Shaking off bad reviews

I've been giving short shrift to the blog lately because I'm spending so much time in the garden. More on that tomorrow, probably, with some photos. Today I'd like to respond to a comment left by Janny on this post. Janny's polite, thoughtful remarks on why she didn't care for my latest book are too long to quote here in their entirety, so you curious types will just have to click on the link. But here are some snippets:

I was one of those people who got the free book, agreed to blog about it...and then found myself reading, and reading, and reading, trying to like it. I just couldn't. And yes, for once in my life, I was actually thinking before putting my writing foot in my writing mouth and hurting feelings....

My biggest problem was the conflict set up between hero and heroine, which to my mind simply didn't amount to enough to keep an entire book going....

I couldn't deal with these people anymore and put the book down.

That's the truth...that this book just didn't work for me. So there you have it, for what it's worth. I'll be glad to publicize your book on my blog now, but I didn't want to go into that with this kind of review...at least not without telling you first....

I hope this didn't sting too badly...

It didn't sting at all, Janny. And because I think it might help some of my writer friends deal better with criticism of their work, I'd like to explain why.

When I send a book out into the world, I'm offering readers something I'm proud of, something I hope will delight them. But I'm a realist, so I readily acknowledge that not everyone will love my books. Publishing a novel is very much like presenting your special cheesecake to a family that has just moved in next door. You don't know those people, so you don't know whether they're on strict no-cheesecake diets or have weird allergies or just plain hate cheesecake. Even if they adore cheesecake, they might not care for your version of it. But you make the gesture with the best intentions and the neighbors thank you warmly. If you find out later that your marvelous creation was dumped in the trash ten minutes after you left, you're disappointed, but you don't burn your recipe and sign up for a cooking class. You know you made a darn good cheesecake.

So the neighbors didn't agree. Big deal. Life is still worth living.

Every time we read a novel, our life experiences, personal values, and individual tastes color our perception of the story and determine whether we will be engaged or turned off. Some readers might be captivated by a sweet heroine that others find cloying. Some might rave about an exciting plot that others find boring and predictible. Even the greatest books are never universally loved. And have you noticed there's always somebody sticking up for the truly awful books?

In general, a book review says more about the reviewer's tastes than it does about the quality of a given book. On the surface, Janny's comments might appear to be an indictment of my writing. But look closer and you'll see that she's really talking about herself. She's telling us what she likes and does not like in a romance novel--and my book didn't meet her standards.

Okay, Janny didn't like the book. I'm disappointed. But my editors liked it, reviewers liked it, and I get e-mail every day from readers who like it. More important than any of that, I like it. I enjoyed writing it and I'm proud of the way it turned out. So my self-esteem is in pretty good shape.

You can't please all of the people all of the time. Any writer who fails to acknowledge that simple truth is inviting others to suck the joy out of her writing life.

I hope this post encourages somebody.