Facing Critics and Naysayers

I was trying to encourage a fellow writer today who was feeling down because of mean-spirited Amazon customer reviewers. We’ve all read a few doozies that made us shake our heads, haven’t we? The struggle is not unique to writers, as Stephen King states. It applies to just about anything you do publicly, or that becomes public knowledge. We will always have detractors, critics, and naysayers. It’s a sign that you’re doing something that matters.

Anyway, I came upon some sage advice from some fairly well-known writers on the topic:

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Yesteryear: When I Wore a Different Hat

Some of you already know from my bio that prior to my work as an IT Professional, which preceded my career as a writer, I was a professional musician. That’s right. I was a cellist who graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. I’ve performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Cairo Royal Opera House, and concert halls in Israel, South Africa, Jordan and Israel

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Author Promotion: The Holy Grail, by Guest Blogger Allan Leverone

 Amazon Bestselling author Allan Leverone’s book THE LONELY MILE has just hit the top 5 on 2 Amazon bestseller lists.  He’s here to blog today about author promotion. *  *  * Author Promotion: The Holy Grail by Allan Leverone I’m like every other author out there. I want you to read my book, and when […]

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My life in 8 words: “A relentless pursuit to fulfill my life’s calling.”

…with each day that passes it’s becoming clearer to me that everything we face in life–be it victories, defeat, challenges, good news or bad–is an opportunity to reveal our character. In fact, it’s a chance to determine our future by our choices. When I look at the “achievement” of having my book published by a major publisher (Simon & Schuster is considered one of the “Big Six”) I find myself at something of a crossroad…

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SPENDING TIME WRITING, SPENDING TIME ALONE (guest blogger Susan Wingate)

As a writer, we must spend time alone to work, to visualize, to create. But, as human beings? We need people to interact with. And, when we feel the thrumming aversion to social interaction, we humans must put on a character (where without that character we might shrivel) and we must step outside our comfort zone.

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