writing. He suggested to D' that she pursue writing as a possible career choice. He said that D' had mentioned her interactions with Mrs. Gibbons and he was dismayed that someone who was supposed to be an educator would be so critical and cruel.
So Sean, you keep writing. You keep telling us about Baptists. You keep seeking attention. And we will keep reading and enjoying. Thanks. d
I hope your daughter continues her writing. So thankful for that professor and his encouragement!
You’ve been listening to your critics all your life, not only about your writing prowess, but pretty much everything else about you, if one is to believe all these daily missives of yours I’ve been reading for the last six months. You haven’t quit yet! And you’re going to let a burn in Hell Baptist malcontent stop you now? Don’t ever tell him that Episcopalians read your column…he will blow a Baptist gasket!
I am reduced to tears every time you talk about Becca. I am comforted when you talk about a fatherless childhood on the far side of the tracks. I smile when you talk about your marriage to the most wonderful woman whom you can’t believe would marry someone like you. I sat behind mine in the third grade, dated for nine plus years, we just had our 55th anniversary, and I still have no clue why she married me! You give voice to me and my life by being willing to share yours. In my 79 years, no one has ever done that for me in a published column except you, Sean! Stop the flow of prose and I just might have to leave my little piece of Heaven at the foot of the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains and head south to Alabama, Georgia or Florida…wherever you hide…to help you understand the gravity of putting your pen down for the last time. For 41 years, I’ve been involved in a 12-step recovery program. One of the many things I’ve learned from it over the decades is that what other people think of me is none of my business. Quit writing because of a Baptist minister? Say it ain’t so, my friend! Say it ain’t so!
Thanks for that - and I'll join you if you have to chase Sean down! But I've been to Birmingham and get lost every time! So you're driving.
We LOVE your writings. And your podcast.
Our dear friend-brother from another mother- lost his sight gradually and it was gone around 4th grade, so your videos, writings, and posts about your bestie B are most appreciated. I'd love the two of them to meet somehow. Maybe someday they will! thanks Sean. You are a gift. You whore. I mean Attention Whore. People are hysterical. and not always in a good way!
I am also a professional writer and I've heard my share of snide comments. The best response I've ever heard from a writer addressing mean comments came from John Grisham during a Today Show interview. The host read him a negative - okay, a scathing - review of one of his books, then asked, 'What do you think of that?" Grisham smiled and replied pleasantly, "Well, Katie, I think that review was written by someone who can't get his first book published."
Keep writing, Sean! All your followers can’t be wrong. The same goes for Samantha! Ignore the naysayers and keep writing from your heart. This is advice from someone who taught literature, writing, and journalism for 38 years. ❤️
If you don’t have something nice to say, then say nothing at all.- Thumper
I miss manners most of all. Peace.🙌🏻✝️
Me too!
LOL
On so many levels.
Well I’m also a writer and have been reading your writing for years and love it all. My advice to your critics
Is if you don’t like Sean’s writing don’t open the app. Sean you and Samantha must keep writing! Don’t let them get you down.
None of these reviewers would have liked St. Mark (Twain) either. To each his own. I don’t care about their ridiculous assertions, and you shouldn’t either. Some people only care about the mechanical process of writing and forget about the wonderful thoughts and ideas that make for enjoyable reading.
I hope that Samantha keeps writing.
I know you will.
You know we love you. 🥰
My Friend, I Love Your writing, i start every day reading your daily work. It makes me laugh sometimes cry and every time I read your work. I forget about my pain for a while. Both of my kidneys are failing and I can see a certain specialist till June 10th. Please keep writing. Love to you and Jamie also to your Blind Goddaughter Becca!
Praying ……I hope something will come up sooner for you….keep calling and checking. I did that for my husband…..many times that helped.
Prayers for healing, friend. And keep laughing. It makes people think you know something they don't - and you do!
Sean, I read the response to your article with a bit of a giggle. Some people are just self important and humorless. I love your writing. Please don’t stop!.
