Dealing With Criticism by Bernadette Marie – Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Bernadette Marie will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The author’s journey is filled with criticism. It starts with our own words that play in our head, then we willingly hand over our work to an editor and beta readers, and then we face the sharp lashing of critics when they hand in reviews.

I’ve been in this game for a decade, and I’ve only been successful since I stopped criticising my own work. I write for me, and I’m blessed that my words resonate with others. However, remembering that I write for my own joy and my own therapy, it keeps me from criticising myself.

Very early on in my career, I was handed an amazing editor, and to this day I credit her with making me the author I am now. Looking back, as a publisher and editor myself, I would have turned away my work too. There was a great need for growth, and she walked me through it with kid gloves and gentle words. But I’ve had the harsh sting of words from those who judged my work. They sent me things like, “If I bought you a box of commas would you bother to use them?” and “I hate your character so much I would never buy you.” These are the harsh words that attack you right to your soul, but what you have to remember is they didn’t do their job by telling you things like this. It always made me wonder what was wrong with them, since their delivery was so hateful, not what was wrong with me. No, as a judge in some contest, they’re not paid or anything of the sort, but they too somewhere are being fed this kind of criticism, and I remember that now–I laughed at it then. I combat their ways by making sure that if I’m asked to critique someone’s work I’m honest, and kind. It goes a long way.

As for reviews, I deal with that criticism by not reading them. Well, not often. Usually a good review will come straight to me. If someone has something nice to say about you, they want you to know it. However, there is a lot of room for bad reviews, and I figure reviews are for the reader not for me. And think about it, how many times have you looked at a review of something and thought, “well, they hate it, but I really want to try this.” Or maybe you read a review and think, “that person has other problems.”

Criticism is all around us, and if we don’t learn to take it in and digest it a little, we will forever walk around worried about the world around us and what it will do to attack us next. Keep writing for yourself. Be willing to grow when properly critiqued, but know when a hurtful word is just that.

Kennedy Devereaux, owner of Kennedy Devereaux Designs, is a sight to behold in her signature pink colors, accented with custom designed jewelry. Intriguing enough that Joel Kingsley, the man building the new business next door, can’t help but keep coming around, just to get to know the woman in the designer clothes. He finds she’s not such a mystery, and his charm easily wins her over–until she finds that he’s forgotten to let her in on the secrets of his past.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Pink doors, crystal light fixtures, white shelves. Joel cupped his hands around his eyes to get a better look at the feminine interior of the store he stood in front of. Kennedy Devereaux Designs, the lettering on the door said. Costume jewelry, purses, and a few pieces of clothing were elegantly displayed on uncluttered shelves. He could see a small sitting area toward the back of the store with white chairs on a plush pink rug.

When he stepped back from the door, he inhaled. Could he even smell the store and all of its femininity?

“Can I help you?” A soft voice had him turning to see a woman, as feminine as the store, standing behind him.

She was the smell—sweet and floral. Soft golden hair framed a delicate face, and her lipstick matched the soft pastel pink of the doors he’d been looking through. Sharp blue eyes watched him as he stared at her.

Joel Kingsley was no idiot around women, but this one seemed to render him speechless.

About the Author:

So Cute Photo San Jose Family Photography

Obsessed with the art of writing and the business of publishing, chronic entrepreneur Bernadette Marie established her own publishing house, 5 Prince Publishing, in 2011 to bring her own work to market as well as offer an opportunity for fresh voices in fiction to find a home as well.

When not immersed in the writing/publishing world, Bernadette Marie and her husband are shuffling their five hockey playing boys around town to practices and games as well as running their family business. She is a lover of a good stout craft beer and might have an unhealthy addiction to chocolate.

Buy the book at Amazon.

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