Huzzah! Sweet May is here, bringing the PNW a respite from rain, flowers galore, and the first taste of summer warmth. Our late-blooming camellias are in full glory, and the yard is littered with pink confetti from the cherry trees. Life is good.
The Insecure Writers Support Group offers a place for writers to vent, moan, kvetch, and find solace in the cushy virtual arms of their fellow writers. Great articles, too. Thanks to this month’s IWSG co-hosts for making this blog-hop—well, hop: Lee Lowery, Juneta Key, Yvonne Ventresca, and T. Powell Coltrin!
This month’s question doesn’t resonate with me, but I damn sure have some writerly insecurity to vent.
Some time ago, I wrote about the idea of merit badges for writers—not graphics that appear on a blog, but actual embroidered badges like kids in Scouting wear on their uniforms. Well, I damn sure earned a badge last week: first review that shredded me.
This reviewer reached some odd conclusions about my main character, about the genre, and didn’t have one positive thing to say about the book, even though she gave it four stars. She claimed the story had too much conflict. Still scratching my head over that one. And then, because the reviewer is well-connected, that review popped up on Twitter all week. Ugh. Thank the literary gods I already had some positive reviews for this book to balance the sting.
I know: the golden rule of reviews is “Don’t engage.” And I didn’t. I took my medicine like a big girl and looked for the lesson lurking behind the smack-down. And I know: not everyone’s gonna love my stories. To paraphrase Elizabeth Gilbert, if I’ve got a voice, so does the reviewer, and she’s allowed to say whatever she wants.
It still smarts, though. Has a negative review ever knocked the stuffing out of you for a few days? Longer? How did you recover?
Speaking of reviews: Did I mention I’ve got a new book coming out on June 24th? If you like steamy contemporary romance, running, Eugene, Oregon, artistic types, social media storms, and/or feisty old ladies, I hope you’ll enjoy Runaway Love Story, now up for pre-order on Amazon and other fine book vendors.
Sorry to hear. Bad reviews can be tough to take. There are two types that really piss me off: the ones that claim inaccuracies in my book that aren’t inaccuracies at all, and the cowards who leave one star on Goodreads, lowering your average, and slink into the night without saying anything of note.
Hang in there. More good reviews are right around the corner.
Thanks so much for your encouragement, J.H. In fact, a lovely review for the second book in that series appeared yesterday–the perfect antidote!
Perfect! That’s so great to hear.
Hi,
I received a scorching review after a great concert in an academy some years ago. It was devastating because the concert hall was packed and the people loved me. I got standing ovations and I do mean ovations with an s for plural. The sponsor thought the concert was simply awesome. However, the newspaper critic that attended the concert didn’t think it was awesome at all and he or she blasted me terribly. Whoever wrote it was downright cruel.
When the sponsor sent me a copy of the newspaper article which was written she apologised and said she didn’t know what happened. She was speechless. That didn’t help me any at all though. it took me one or two months before I had worked through the critic until I didn’t think about it when I went up on stage.
Words do hurt us and it is difficult putting them behind us.
All the best and congratulations on your new release that coming out.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Thanks so much for your kind words, Pat.
Reviews can be tough! Good for you for not responding!!! Obviously with 4 stars the reviewer thought there was lots to like – just didn’t mention it!
Thanks, Jemi. Sometimes, restraining a snarky response requires a lot of teeth-grinding. Better get one of those mouth guard thingies.
Yeah, I survived a scathing review, too, but I got over it by considering the source. The gal lives in rural south GA, and I suspect the interracial relationship in my book stuck in her craw. C’est la vie!
Gee, I dunno if I should pre-order your book or not. I mean…. running? Not my bag at all. I can hobble a pretty good distance, but if my life depended on me running more than fifty feet, I’d be in serious trouble.
Just kidding. Of course, I’ll pre-order… right now! (After all, I AM a feisty old broad…) Can’t wait to read it!
Thanks so much, Susan!
I read somewhere that even best-selling authors get some poor reviews for critically-acclaimed books.
In life, there will always be naysayers… those people who thrive on negativity.
Happy IWSG Day.
You’ve arrived!!! With some of these reviewers, there seems to be a power trip going on (especially noted on Goodreads). It’s more about the reviewer than yoru book. Good for you in just shining then on.
And congrats on your upcoming release! I have so enjoyed tagging along on your journey. You are a great inspiration to me, even if some asshat doesn’t get that conflict is what it’s all about.
“your”. “them”. Duh. Why don’t comments have spellcheck?
Sorry you got a painful review. I had some too. I never engaged with a reviewer, but I would read the review and think: ‘what is he talking about? He doesn’t get my story at all.’ I guess, every reader sees what he wants to see in a story. It doesn’t always matter what the writer actually wrote, because there is a separate communication going on between a book and a reader, and it has nothing to do with the writer’s intentions.
Wow! Now if only that was a negative star review as well — you know, for the skeptical readers out there. On the other hand, it went viral and had four stars: so maybe, despite hurt feelings, this is good publicity?
Ronel visiting for #IWSG day: Help Me, Please!
The silver lining in that is recently I was reading that even negative reviews get you picked up in Amazon feeds and seen so no matter how negative it still works for your good if you have 10+ reviews. I read that in two articles and heard Alexandra Torres romance writer talk about the experience on a podcast I listen to recently, and how it actually help instead of hurting, except her emotions like you said.
And no, I have not experience yet but I think it would be tough so understand.