If they do, I’ll remind myself for next time, but I won’t get involved with arguing back, nor do I try to get other people to bully those who are critical of my work. I may privately re-evaluate what I’ve done and see if they have a point. I should also say: no matter how tempting, no matter how goady, I rarely respond to negative feedback from ‘out there’. I may privately acknowledge someone’s lack of love but I’ll also shrug my shoulders because I know there’s nothing I can do to change their (wrong) opinion. Some people might not like them, but there is nothing I could have done to make it better. That’s a fact.īut I know that every one of my books is ‘out there’ because I have tried my hardest. Thing is, not everyone is going to like what you do. Thank you hater! Now go away, OK? I’ve surrounded myself with the right people and you’re not one of them. That person had no clue what it took to get published! No clue! ‘Good luck with that,’ I thought, then laughed myself sick and got on with my published writing life. That’s when my upset turned to side-clutching laughter. And they told me they believed in the book and me.Īround the same time, one particular hater wrote a review saying how my book was so bad that when it came to them getting a book published, they’d have no trouble.

These were the people – including my editor and my agent – who I could really rely on to be honest with me, even if it was not what I wanted to hear. How did I cope – except sobbing into my giant bag of Maltesers (I could eat gluten back then)? Well, I asked a few trusted people what they really thought of the accusations levelled at my books. They seemed personal, targeted and just plain mean. People seemed to be lining up to diss my book.Īt that point, I used to read ALL of my reviews and the bad ones hurt.

However, my third book, My Best Friend’s Girl, made quite a splash when it hit the shelves, and with every iota of success and praise it brought my way, there seemed to be a huge sting of negativity and vitriol to go with it. (Apart from everyone rejecting The Cupid Effect – twice, but that’s for another letter.) And because of their relative invisibility, while I got a few nice (and cherished) emails and letters, no one had anything particularly malign to say about them. With my first two books – The Cupid Effect and The Chocolate Run– the first time around, hardly anyone knew about them. No matter where you are in the publishing process – just starting to send your stuff ‘out there’ to agents and publishers, just about to give it to readers if you’re self-publishing, about to be published for the first time, or even if it’s your 10th book/story to hit the shelves – you are going to find a lot of people will be commenting on what you produce.Īnd, fair warning, it won’t always be positive. I’ll tell you how in a minute or two because today we’re talking about the outside world and your writing.

How the world began by dorothy straight