There's no such thing as a bad review…

Love this pic! from: http://bookhaven.stanford.edu/2011/02...

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A BAD REVIEW.

Ha!

I was just trying it on for size, you know, like "there's no such thing as bad press" [articles about the children's author who got kicked off a Southwest flight for swearing comes blazing to mind]. I thought Tina Fey's chapter in her book Bossypants on the abuse she's taken on the Interwebs was soooo funny…because in this house, we continue to be astounded at *how mean* people can be on comment threads (where they can remain somewhat anonymous). Then there are customer service debacles that get published that can be pretty entertaining. BUT you forget (sometimes) that as a writer, you are writing words for the world to read and judge…….and review. On purpose. That's just crazy.

So, while a staggering high percentage of reviews for my books are pretty stellar, it's the "bad review" (oh, did you notice there was no link to it? yeah.) that I fuss over. And the timing's not terrific when I have a whole writing day planned. Talk about a creative block. I must write, write, write first and edit later (and doubt never). And by writing, I don't mean having a *3 hour internal debate* with said reviewer/s, justifying, explaining and rebutting [after all, isn't the book supposed to have done that?]. Or a *4 hour shame fest* mentally rewriting everything I've ever written because I'm obviously a complete and utter failure. But…you know what timing is terrific? When 2 blog posts about receiving bad reviews flit across my screen in a 24 hour period! (1: "Best Piece of Advice for Bad Reviews" 2. "Did that Bad Review Come with Ulterior Motives?") Awesome! I'm not alone! I'm in good company! [oh, yeah, then I'm reminded that I already knew that 'cause of the Beatitudes and stuff when Jesus said that I'm blessed when I'm "persecuted" and in good company with a lot of other high quality people--ie, prophets--who were also persecuted way worse than me for stuff way more important].

So thank you, thank you, thank you to all you writers out there for hanging in there; all you reviewers (good and bad) who take the time and care to share your thoughts…and, not to go all Tim Tebow on y'all, but thank you, Jesus, most of all for the reminder that there really is no such thing as a bad review, just blessing.

Now…to get back to writing the next amazing book so you can review it, too!