They’re all coming back home to roost. And being critiqued can be scary.

Somewhat like the buzzards returning to Hinkley, Ohio (albeit several weeks later–I can’t believe I missed Buzzard Day, which was March 15), my manuscripts are slowly returning from my beta-readers.

Who are the brave volunteers? 

I sent drafts of my science fiction novel What’s Bred in the Bone out in March, to a collection of willing souls. Some are published writers. Some are working-on-being-published writers. And some are much-prized living embodiments of my “target audience.”

A few are simply friends who’ve been hearing me talk about “the book I’m writing” for years, and were curious. And a couple are even the friends of the volunteers, who became interested.

You know, when it comes to being critiqued, that’s really not a hostile jury. And as a “baby author” (even though I’ve been working to learn this craft since forever), it makes sense for me to listen to them!

A range of formats spread my words

Some wanted e-book format, some wanted Word documents, some PDFs, and a few wanted hard copies, which I put in binders with a quick-and-dirty cover so they’d be quickly able to distinguish what side was “up.”

But the important part is that no matter what format they chose, they all had my best interest at heart. Reading a novel takes hours of time and focused attention. But critiquing a novel means reading, thinking about it, reading again. Then making notes. That takes even more time.

How can I not be humbled by that? A whole bunch of people chose to go through all of that for my benefit. Being critiqued may be worrying to a writer, but it’s also evidence that people actually care. I’m already a winner in one way, no matter what they say.

An important moment of growth

One and all, I deeply appreciate the time they’ve spent reading my manuscript and answering my questions. Not all have reported back in yet. But I’ve begun reading the comments of those who’ve finished. Their comments are quite interesting, and in many cases very helpful.

I’m a veteran of several decades’ worth of writers’ groups and critique partnerships. I do know how to compartmentalize (I learned that studying journalism!). It’s still sometimes a challenge not to take it personally. But the writer with a tender ego is a writer afraid to grow.

I also know how to evaluate. Not all critiques are equally helpful. Some seem to come straight out of left field. Some are internally contradictory. Oh, but then there are those other ones. The ones that hit you dead-center.

With those, I can only say, “Oh, man, they’re right!”

Being critiqued also means being discerning

Very few people will be able to resist at least a few little nitpicks. There’s almost always an “outlier,” too. By that I mean someone who gives radically different feedback from what everybody else said. All you can do with one of those is wonder “what manuscript were they reading?”

What’s a writer to do? At the end of the day, the best any of us can do is tell our story as well as we are able at the time.

After that, it’s on us to read or listen to every critique with an open mind. When we’re being critiqued, it’s best to have our heart safely tucked in a padded box somewhere. And once we’ve taken it all in, then we need to make the changes that won’t let us ignore them.

After that, MOVE ON.

IMAGE CREDITS:

Many thanks to the “Haglund’s Heel” Blog, for the nice photo of the Hinkley buzzard. I’m grateful to Scribendi, via Pinterest, for the quote image from H. G. Wells. And God bless Pinterest again, for the “Read-Write-Revise-Eat-Sleep-Repeat” image (no other associated link still seems to work). Lastly, I took the photo of my pile of manuscript printouts in recycled binders.