What you should do with it.

Criticism and Advice: As Gloria Gaynor Said, I Will Survive

As a writer, you have to be able to handle it. Rejection and criticism, done properly, is a way of this life.

Okay. I just read this article, twice, by Dr. Illumination. It is called

Let me tell you a little story ‘bout a man named Chuck.

Chuck wrote a story about boobs and bras yesterday, and submitted it to Illumination. I expected, as usual, that the story would be reviewed by editors quickly and published just as quickly. This was the story:

Imagine my surprise when I received a note back from the editor saying there may be some offensive content in the title. Whaaaat! Boobs are NOT offensive, I thought.

She respectfully asked if I was open to some advice. I told her I was absolutely open to some advice and that my intent was to never offend anyone. Now, that is my INTENT. I cannot really control whether someone is sensitive to my subject matter.

I immediately sent the story to the person I thought was the most difficult to offend, Julia E Hubbel (that was a compliment, by the way -don’t hurt me!). I wanted her input and opinion as to whether there was anything “offensive” in the article. I trust her opinion and she will always be honest.

Meanwhile, I made some changes to the subtitle (which I actually like better than the original) and waited for responses from the editor and Julia. As I waited, I read over it again, made a few more changes, then refreshed it. Well, I didn’t know that refreshing the page would show some of the edits suggested and/or made by the editor.

Now, meanwhile, back at the camp, Julia was telling me that, yes, there may be some things that could be changed (she pointed out an apostrophe that needed to be removed).

She advised me to ask the editor what the issues were and talk about them. She also said, put the article aside for a little while, then re read with a fresher brain, make changes, then re-submit. All great ideas.

I rarely have a fresh brain, so I didn’t know if that would work, but I agreed those were good ideas. She even offered to re read after I cut a hundred words and re wrote some things. Okay. Tighten it up, baby!

I switched back to my article and discovered that the editor had agreed with my changes just as I agreed with her changes, and published it. Oops. I wasn’t fast enough.

So, what did I learn? Besides being faster? Well, I learned that I should follow my own advice I wrote in my article:

I wrote that article, published on MuddyUm by Susan Brearley because I was having trouble with making editorial suggestions to those writers who were submitting work to my pub, Dad-Bods, who have so much more experience than I do.

The bottom line, everyone said, “Dude! You are the editor! Be respectful, ask to make some changes, and be respectful(yes, I said it twice on purpose).” And they didn’t really call me “Dude.”

But they had a point or points, or whatever.

We, as writers, are submitting our articles to EDITORS. We want them published, and we want the articles to be the best they can be. As Julia E Hubbel and Marie T Smith and Susan Brearley and others said, we have to be receptive to what we perceive to be criticism, but is, in reality, advice to make the article better from a fresh set of eyes.

I don’t know how this relates to what the Doc wrote, but I think I am trying to say, if I could paraphrase the immortal words of one of the characters in M. Night Shyamalan’s movie, Signs, “Edit away!”

Note to Editors: As an editor for this pub(Illumination), especially a pub that is striving so hard to not only be one of the most successful, but to give writer’s a platform to be heard, and is driven by such a dedicated owner, you have a responsibility to each writer to be a proper editor and critic.

As a writer, you have an obligation to respectfully listen to the editor, and respectfully agree or disagree.

There, I said it, and I meant it. When I submit a story, ‘Edit away!” respectfully. If I disagree with you, I will say so, respectfully.

Oh, and readers, “Comment away!” Comments are very helpful.

I won’t get offended if you won’t get offended.

Thanks, again and always, Doc, for this opportunity.

Write On!