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Know when to take criticism. Know when to leave criticism. |
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To me this is the hardest thing. When people act like they know what they’re talking about and come at my work with a loud voice and all the force of their credentials, I crawl in a hole in my head and I don’t come out. When they go away, I try to sort out what about the crit I agree with and what I don’t. This is the tricky part. But my rule of thumb is this: if I’m not sure about a particular critical comment, I don’t make the change. I figure if the comment is valid, I’ll hear it again in a way that will make more sense to me. On the other hand, if a critical suggestion "rings true" I take it seriously. I don’t allow myself to gloss over the issue or make token changes. I stop everything and do the best job I can to correct the problem. |
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Let your head be a mess. |
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I like to get everything to work out. That is one of my greatest pleasures in life. But if I try to get things to come together too early in the writing process, it’s like putting a pan in the oven with nothing in it. All I get for my efforts is a scorched dish. It’s the chaos that gives richness to the order when it finally comes. I remind myself, "slow down—let the mess be all around you." |
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| 6. |
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Finish everything (okay, almost everything). |
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I write as many drafts as I need to to feel I’ve done the very best job I can with a particular manuscript, then I move on. I do not—so far at least—have any half-done novels. Picture books seem to be different for me. I can’t sink into them the same way. I do better working on picture books in little bits here and there. I have lots of half-finished picture books. |
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| 7. |
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Go after the idea that you can't convince yourself out of. |
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My head specializes in telling me I have stupid ideas. It stays up until all hours of the night planning strategies for my demise. My only hope is to go after ideas I want to do so badly that I don’t care what my head has to say about them. |