P.S. I’m also a lifelong Baptist. We have the best pot luck dinners in the world!
We Methodists would disagree. You can rub a casserole on a snake bite, lube an axle with it or even eat it if you’re really hungry.
But steal your neighbor's dish rag to rub on a wart, Steve, then bury it under the porch steps! (And your axle lube reference evoked childhood memories of Ichthammol ointment with which my varied wounds had been marinated!)
Yes y'all do, Sheree! A while back, I attended the funeral with repast for the wife of a beloved deceased preacher up in Tallassee, Alabama, and one well-stuffed attendee noted afterward, "Those Primitive Baptist Ladies surely can cook!" Having had decades of experience to fine tune my masterpiece, I call my Potato Salad "Southern Baptist Revival Dinner on the Grounds Tater Salad," reassuring my dinner guests that they don't have to have a Hellfire and Damnation sermon to go with it....but that I can give 'em one if they wish. (And I impartially use DUKE'S or HELLMANN'S Mayo, whichever is available as a BOGO at Publix....let's not get into one of those vitriolic Mayo wars...and may we be thankful for folks having a Sense of Humor!)
Don't we though? 😄💟 Mrs. Murphy's homemade ice cream is, well...HEAVENLY. Don't get me started on Jean's scalloped potatoes!
Amen!!!
As a self-proclaimed expert on bullies, I would say all of these comments are made by very BIG bullies, and we all know that bullies bully because they feel bad (or is it "badly"?) about themselves in some way. As for sweet little Samantha, I am so sorry she has somewhat of a bully for a teacher. Teachers should be trained to realize that making a child feel worthless does not promote learning, but instead hampers it. Hopefully her next year's teacher will boost her confidence. She needs to keep writing for all of us, because if YOU quit, Sean, I just don't know what we all would do without our daily fix of humor, happiness and love from YOUR writing!
There are things that I sometimes get asked that make me itchy. I know then that my Baptist allergies are acting up. I had a strange phone call today asking if we say we believe in the communion of saints in the Lord's Prayer. That's not in the Lord's Prayer, I told him. I told him that was in the Apostles' Creed, one of the oldest creeds in the church - Presbyterians and others tend to say this, even by memory in worship. Baptists, being a non-creedal church don't say it. My inquisitor, er, inquirer kept at his question. I asked if he was talking about what comes right before that - I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, etc. Yes, that was it. Do you say that in the Lord's Prayer? No, it's not in the Lord's Prayer. It's in the Apostles' Creed. It's not about the Roman Catholic Church, a very respected tradition, apart from their troubles with some significant misbehavior. It is catholic in the creed, small "c" meaning universal church, the whole church, all of us together, bigger than denominations or nondenominational churches. But do you say it in the Lord's Prayer? No, that's not in the Lord's Prayer. I suppose I had a rock-rib Presbyterian on the line who would've probably tried to give a good Baptist a run for his money. That's all to say, there are critics everywhere. Some times they just don't have anything better to do. And it is so much easier to tear somebody down than it is to build someone up. My critic, I discovered is unemployed, recently divorced, and has had to move back in with his elderly folks. He deserves some encouragement. I almost got a laugh out of him reminding him that Presbyterians say debts and debtors in the Lord's Prayer because we're a lot more concerned about owing somebody than whether someone is trespassing. Encouragement is good. We all need it. Appreciation can go a long way. Building somebody up, even a little, maybe goes toward paying an indebtedness we all owe. I hope your young writer will persevere and feel encouraged. She deserves it. She sent it off to a perfect (well, maybe not quite perfect) stranger, something many of us wouldn't do. And if you're needing a little encouragement, here's to you, your perseverance, your grit, and your enjoyment of writing. Ya' done good.
Ya’ done good too, Lander! Thank you, as always, for the blessing of your insights.
Smiled at your tactful mention of "significant misbehavior," Lander! You do have a way with words.
Perfect advice!
Amen