Stop Complaining...

Reviews and contests - I hate them.

I always love sitting at conferences and listening to writers talk about contests and reviews when it comes to their writing. I really have to laugh at their responses for both the good and bad comments that come from each. Generally, writers clumpt things into two categories. If they get favorable responses when it comes to their writing, they walk around saying "see I told you I was amazing." But when the comments come back negative, it is always "that judge/critic was a complete idiot."

Well guess what, maybe, in both cases, they were wrong.

We need to understand that the feedback we get from someone else regarding our work is subjective and extremely personal. But we also need to remember that if we get a negative response, we can't just discount the comment. Maybe, just maybe, that critic was correct and your writing really wasn't that good.

When I was researching my first Masters degree in Literacy, I spent some time looking at student learning in the classroom. I was intrigued that many teachers, when they had a situation when the class failed in some way, would always blame the textbook, the students or even the environment they were teaching in. Never once did they examine their own role in the equation. What the research proved (and this was the same in business models as well) is that all of the parts had to work together and sometimes, the flaw in the system was ourself.

Writing is no different. I don't care how much your friends like your book, the story may not be that strong. Don't just ignore the comments because you don't like what you hear. Examine what the person said and determine why this happened.

I had a writer that got a review back from Romantic Times. The comments were fine but the "star count" wasn't as high as they expected (you need to understand that her first book earned a 5 star). She was certain the person reviewing the story just didn't get it. But here's the thing. We sat down (over the phone) and talked about it. The comments were right on the money. The star count, although not amazing was fine. The reviewer didn't say the story was bad. They just said it was average. And guess what, the plot was that. She walked away understanding and when she went to work on the next book, she incorporated some of the ideas into the new book.

This is a success. She listened, she learned.

So, before you go jumping online with your discussion groups or on your blogs, or before you go ranting and complaining with your critique partners, stop and think. Evaluate the writing and simply think.