Am I right? Or, am I right?

This can make it hard to build an audience over the long haul. Here’s one way to handle it: take nothing personally. Remember that every comment, every review, and everything other people say has more to do with their perspective and emotional state than it does you.

This is where your observation skills as a writer can come in handy.

Whenever someone says something you don’t like or makes a negative or critical observation, examine it like a doctor does a patient. See if it’s true and make a correction, if needed. But do so without letting it affect your self-worth or identity.

Nobody said this was easy. It’s not. But it’s necessary if you are going to keep your sanity and stay emotionally healthy.

Today’s Challenge: Ask yourself if it’s hard or easy to avoid taking things personally. Why or why not?

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Writers tend to be a pretty friendly bunch, but we do have our moments. 

There are times when we get jealous of other writers. There are times when we think some other writer doesn’t deserve the success they have. There are times when we secretly enjoy it when another writer’s book bombs, because then we don’t feel so bad about ourselves. 

It shouldn’t be this way, of course. But, in our worst moments, we act like little children who just want to tear down others. 

Benjamin Franklin was known as a man who got a lot of things done because of his relationships and network. He gave us a great piece of advice when he said, “I will speak ill of no man … and speak all the good I know of everybody.” 

That’s especially helpful advice considering that in our social media age, it’s so easy to speak negatively about others, and even do it anonymously.  

We would do well to commit to never speaking negatively about other writers, even if we secretly think they’re a hack, or they haven’t earned their success. The negativity will only tear us down and chip away at the positive energy in our lives. 

Ben Franklin died well over two hundred years ago, but his advice for writers is surprisingly modern. 

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