March 12, 2009

So, as I told a fellow writer, I’ve decided I need to get over myself. Seriously.

Not everyone is going to love me or even like me in this life. And certainly not everyone is going to love my books. So, I need to get over it, get over me.

See, the thing is I have this sort of Sally Field complex (you like me, you really like me). But there are going to be people out there that dislike me because I write, write ebooks, write gay romance, whatever. There will be people who dislike me because I am Irish and come from California. It’s just the way of things.

You would think, having gotten to the nearly ripe old age of 44 (this month), I would have already learned I am not the one person in the world everyone will like.

I am really going to age myself here, but I am a fan of the Golden Girl series. I can say that because my writer friend, Ava, who is about ten years younger than me loves Frank Sinatra and other oldsters. She listens to Frank and I listen to Ozzy (and yes, I mean Osborne). But I digress. There is an episode in the Golden Girls where it drives Rose nuts because some guy at her work dislikes her. Everyone likes her, Rose explains, and she just can’t comprehend why this guy doesn’t. She spends the entire episode trying to figure it out and trying to get this guy to like her. He never does.

Thus, when one of my stories gets 3 out of 5 stars or even 2 out of 5 or horrors 1 out of 5, I need to just grow up and deal with it. Not let it hurt me, ruin my day, or any of that. It’s not the end of the world or life or even your career because someone doesn’t think everything you create is brilliant. It really isn’t.

And, here is a concept, even those that do enjoy your work, may occasionally, not like a particular story as well as others. It happens. It has even happened to ME as a reader. I have certain writers that I read no matter what they write because I am a fan girl (unfortunately one of them died a few years ago and therefore I am left re-reading his works rather than new stuff), but I like or love some stories better than others. There may even be a story I didn’t care so much for. And you know, that’s going to happen to me. It’s okay.