Don’t explain—it opens the door to judging and oversharing

Every once in a while you get a very eager reader—eager to prove to you that you have written your book wrong. Or some variation of that.

Your first impulse is to defend your creative child. To explain what led you to this or to that creative decision.

Don't explain. Save your breath. By trying to justify the reasons you made this or that decision you do two things that will sink you fast:

1. You open the door to judging. Now, no matter what you say, that eager reader will scrutinize as much as...