My husband, Daniel, has been my greatest supporter over the years. That said, he’s also my biggest critic where my writing is concerned. I know if I want an honest opinion to pass my work by him. He doesn’t heat it up and give it to me all warm and fuzzy. For example, when I handed him my children’s book to read, he liked it. However, I had added a part about a monkey because I at one time had a monkey for a pet. I thought it would be a cute addition to the story. He read it and loved the story, and advised me to take the monkey out. I didn’t. I sent it to a publisher and they wrote back saying they’d love to publish the book if I would be willing to take the monkey out of the story. Ouch! I trust my husband’s comments good and bad. While we would all like to get raving reviews on our work, sometimes it is those little tough comments that help take our art to the next level.
I’ve learned over the years that harsh, cold, critique doesn’t necessarily mean a bad one. As artists, our work becomes our baby. We don’t want anyone to touch it or pick it apart.
When I was in Oklahoma and looking for a critique group to join, I spoke to a lady who warned me against a particular group. She relayed how harsh they were and how they had made a friend cry. I decided, however, to give this group a try. My first night, I took ten pages of my work and a copy for every member. When it was time to give feedback, those folks, cut up my pages, chewed up my work and spat it out on the table. When I got home and reviewed the responses, I realized that these folks were pointing out things that I had missed because I was too close to my work to see. Their comments were for the sole purpose of making me a better writer. So guess what? I swallowed my artistic pride and stuck around for a while because I learned a lot of things. I believe my writing got a lot stronger because of that group.
Sometimes you just have to eat your porridge cold just to get the benefits in the meal. Remember, don’t be quick to take offense in an honest critique. Give yourself time to review and digest someone’s comments. The final decision, after all, is up to you. You are the master creator.
Stay Blessed,
~Arama Christiana
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