Good Reviews Rock...Bad Reviews Roll

Veteran authors say, eventually you'll pay little attention to your book reviews.

I can see that.

There are so many elements to writing that an author juggles, ensuring the book gets reviewed among them, it's not strange that taking time to absorb a review would be a low priority.

But, I'm not a veteran author. I have, however, managed to go into the whole review aspect with a healthy dose of, "I can't control it, so..." and then you can fill-in-the-blank.

So, I'll...

*Rejoice over the good ones
*Lick my wounds if a review stings
*Move on to the next project

So far, so good.

Booklist said So Not The Drama was too long. Well, it's too long compared to the average teen lit book, true. But it's not longer than Harry Potter or War & Peace. So...I can live with that observation.

If the worst thing, so far, is its length, I'm doing good. Because, Booklist also said the dialogue was fast and funny and that it was a good friendship story.

That ain't a bad review by a long shot.

But, recently I received a genuinely all-good review from Little Willow over at Bildungsroman.

I'm starting to see that good reviews are like eating chocolate. You want to gorge yourself on them, even though you know you shouldn't. After all, too much of anything makes you an addict. And far as I know, there are no 12 Step programs for authors feigning for a good review.

Bad reviews are like a vegetable you don't care for. You don't want to eat it, but you'll close your eyes and stuff it in your mouth, anyway.

Besides, nothing keeps you grounded like someone pointing out your weaknesses - reminding you, "Ay, you're not so perfect, Miss Author Lady."

As long as I learn to live with the good, bad and ugly I just might survive in this industry.

For now, a big fat woo-hoo to Little Willow who totally got what So Not The Drama was all about.

It feels great to be understood.