Getting A Review...That Made My Day

Ever since high school, I've been performing in front of people. Actually, I guess I've been performing as long as I could remember. Trying to make people laugh, impress them--I've been putting myself out there for a while. And when you do that, be it on stage, in a class, on paper, you set yourself up for praise or criticism. You're voluntarily allowing yourself to be judged, measured, and not only do they judge your performance/art, they judge your education, your background, pretty much everything.

And it can be brutal.

In college I sang in an incredible forty-voice choir. I thought we were pretty good. In fact, there's not many choirs I've heard that were better. Being in a talented group, you get used to hearing good things about yourself and the art you produce. Then, after a performance, we got a bad review in the paper. The next day in class, our professor/director said something about reviews. He told us we can't just believe the good reviews. He said not to put too much credence in the good, because you'll have to do the same to the bad.

In short, if a good review can make your day, a bad one can ruin it.

A few weeks ago, my book went on sale. And a writer's bread and butter is getting reviews, preferably positive ones. I've gotten a couple of reviews, and the latest made my day. It's because the review came from a twelve-year old, just the age for whom the book was written (you can read the review: HERE...). A middle-grader gives a middle-grade book a great review. That's a win-win-win.

So, how should apply my professor's advice now? Good question. I suppose, as the author, I shouldn't allow the reviews to dictate how I feel. But I've been looking at reviews perhaps in the wrong way. I've been looking at them through my perspective, how the words affect me. When I read these kind words from this twelve-year old, I think about how my words affected her, how it made her feel.

And when I think of things that way, it made my day.

What Is It With Writers...And Cats?

We have two cats, one that lives mostly indoors and spends a little time outside, and another that does the opposite. The outdoor cat, the one below that we picked up from as a kitten from my cousin's farm in Driggs, Idaho, he leaves me pretty much alone, except waking me up at 6am on non-work mornings.

But the white cat, the one we rescued off the street, she...well, she sometimes won't leave me alone. The picture above shows her actually sitting on my binder that contains my computer.

Since I began seriously writing, I've gotten to know a lot of authors. I've also noticed a lot of them have cats. Like me, they occasionally post picture of their pets (or, are we the cat's pets...?) on social media. 

Buy why writers? Is it because we spend a lot of time in our own brains trying to get the words out of us and cats--for the most part--are content with letting humans do what humans do? Is it because cats are cerebral that fascinate us by the way they act and what they do? I don't know what it is.

There have been times when I've had to kick the cat out of my room and close the door, mostly because she will want to lay atop me. And because writing with a laptop on my lap is my preferred way to write, cat and computer cannot exist in the same space. One must choose--who says art doesn't require sacrifices? The other day while writing, the cat came over and I knew she wanted to climb onboard. I quickly grabbed the computer and opened it up. She decided not to let a computer get in her way at all. What did I do? Snapped a few pictures, of course.

Yes, there seems to be something about the craft of writing and owning a cat. Is the result a net gain, or net loss when it comes to the output? To me, it's a mixed blessing.