Ahoy thar, creatures of the internet,
So it's been a
few months and I've updated zilch. I could blame it on a lot of stuff:
like college, stress, a dancing bacterial octopus... but I'm not. It's
my fault. And here's why...
Writing is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences ever. Every time my fingers hover over a keyboard and start typing, and when that magic really starts to happen, my heart beats with excitement. I like to get excited about my writing. And I believe every writers needs to do so. Otherwise, what's the point? So when I was just about finishing writing The Sky Caller, I kept telling myself that no matter what anyone thinks, this is a story I've always wanted to read. I continually reminded myself that first and foremost I write for myself. But realistically, what writer doesn't want others to also enjoy it?
Initially, after I had finished my manuscript, I was going to wait to publish my book. I wanted a professional editor to polish it up before I let others read it. But then I learned of how much it was going to cost to have that done and suddenly I wasn't sure what to do anymore. It's much more than what I can afford any time soon, that's for sure. So in the end, because of some friends and family, I decided to go ahead and self-publish it through www.lulu.com with the edits and corrections I've done myself. It's not perfect, but I believe it's far from horrible, so I was happy enough with it to go ahead with the idea. And *poof* my first book was born.
At that point I was real excited. And I thought, why not ask a stranger to give it an unbiased review? So I did. I had a couple friends read and love it - which made me feel great! But I also wanted someone with no connections to me to read my book so I could see what they thought.
Long story short: the review ripped me to shreds and tossed the pieces to the wind.
The reviewer had actually given it a 3/5 stars, and did say she liked the story, but a lot of the comments hit me quite hard. It really felt more like a 0.2/5 star review from what the critiques had said. And even though I accepted them gratefully and thanked the reviewer for an honest review, I let the negative feedback control me for a while and stopped everything. I forgot that I had wrote the book for myself and that I love it.
Now that a few months have passed, I've had lots of time to reflect on her words and my feelings. Every person has a different opinion about everything. I had to drill it into my head that some people will love it, some will like, and some will hate it. That reviewer did say some things that made me more aware of some areas in my writing that I want to fix. So more than anything, I'm grateful for that review. I need and want to improve. This is my first book, after all. But needless to say, I'm feeling a lot better and more confident now. I've even started writing the sequel to The Sky Caller and have 10 chapters written to date. Hopefully I will have the first draft finished by Spring! That means I'm going to have to get back to blogging my thoughts and experiences while I go through the process all over again.
So what I've learned from all of this is that no matter what medium you choose to express your art, whether it be through writing, painting, filming, etc, there's always going to be people out of the many who enjoy it who will say negative things about it. The important thing is to remember why you chose to bring it to life in the first place.
