The Good....the Bad....the Ugly

        The day Breathe was released I believe I've mentioned that I wanted to crawl under my bed and stay there. That feeling quickly left and I embraced the lovely reviews coming in. I loved hearing that Breathe had kept a reader up all night. This review thing wasn't so bad. I could do this. It was actually quite lovely. The birds were chirping and the sun was shinning. Then came my welcome into the world of Goodreads.....ow, ow, ow ouch! The first taste of a bad review and shortly after came another. I thought I had thick skin but I thought wrong. My skin is painfully thin. Under my bed was looking better and better. I actually went on a Goodreads hiatus for a day just to work the air back into my battered chest again. Sounds ridiculously dramatic, I know but that's how I roll.       I finally managed to get the thin skin under control and soothe my aching chest with this simple fact: for every bad review I got there were at least three good reviews. Not everyone was going to like my story or my writing (which I can tell you the latter hurts worse). I don't love every book I read but that doesn't make the author a bad writer it just isn't my taste. Not everyone would love me. I'd chose this road and I was going to have to hang on tight and enjoy the ride, bumps and all.  I won't lie and tell you the pain goes away because it doesn't. Maybe it gets easier but it doesn't disappear. You just learn to deal. Swallow it maybe even take a little something from it, IF you can bring yourself to read it. I'm forcing myself to read the bad ones so I can learn ways to make my future books better. I don't intend to change my ideas but if they offer some sort of constructive criticism I'm soaking it in. To be a writer that's something I'll have to learn. Maybe one day I will be able to sign on to Goodreads without feeling as if I need to throw up ;)