>>33186716>The idea of being told exactly how much I suck is just unnerving>>33186948If you're told that you suck at writing, then you know that you need to sharpen your writing skills if you want to get good at writing. How is this a bad thing?
It's only a bad thing if one has allowed oneself to be conned and conditioned to wager their self-esteem not on themselves but on their activities, because thus not divorced from their works, such people adopt criticism of said works as criticisms of self.
Choose not to be that way and to stop when you notice that you accidentally have; it's a character flaw and offers you no advantages.
My first effort got savaged and rightfully so. I took all the criticisms one at a time and either resolved each or found a deeper flaw that a criticism was a symptom of, and I stopped making those mistakes. In one powerful stroke, I cut criticisms from being called on genuine sloppiness down to picky bits—many of which are matters of opinion or choice through artistic license—and occasionally rubbing somebody the wrong way. Given that nobody can please all of the people all of the time, I'm comfortable with that, but not so comfortable that I stop adopting improvements when I discover them.
Yes: When you step into the spotlight some people will shout obscenities from the shadows. That part of their nature is why they're in the bleachers instead of the field. And others in the light may drop some jewels on you. They'll have sharp points because they're finely cut; gifts of the lessons that those who give them to you learnt the hard, slow, or tedious way. Choose to accept them, or cast them aside; in the latter case, you'll be bending over to pick them up later, likely with a twinge of regret in your arching back.
Such is the path of a contender, a path that few have the courage to walk down, despite it only requiring that one foot be put in front of the other and that it be taken at one's natural pace, whatever that speed may be.
