A harsh review

In a change of topic, after a gentleman on a forum decided to shread some of my other work, I was asked why I took my work being picked apart so calmly. I replied that some of what they say is useful, and feedback whether good or bad is something to learn from.

That's not the whole story. In fact, I've been here before. My first small press book got effectively two sets of reviews. The first type (and there were very few of these) were raving about great ideas. The second set paid attention to editing, layout etc. and were, shall we say, less kind. It was quite a shock, but it was good to get it out of the way early on and get a thicker skin.

And over several books I went from reviews at 2/5 reading "not all the ideas are brilliant." and "a small press book, with small press composition" to 5 star "a superb story, as well as an example of how good this could be." and "truly one of the best in its class."

Now I'm moving into a new area of writing and to be blunt, I expect the same thing. It helps to be prepared to be slated, and it always takes time to build a name. What matters is that I am making the move, and if I let a few harsh critics put me off then I really would not be cut out for writing.

(And if the worst comes to the worst, there's always madeira or sherry to drown the pain.)