Whenever the critical turkeys make you crazy, read these two posts and know you are not alone

This past weekend, I hit a snag on my novel, which was NOT aided by a bunch critical posts on lj "justifying" the rejection letters or lack of response agents and publishers give to writers who've submitted work - you know sometimes you just think why bother sharing your work at all? Easier to just keep it to yourself. Sharing one's work, whether it be a knitted scarf, a piece of pottery, a beaded bracelet, a handwoven basket, or a story - is a bit like presenting one's child to a teacher the first day of preschool, hoping there's room in the class. (There's been a Baby Boom in Brooklyn and there's 300 applicants for every preschool, which takes about 18-20 kids each). All your love and care has gone into it and you think as you present this fragile piece of your heart - please treat it kindly, don't rip it to shreds. Forgetting of course that there's a hundred parents and kids waiting in line behind you and the teacher's tired and cranky and can only accept eighteen for the class.

At any rate...these two posts made me feel better this weekend and I thought I'd share them with the rest of my writer friends:

1. This one is a rant by Joss Whedon on whedonesque. He had just finished writing the first arc of the upcoming Season 8 Buffy Comic, and wandered onto his fansite to see how people were reacting to the promos of his work - the first five panels to be exact. And the internet being the internet...well, suffice it to say he has his critics.

If you are afraid of being spoiled for the comic, although you'd have to be living under a rock not to be on this part...I'd think. Here's the gist: Anyway, it's idiotic for me to defend the work -- you either dig or you don't. All I can do, he more or less says, and in more than one interview I've read - is create my work and throw it out there. You'll either like or you won't. I have no control over that.

( Whedon's post on Whedonesque )

2. jimbutcher, the writer of the best-selling sci-fi noir series The Dresden File which is premiering as a TV show on Sci-Fi in late January, posted on his lj - scroll down a few entries, it's back in the beginning of December, I believe - a sampling of the negative reviews he'd gotten on his books. At the very end of the post, which contains everything from a gun expert chiding him on his research to people who think his writing is rudimentary or the plots poorly constructed, he writes - "some days it's sort of hard to get motivated".

Here's an example of two of the reviews:
( Butcher's bad reviews )

Both made me feel better. Apparently everyone has their critics. Next time I get overwhelmed by mine, real or imaginary - I'm re-reading this.