Give it time

Becky Levine wrote a fantastic post on dealing with feedback. As she says, "Don’t always assume your initial reaction to a critique comment is going to be your final reaction."

It's been my experience, too, that while some critique comments instantly make sense, immediately spark me to revise, others take more time. One of my least favorite experiences as a writer is facing feedback that I don't know how to respond to. Seeing that something isn't working, but not knowing how to fix it. As Becky says, sometimes we just have to give it time.

Part of being a writer is knowing when to back away from a project and let some deep part of our brains work away at the story for a while. Knowing when to wait. Knowing when to open our minds and consider other possibilities, other angles.