The art of seeking and receiving critique

Mantra reminder: Get comfortable with being uncomfortable! (Writing Journal #4: When She Was Gone)

For an author to work to the highest standard they can, critique is essential. However, receiving critique can be one of the more challenging parts of author life, particularly for emerging writers, who are often, understandably, daunted at the thought of sharing their work. Critique is a constructive response to your work-in-progress, which is a very different thing to criticism (bad reviews require a whole other post!). This is because critique gives you the opportunity to respond and improve, as long as you know how to handle it. I was a book editor for a decade before I began publishing my own novels, so I was lucky to come to the process with confidence in the possibilities of good critique. Let’s take a look at how I approach editorial feedback, in the hope of allaying some of the fears that arise around this topic.

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