Don't Take It Personally

I learned an important lesson on writing last week. If someone or some people don't like what you write, don't take it personally. About 99.95% of the time, the reason they might not like your writing is simply preference, not the level of writing skill. Different people like different things; just because a couple people don't like doesn't mean others won't either.

For example: at the last meeting of my school's writing club (Writer's Guild) a friend of mine and I decided we wanted to have a poem war. We both submitted a poem, anonymously to ensure an unbiased vote, and had them read to the group. Then they voted. My friend's poem won 4 to 1. We talked about it today a little and she said that she was surprised she won because she thought mine was so much better, yet I thought she did better. We're both equally good writers, a vote doesn't make one better than the other.

Yeah, so I lost. Who cares? It's all about preference, not skill. Even if you fidn people that don't like your writing, there's always that one that does.

Unfortunately, that last 0.05% is skill, but keep practicing and that percentage will vanish.