There's No Crying in Criticism

[doc]

http://tinyurl.com/8ovkr<br><br>Excerpt:<br> It doesn't seem very fair, that you should spend five years of your life pouring yourself into a book that probably won't make you rich but at least makes you happy (in that "just gave birth after five years of labor") way, and some jerk on Amazon writes that it's a 'waste of paper.' While we all like to think we don't care what other people think of us, chances are, bad reviews will get a writer down. I asked a few that I know how they handle it when they get a thumbs-down.<br><br>Says Miles Harvey, author of The Island of Lost Maps (and former teacher of mine, "My wife is an actress who usually gets wonderful reviews, which she invariably dismisses with a shrug. 'If you believe the good ones, you have to believe the bad ones,' she always says.<br><br>"I used to think this was a bunch of thespian mumbo-jumbo until I started getting reviews myself. The Island of Maps got both great raves and viscious slams, and I quickly came to understand that my wife is right. You can neither permit yourself to believe you're a genius because one critic likes your work nor to believe you're a moron because another critic hates it."