What should you do when someone reviews something of yours badly?
Find the truth in their comments.
It's the hardest thing to do, to accept that the quality of your output is low, that you haven't accomplished what you set out to accomplish, that you're not as shiny as you thought you were. It is easier to excoriate the messenger, to discount their observations, to explain away all your responsibility for your poor performance. It's easy, as well, to indulge in self-pity, becoming the misunderstood one.
But none of that will kick you out of your complacency. None of that will help you grow.
The rhetorical "you" is not fair to you, the reader, because I'm speaking from my own experience. This week I got what could be called a bad review, where I performed below the evaluator's expectations. This forced me to look at my performance and say, "Yes, I performed below my expectations."
I had reasons, mind you -- I had been depressed and foggy from medications, but my work still wasn't what it could be. And I had to admit that.
But it was liberating.
I gained a sense that my evaluator cared.
I gained a sense that I could bounce ideas off someone.
I gained the belief that I could improve.
I started to develop a plan.
I need to find a way to do this as a writer. I have had horrible trouble finding beta-readers, because novels are long and everyone is busy. I don't have the money to hire a developmental editor. But I've faced the truth in one area of my life, and I survived. Time to face the possibility of negative criticism in another.
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