I Love You, Grown Up Writers Who Act Like Grown Ups!

I have some strong feelings about bad reviews, which I shared with you here. Those reviews are a fact of every author's life, and a well-written bad review can actually give a writer a great deal of insight into her work. It's a new perspective from someone who just doesn't get your stuff, and it is very valuable.


Most writers deal with bad reviews very gracefully. They act like grown ups, in other words. They read the review and leave it as is, which is a great way to go, or they thank the reviewer for the added perspective.


These grown up writers do the right thing, and I Love Them. Or You, if you are one.


What these grown up writers who act like grown ups do NOT do is complain about the review, cry, whine, threaten the reviewer with a correspondingly bad review, and rant about it in public forums. 

Waaaaah!

Writers who do that are not acting like grown ups, and I do not love them.


Luckily, it doesn't happen very often. Writers are polite and pleasant for the most part. So when it does happen, when someone decides to act like a child in front of the entire universe, it blows up and everyone comes running to see the train wreck. 


I'm not going to mention the names involved, since the author of the review has decided to act like an Extra Mature Grown Up and not publicize this (even if doing so would further her career, since all observers sympathize with her.)


But I must offer this as a cautionary tale. And it is a chance to say it again - those of you who act like pleasant grown ups - I love and respect you.


That is all.