“Making Money on Memories of DeForest Kelley”

I love it. Two people who are (admittedly) jealous of my 30-plus year association with Carolyn and DeForest Kelley have criticized me for making money on my memories of them.

Just two.

(The others who have read my Kelley books have thanked me profusely for writing them. They are the people I wrote them for. I didn’t write them to make money. I wrote them because I’m a writer, and because I write about the things I know most about, one of which is DeForest Kelley. I owed him the first book–and Carolyn was still alive to read and enjoy it–because he launched my writing career in 1969. And he gave me permission to write it.)

But back to the naysayers. They’re both scary people.

One of them is a die-hard Trump supporter. (She adores the guy!) ‘Nuf said on that front!

The other has threatened to “get me” if I publish my Kelley phone logs. I have reported her name and address to the police department in her jurisdiction so that if I get “offed” they’ll know where to begin their search for my killer. (San Mateo, CA.)

Like I said, these are scary people. The Trump supporter is bent out of shape because I blocked her, so she IMs me. (I blocked the other one, too, needless to say.). She says she’s still a fan, especially after seeing the New Day interview I did two and a half years ago. I wish I felt more kindly toward her, but delusional people who attack me for “making money on memories of De” in one sentence while defending Trump in others keeps me at arm’s length. (My intuition–or maybe it’s just my amygdala–shrieks, “Red Alert! Danger, Will Robinson!”)

But here’s what  has me upset (just as these two intended, I’m sure!):

No one has accused me of making money on my memories of Deaken, my serval son, or making money on my memories of working in Hollywood, or making money on my transgender journey, or making money on my self-help books, or making money on any of the other titles I’ve released. They seem to think there is some kind of ethical argument against writers making money on some of the memoirs and other books we write. Really? I wasn’t aware that writers are supposed to give away their experiences and memories.  Books take time to write, lots and lots of time. If they’re interesting enough, people buy them. If they’re good enough, people write positive reviews about  them. Yippee!!!

But for some strange reason I’m supposed to feel special shame for making money doing everything in my power to keep my memories of DeForest Kelley from dying when I do! Why is that? These are the same memories that most De fans thank me for sharing so they, too, can have them and feel as if they’ve met De and Carolyn, too!

That’s why I wrote the book. I had no idea how well it would sell. Of course I hoped it would sell, but there were certainly  no guarantees  it would, or that the reviews would be good enough to keep it selling. But it did, and they do. So its existence has been confirmed and lauded, and it’s been loved by a lot of people.

Can I retire on the profits? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA….   No!

No one has a book they could retire on unless they’re high-profile authors like JK Rowling, James Michener, Leon Uris and the like. (And they kept writing after they got rich. Newsflash: Most writers don’t write to get rich; there are  many easier ways to get rich than writing! Writers write because we can’t stop writing. It’s in our DNA!)

Anyway, I’ve gotten this off my chest now and I feel better.

I just find it amazing that such people can “invade” my usually-peaceable sanctuary here at home and cause me to spend even a single second feeling anything but proud that I’m a writer of books that other people want to read. For every monkey wrench that gets thrown into my peaceable pond in this way, there are scores of readers who write to me to thank me for writing my books. I write for those people, the ones who don’t assume an intent I never even entertained, let alone had.

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FUN FACT: Carolyn Kelley signed a legal document giving me permission to use all of my source materials to extend De’s legacy.  She entrusted me with their legacies.