Author: Judy L Mohr

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Removing the twinkle of stars

When I was studying for my PhD, it was a little inside joke between my supervisors and myself. Whenever anyone asked what it was we did for a living, we would answer, "We remove the twinkle from stars." The reactions were hilarious. Most people would see it for the joke it was, but there would always be the one person who would get incredibly offended.

"But I like the twinkle in the stars. You can't remove the twinkle. That's just rude, and I'll create a petition to have your research shut down."

Okay, that particular reaction never actually happened, but there were some people that took us seriously. Like we could really remove the twinkle from the stars... (Shall I snort now or later?)

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9/11: A view of life…

We've had another anniversary of the 9/11 disaster. For such a long time, I remained silent about my memories of that day, fearful that someone would get offended.

The events of that day had a global impact. So many things changed in an instant. The world was in chaos. No one knew what was going on and planes around the world were being grounded.

In the days that followed, the clean-up was almost unbearable. So many lives needlessly lost. And the reasons for the insanity still elude us.

For all those years, I remained silent about my memories of 9/11, because in truth, I didn't care about what was going on in New York. 9/11 in 2001 for me was a day of joy... because two days later, I gave birth to my son.

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Finding value in a critique…

Every writer who puts their work out there will have to face critiques of all flavors: the good, the bad, and the outright mean.

For the new writer, one just starting down the journey, sending that baby out for review can actually be a terrifying experience. "What if they don't like it? What if I'm doing it all wrong? What if they tell me my writing is shit?"

Yeah, these are all fears that I had when I was first starting out. Even today, I have those fears. But there is one truth that helps me send my writing out the door anyway.

Not everyone is going to like what you write. Writing is like art, filled with subjective opinions.

If you're determined to have everyone in the world like your writing, then you might as well give up now. It's never going to happen. The best you can ever hope for is that the fans of your books like what you wrote, and hopefully, they'll help you spread the word of your book's existence.

But let's take a look at how to find value in every critique, including the outright-mean kind.

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