Kelsey Quick asked Mara Rutherford:

I just wanted to say how brave and strong you are for looking at your reviews. I'm sure you've been warned against it? You're a great author with thick skin!

Mara Rutherford Hi Kelsey! Thank you for such a sweet comment, and thank you for your review! Haha, I have been warned by many authors not to read reviews, yes. I will admit that the first few negative reviews stung, but I have found some of them to be really informative. Most of us are writing in a vacuum until we're published, aside from our critique partners, beta readers, agent, and editor, so getting feedback from *actual readers* is genuinely helpful! (Some are admittedly just mean, but I can usually brush them off because they often completely contradict the positive reviews, or they say more about the reviewer than the book itself). I've also been writing for fifteen years, and during that time I've written a dozen novels and received MANY rejections, so yes, I have a thick skin. I do wish sometimes that publishing was a more transparent industry, because so much goes on behind the scenes that authors don't actually control, but at the end of the day, I'm just grateful to have this opportunity and hopefully give someone a fun place to escape to for a few hours. I probably won't continue to read the reviews once the book is out (I have to write Book Two!), but I am keeping reader feedback in mind for the future :) Sorry for the super long reply - I really do appreciate your comment!

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