One of my buddies
is worrying about whether or not
she is too harsh
with the author feedback
for a writing contest.
She worries she’ll turn the writer off writing.
Not possible.
Not if the writer truly wants it.
We all experience harshness,
especially at the beginning of a venture.
When I was a child,
I’d tell people I would be a millionaire.
Some people would laugh
and tell me
“You’re not smart enough.”
“You have to come from money
to get money.”
or the ever popular
“You’re crazy.”
I was a CHILD,
and this harshness didn’t stop me.
When I started writing,
I entered a contest.
I received a mark of 32%,
and the feedback
“Watching grass grow
is more interesting than your book.”
That didn’t stop me.
And if it had stopped me,
I’d know that writing wasn’t for me.
Being on the receiving end
of harshness is great.
If someone snickers at your business concept,
and you quit working on it,
you know the business
isn’t what you truly want.
It saves resources,
resources you can allocate
to something you DO want.
Harshness has never stopped
the truly driven.