Bad writing. Really bad. Can a writing be good if it shakes a
lazy writer heavily so that he wakes up and write and write and suffer from
insomnia as he cannot stop writing?
Don’t be surprised guys - my pen hasn’t created the above
mentioned masterpiece. This is a review my last blog post received. Although I
am yet to decipher the meaning of the review, I understood that the reader was
pretty pissed with the post. Well..if you are wondering why I let you read the
review, the answer is – because this is the truth of a writer’s life. Your
work is always under the scrutiny. One wrong step, one error or one perception that
does not suit may result into somewhat similar reviews. If you are more unfortunate
than I had been, you will face worse evaluations. But, don’t let your spirit
die. That will be the demise of a dream. And dreams are too precious.
Cope or Perish
Yeah, you either cope with the criticism or you give up. They
say writers sit around all day long and write in safety. True we don’t step out
of the proximity of the house or office most of the time. And we certainly don’t
face enemies at the borders with guns in our hands. Yet, our jobs are no less
dangerous than that of a soldier’s. When a bullet pierces the heart, people
die. But when someone raises a finger at our creation, our souls experience a
slow demise. How easily they say – bad
writing. They don’t even consider the effect their words can have on a
writer.
To Cope…
When I wrote the last post, I was not in right frame of
mind. I work as a content writer and I was loaded with work this past week. In
my haste to write a blog post, I jotted something down and posted in my blog
without much assessment. I knew in my heart that the post wasn’t good enough. I
didn’t share the post with anyone for that reason. What I did instead, I sent the
link to some of my friends for feedback. I was looking forward to some
suggestions that will help me improve the post. Well…the above feedback did not
help me anyway. First I sat undecided. Then I got angry. Then I laughed at the review.
I said to myself – to fuck with it.
But, I did not shrug off the matter and went on with my
life. I deleted the post from my blog. Then I sat with a writer friend of mine and
took the post apart. With the help of this writer, I began to see the errors I
made. He pointed out exactly what went wrong and suggested what could make the post
better. I rewrote parts of it once again.
Understand These…
Every review is not effective. Don’t take everything you
hear about your writing to your heart. People say things when they are given
the right. They have the God like glow while pointing out how bad you are. This
is a natural human instinct. You need to know which review will help you grow. Listen
to those reviews, even if it kills to sit through it. But, do pay attention to
every word. Then apply the suggestions to your writing. The rest of the
reviews…well they are not reviews at all and you can forget about them.
Everyone is not worth reviewing your writing. I made the
mistake of sending out the post to someone who is not capable of pointing out
what went wrong. If my writing is bad, I want to know what went wrong and why
it is wrong. Don’t just tell me that I am bad in plain words. Show me why I am
bad. That’s exactly what you should look for too. Find someone who will not
flatter you with flowery words and tell you how good you are. This person will
not attack you with anything like the review I have mentioned at the beginning
of this post either. This person will gently guide you through and make you see
how you can improve your writing.
Finally…
You are a writer. You are a creator. You have dedicated your
life in creating stories and characters and sometimes blog posts. You have put
yourself in the line so that people can read your work. Sometimes they say
things that feel like a hard punch into the gut. But, take it and move forward.
Learn from the harshness the world throws at you and get moving. Just go ahead.
“Let me tell you something you already
know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty
place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and
keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as
hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can
get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward.
That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and
get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not
pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or
anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!” - Rocky Balboa
