If you don’t like it, then stop reading my articles!!!
Wait, what the hell was I saying?
Looking back at the way I took criticism early in my writing days, it's the complete opposite of what I should’ve have been doing. Criticism is the validation of making an impact on the reader. No, you may not have had a desired effect, but you did have an effect – something that millions of other writers fail to do on a regular basis.
Engaging the reader is a lost art and much more difficult than it gets credit for. If you are getting regularly criticized, you’re doing something write (see what I did there?).
I recently decided to embrace criticism and work to elicit reactions from viewers. While I won’t troll grammar police by leaving poorly structured sentences or misspelled words for readers to call me out on, I now actively seek to engage my audience, even if some don't care for my work.
In order to do this and keep my mood positive on a regular basis, I needed to embrace criticism instead of letting it get me down and stall my writing momentum. Here are five ways to embrace criticism as a writer.
How to Embrace Criticism
- Engage
- Thank Your Readers
- Use as Topic Ideas
- Correct Mistakes
- Track Feedback
Thank you for reading, and feel free to criticize this piece in the comments below!
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Tomorrow’s Post: How Writing Helps Customers Relate to Your Business
Interested in Why I’m Publishing 365 Times in 2015? Read the first post of 2015 here! Want to be a part of my series? Share topic ideas or volunteer for an interview in the comments below.
Michael Luchies is the Founder of TrepRep, Director of Content Programming for Pursuit, Interview Editor for Under30CEO, Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Illinois State University, TEW 2 contributor, and writer of all things entrepreneurship. Connect with Michael on Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.