My favorite escape to find peace and focus is surprisingly when surrounded by others . . . and yet alone with my thoughts.
For decades, each spring I’ve anticipated that opportunity – packing a suitcase and all my electronic paraphernalia, traveling into a wooded wilderness to where lake waters glisten and air is crisp and cool, to lose myself amongst like-driven friends and just r-e-l-a-x by working. I know, the two things sound counter-productive while in truth, they’re like thumb nail to match head – nothing ignites until they strike together. But this time I was there to find something different, something I didn’t know I’d lost.
It’s been years since I put out a new book . . . but I HAVE been writing—two completed romantic suspenses that my former editor has asked to see. So why aren’t you seeing them on real/virtual shelves? My fault. I let an unexpectedly brutal critique crush my confidence.
After 70 titles, a half-dozen fantastic editors from as many different houses, reviews that aren’t always gentle, and a scrupulously honest critique group, I’m tough as nails when it comes to the opinions of others. I welcome input that will improve my work by pointing out missed opportunities and overlooked faux pas. But there’s a difference between helpful criticisms and intentional fault-finding, and that difference broke this author’s self-confidence. It was a sucker punch I didn’t see coming and it put my productivity down for the count.
After a year of sulking and brooding and licking my wounds, I’ve busied myself by getting some of my backlist ready for reissue. And in going over those books, I discovered a surprising fact. Damn! I’m a good writer! And you know what, while I wait for my VA to get those books formatted for self-pubbing, I’m going to get those manuscripts out and do a final edit without a glance at those destructive comments (I’ve since obtained a separate critique that is no less truthful but without the tinge of arsenic).
Reminder to self: Be helpful with opinions instead of toxic.
♚♚♚♚♚
Nancy Gideon on the Web
2 comments:
So glad you had a chance to relax and recharge. It’s weird how we let certain things/words shut us down. There’s a takeaway here. Even authors with lots of books under their belt have self-doubts. Glad you’ve dumped them in the trash where they belong. Can’t wait for those new books.
Yes, those words sting! But glad you're back and were able to recharge! Looking forward to what's coming!
Post a Comment