Embracing the UGLY

I recently read a blog post by Lindsey Leavitt that made me think http://lindseyleavitt.blogspot.com/2013/01/embracing-cute.html 

It was all about her being unapologetic for the kind of books she wrote. In her case: cute. Which some readers love and some readers don’t. Her post was about her coming to terms with this fact and I loved it.

It made me think about the kind of books I wrote. They have been called in positive reviews: raw, honest, sharp, and real.

And, in negative reviews: depressing, angry, annoying, and too much.

I have been told my books have the ability to make you snot-laugh and snot-cry, but also have been told that some readers want to throw them across the room.

Basically for some reason thinking about it this way jogged something loose in my brain. I saw that what people LOVED and HATED about my books were the exact same thing. That they either saw it was something they responded to, or didn’t. That they either got, or didn’t.

This was a revelation. For some reason I had never seen it this black and white before and I have Lindsey Leavitt and her post to thank for that.

So from now on I am going to embrace the UGLY in my books. They are about real life and real problems and very real characters and for some people than can be: depressing, angry, annoying, and too much.

For some people that can be UGLY.

But for others, it can beautiful and exactly what they need.

I guess this post is just to say EMBRACE whatever it is people might think you are doing wrong in your writing, because to other people more than likely, you are doing it JUST RIGHT.