Writing Brings A Gift: Don't Let Your Critics Bring You Down

My friend, Marian Copeland, has a new and fantastic blog: Books. Food. Sex. What else matters? Right now she's attending The San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel, Mexico. Today she spoke a little about Alice Walker who is one of the many faculty to grace the conference: 

"Asked about the intense criticism she received when The Color Purple was published, she said the answer was simple. "Don't read the reviews!" You can't read the reviews while you're in the throes of creativity, she insisted. You yourself will figure it out. You have more understanding of what you're doing than your critics. "You bring a gift" and all they can do is sit on the sofa, eating chips, and "react."

Marian has many interesting things to say and she blogs DAILY! I can't even imagine that. Drop by once and you'll be hooked!

It's been difficult of late to think of my writing as a gift. I used to think that...way back in the day when I set out to "set the record straight" first in frontier Oregon and later in my own backyard. My goal was to tell stories about the down-trodden and show how many people are able to overcome the obstacles that try to trip them up. I'm most certainly sure that I accomplished my goals, especially when someone tells me that they stayed up all night reading one of my books.

For the past two years I haven't been able to write anything except "Ruby Red's Reflections" which is really my inner child's journal about losing my older sister and younger brother within three months in 2013. Some call it writer's block. Maybe. I don't know, But I do know this: Alice Walker told Marian Copeland that writing brings a GIFT. Alice's words and Marian's sharing those words has renewed my enthusiasm for writing. Look out! Here I come with my fifth novel, "All The Voices In My Head."