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Accepting Critisicm
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Hi Martin,
Yep, I think everyone else has already pretty much said what I would… and it’s true. And I love your “Snog, Marry, Avoid” analogy! 😀
Think how many people CANNOT for the life of them see what all the fuss and hysteria is about Shakespeare, or Queen, or any number of other alleged ‘geniuses’ in their respective fields and genres.Â
Look on Youtube, at some of the videos of any of the top music artists, the ones that have millions of views. There’ll inevitably be thousands of ‘thumbs up’ as well as thousands of ‘thumbs down’. Who’s got the assessment of this artist correct?
Exactly.
You mentioned the negative feedback that you received being “the worst kind” because it confirmed your own doubts about the merits of what you’d written. But actually, if you’d already had some of those thoughts yourself, it shows you’d already spotted the flaws, which in turn shows you ARE gauging your own strengths and weaknesses pretty well… which in turn suggests that when you write something that makes you think to yourself, “Damn that’s good,” you’ll probably be very right! 🙂Â
At the end of the day, if you love writing, you have to decide if you love doing it enough DESPITE the inevitable risk of some people not rating it very highly – because you know that’s going to happen! Are you proud of what you’ve written? Did it feel good to create it? Yes? Then revel in the joy it brings you. No? Then absolutely “get back on the horse” and come at it again. You will figure it out and fix it, and it will feel so good when you do. Either you’re A Writer at your core or you’re not, and you already know the answer to that one.
You got this! 😜Â
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Hi Emma – thanks for joining in – this has been a discussion that has really stimulated some great thoughts and has been hugely encouraging to me – and I hope to others. It’s not a coincidence that the very word ‘criticise’ has acquired a negative connotation as our default position, when asked an opinion, is to look for flaws. Why this is so is a topic too wide for this discussion but whether it’s innately human or a learned behaviour it’s still tough to take. I see from the posts above that not one if us is immune. The good news is, so many seemed to have dug themsleves out the hole.
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