Wednesaday Writerly Ways ~Negative Comments

How do negative comments or reviews affect you? I've had my share of raves and stinkers.

If any of the words in the picture describe the way you feel...STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

Here's how...

• Consider the source. Maybe they are having a bad week, month, year, or life. Just like there are basically upbeat people in this world; there are those who have a destructive negative view in all things. A perpetual glass half full type person. Take a gander at other opinions/reviews they've left.

• It is just one opinion. Everyone has an opinion on something they've read or seen. It is up to you to decide whether it is fact or bull hockey pucks. My mother used to say opinions are like butt holes. Everyone has one. Is one opinion or comment because it is voiced more important than a hundred favorable opinions/comments because it isn't voiced? Nope.

• Giving a negative opinion more power than it deserves. I feel we are all guilty of this in some respect. We want everyone to love our writing unconditionally. The fact is only one person was capable of that kind of love and now He is in heaven.  We'll stew about the negative until it becomes unhealthy.

• Whomever screams the loudest is right. Wrong. I'm not getting political here, but this is a prime example. Have you ever seen an abortion picket line? On one side you have the pro-lifers and on the other you have the pro-choicers. Both have an belief and feel justified. Neither is right or wrong in their choice of beliefs. It is their choice trying to impose their beliefs on others. To impose one's beliefs on anyone is wrong. 

 The fact is you cannot buffer yourself against the negative reactions/ comments/ reviews. You can only hope for positive  comments/ reviews on your work. The only way you avoid all negatives is live under a rock and not publish your book. That just isn't an option for me, is it for you?

As a writer, the only thing can do is write the best book you can, try to consider the things above, and move on. Once you publish, your work is out there good or bad. You become a public entity for all to judge the excellent, the good, the bad, and the ugly. My advice... grow a thicker skin beforehand.

So how will you handle negative comments/reviews from now on?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.