I Am the Walrus. Goo Goo G’joob.

You are a writer.

You put your heart and soul into your work only to have it ripped out by critics.  People won’t always love your work.  They won’t even always like your work.  Heck, some of them won’t even be bothered to click the “Like” button on your blog, which we know doesn’t necessarily mean, “I really admire what you said,” but in social network circles, it can actually simply mean, “I acknowledge that you said something, and as your friend, I support you.”

Sometimes your friends will go out of their way to avoid you just so they don’t have to hear about the plot of your new work in progress.  Some of them won’t even be bothered to Like your Facebook page and pretend to be supportive.  Sadly, you may even run into people who seem to go out of their way to tell you just how much you suck.

You’re going to get a lot more rejections than you ever thought possible, and most of them will be in the form of a form letter.  The agents likely didn’t read more than a couple of sentences of your work, and they didn’t even bother to write your name on the note to personalize it before they told you that your work is not good enough.

But even when you’re hit with the selfishness, thoughtlessness, carelessness, self-centeredness, and harshness of others, do not stop writing.  You can’t stop!  You have to remember that their opinions are only that – opinions.

Good reviews, even though they may be negative, deliver the blow between two compliments.  As a matter of fact, book reviewers are judged almost as harshly as authors.  Constructive criticism should actually be constructive.  If the person criticizing your work doesn’t have anything positive to say or doesn’t guide you on the path to improvement, then you need to learn to let their words go in one ear and out the other.  If they do say something useful, pick that part out, and make it work for you.  But throw the hurtful comments away.  They could very well only be saying what they say because that’s the “in thing” right now.  And what’s in today can just as easily be out tomorrow.

Have faith in your work.  Have faith in you!

Sheep follow the lead sheep blindly to the slaughtering block.  They will literally willingly walk up and allow themselves to be killed.  Lions don’t follow anyone.  They lead.  Remember, lions don’t lose sleep over the opinions of sheep.  Rawwr!

So, even though I seriously love John Lennon, I am not the eggman.  We are not the eggmen.  I am not the walrus.  I am a lion, and you should be, too. Goo Goo G’joob.