Reader Email 12-6

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Reviewers at PW ... I was going to take your survey on who the reviewers at PW are, but you left out one category: Mutant Troll Copyeditors. I suspect their frustrated and losing desire to write a "real" novel are behind their reviews. Thanks and love the site! ***** Granny thinks everyone is taking the course: "How To Be Snide While Honing Your Wit and Meager Writing Skills" from Entertainment Weekly magazine. Granny's momma always said, "Try to set a good example for your little brother and sister, or they are going to follow your bad behavior." Seems bad behavior is just running rampant these days.
Bless me, Granny, for I have sinned . . . I found myself humiliated into near agreement with a scathing review of my first book by a post-menopausal reviewer with a twist in her unmentionables! So crushed was I that I actually wondered if she just might be RIGHT about me! Then I found you, Granny, and I am saved. Tell me to work on my plot, tell me to hone my prose and I'll ponder your constructive criticism then make my own unabused decision. Take it home, Gran! ***** Granny hears you, dear heart. This is a sad lament Granny has heard more than once. As though this business was not hard enough for writers just trying to do what they love, they then have to start doubting every word they put down to paper. It is common for writers to see their mistakes after the fact and know there is nothing they can do to fix it. When people point the finger at the author, the author then points the finger at themselves, forgetting that neither their editor nor their copy editors did THEIR jobs. But the latter are two entities who writers are supposed to hold harmless. You're eager. You want to succeed, but alas, there are far too few good editors and copy editors out there - and even fewer who truly give a darn about you and your fledgling career. The very hardest lesson to remember is to write from the heart and try to tune out the negativity.