Today is Monday, the beginning of another week of work and despite a fantastic sunshine here in Athens, Mondays are always tough.
Writing, as always, is my solace but I also need human support and companionship. Today I heard from a reviewer who, although he was supposed to review my book, thought that it would be a great idea to actually line edit the book. I am grateful to him for the extreme editing he did, but he failed to make a review and was rather snooty about the editing. For a moment, there, I felt like a failure because he had made the most pedantic comments about my writing.
I then realized that I just needed a huge hug to tell me that everything is going to be OK and that my book is good and worth reading. A few hours later I stumbled upon the “20 Things Everyone Wants to Hear From Their Partner” article and I really liked it. The 20 little things it mentioned were heart-warming and they just felt good to say and hear. So, today I want to tell my wife “I’ve had a rough day, seeing you will cheer me up”. And I want a big hug!
Oh, I am sure your wife gave you a big bear hug to cheer you up. Sounds like you really needed it. I can fully sympathise and I am sure all authors do. One of my favourite authors, Kate Morton, says that she goes from day to day feeling like God, then like Sod and back again. It happens to us all. As luck would have it, I am posting a 5 star review on Amazon today for Year 18 🙂
Aww, Nicholas! I’m sure you got your hug and more as you totally deserve it! Pedantic negative criticism can have ulterior motives. If you are able to discern any, it’s not worth losing your smile over it. Honestly…
That’s very sweet, thank you! 🙂 I just think that particular reviewer is a great editor, if a bit pedantic (and, dare I say, old-fashioned) in his approach. He could not help but carry his impressive line-editing skills on to his review. Many of his comments were still very helpful and appreciated, of course – plus, he caught a few typos my own editor had missed.