The "Bob" in my book is not Bob Starzynski. But here's a story of gaslighting.

Four days before my book came out, I received a text message from a C-Level executive at Innovation Works. It read, "Hi Lynsie - was trying to reach you to discuss an urgent matter - please call back when you can."

I returned the call and was immediately met with a request: We want you to change the name of a pseudonym in your book.

A PSEUDONYM. For those of you who may not know the definition, here it is:

A fictitious name, especially one used by an author.

Here's the backstory. To avoid being sued, I changed several names in my book. If I only use a first name, it's a pseudonym. If I use first and last, you better believe it's the real person.

So what's the problem here? Well, I selected a very common pseudonym for a very common man who did multiple horrific things to me over the years. I called him "Bob."

Well, apparently there's a Bob that actually works at Innovation Works and has for 20+ years? Unfortunately, I did not know this. This was a mistake on my part. I'm sorry I made it. I have since apologized to Bob profusely.

That said, I gave Innovation Works the opportunity to read my book four months before it was published. They declined the offer.

Instead of accepting the fate that came with that decision, they decided to call me four days before my book was released to try to force me to change my story. They wanted me to change the pseudonym. They clearly don't know how publishing works.

Not only did they make this insane request at a point in the book publishing process when there was nothing I could do to fix it, they proceeded to transfer Bob into the call. And he told me that I was going to ruin his career. Meanwhile, neither of the people on the call had actually read my book.

On top of that, nobody seemed to care about what THEY did to MY career. They were making this about them.

This Better Work is about ME. This book is about MY STORY. This is not a story that anyone else should be allowed to dictate. I was furious. They were gaslighting me.

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that occurs in abusive relationships. It is an insidious and sometimes covert type of emotional abuse where the bully or abuser makes the target question their judgments and reality.

They have continued to give me a hard time about this and I'm over it, so I'm telling the real story (which I had planned to keep to myself).

So anyway, for those of you who care, the "Bob" mentioned in my book is not Bob Starzynski.

The end. Now leave me alone and let me do my job.