What Not To Do

Ever since I started blogging, I’ve stumbled across many blogs where the post would be about bad reviews. I think every author/writer has talked about that issue at some point or another. I originally didn’t plan to talk about reviews, but something this week changed my mind.


I’m sure by now, all of you have heard of the crazy lady who lost her cool after getting a bad review as her antics were linked all over blogger, facebook, and twitter. If you haven’t, well, I don’t think I need to explain what happened, she lost her cool. The review for her self-published book was relatively good, saying the plot was readable and the characters were enjoyable. The only thing the reviewer complained about was the spelling and grammar. Instead of being grateful, she threw a big hissy fit explaining that her writing is perfect. Needless to say, many people commented on that review, trying to explain to the woman that she should learn how to accept criticism. Instead, she responded to the people who were offering her advice with a ‘f u’. NOT classy! Many people then headed off to read an excerpt of her book to see if it really is littered with mistakes. I couldn’t even get past the first page. We all make spelling mistakes, we all make grammar mistakes (that’s why we all have real publishing houses sign us, so we could have editors read our stuff) but her story looked like it was written by a child. I understand some people can’t afford an editor, but that’s where spell check comes in.


Anyway, I have no plan of embarrassing this woman, if that was my goal I would just post the link to that blog where the hissy fit happened. Instead, I learned a lesson I want to share with you all. We all get bad reviews, and I’m sure many writers have wanted to defend their writing to the reviewer. The lesson here; no matter how temped you are to defend your writing, DON’T. Not everyone will like your work. Not everyone will connect with your characters. No matter the temptation, DON’T do it.



In other news, I’m on babysitter duty this week, taking care of my preteen stepdaughter. When her dad’s not looking, sometimes a set of red horns and a pitchfork tail appear out of nowhere on her, so wish me luck. For the most part we do get along, but do I need to repeat the PRETEEN part?