Just Be Nice, OK
Today, on Twitter, in response to @ohdanielle saying : That gut-squeezing moment when you're waiting to hear what someone thinks of a piece of writing you've poured part of yourself into. I wrote : I know, the dream of a great response is so much better than the indifferent shrug of reality. Everyone doing NaNoWriMo or creating anything from scratch know that feeling that @ohdanielle is talking about and I'm sure that my fellow Nano's will agree when I say that I would rather have a response, a great one would be fantastic, but any response, rather than a shrug or a pause that turns into a heartbreaking silence, or worse, a discussion about grammar or phrasing. Yikes. In fact, this is not just about writing or creativity, this is about communication. Proper communication. Actually seeing the person in front of you and picking up on what they need. I'm not saying not to be honest, always be, but ask yourself whether your negative feedback (what, you can't take a little criticism? why did you ask me to read it then?) will make any positive difference. You know what, it won't. I'll probably not share anything with you ever again, because the need to be happy with my work is a lot greater than the need to share it with you. So there. NR