I recently had my first experience of a ‘hater’ or at least that’s what I’m going to call it.

I asked someone who I trust and respect to read my novel, and give me their personal, constructive opinion. This person shall remain anonymous and be referred to as ‘they/IT’

I’ll not bore you with details but they didn’t like it. At all. I’m not sure if IT was expecting me to be as good as the bestselling fantasy writers but IT was incredibly harsh, accusative and downright nasty. It made me cry. Seriously. IT did give me some useful things though, some tips, good books to read and where I can listen to good podcasts and read articles. IT’s behaviour made me depressed and I had to silence the voice in the back of my mind telling me I should just quit.

I love writing, I wouldn’t quit for anyone.

I confided in someone very dear to me who has been so supportive over the years. He provided this useful bit of insight:

I need to look at my novel as an experiment, whether or not that experiment was a success or not doesn’t matter as long as I can learn from the mistakes and use them to improve myself, making the next novel better.

Earth Angel was my first book; I was 22 years old when I finished it (and tried to self-publish). I can only use the experience to learn from it and move forward. And that’s what I’m going to do.

Real writers bounce back!