When I turn in a document for peer review or publish a blog post, I start panicking. What if they think it sucks? What if the format is completely wrong? What if I missed a huge important piece of information? Every writer/blogger is like this in some way. Don’t try to deny it! Your writing represents you. If you are passionate about it, then you feel this way 100 times over.

I’ve been feeling like this since I was a little girl and my younger sister and I would write short stories and hand them to each other for critique. You drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what the other person is thinking. I could say to you don’t even think about it, but you won’t listen. I don’t even listen to that piece of advice. You’ll always worry.

We are not pod people who think, act, and talk the same. How boring would life be? Therefore, no two people are going to react the same to what you have created.  You have to somewhat detach yourself from your writing during peer reviews, and be open to criticism. Constructive criticism makes you a better writer. Even if you are cringing the entire time, you will still learn a lot from what others say.

I understand that not all criticism is contructive.  Believe me, I have seen it time and time again. I’ve read blog posts that were really great, but because the person missed a word, someone always left a comment with a rude remark on how that person can’t write. It’s the same way in peer reviews. Yes, there are some peer reviews that are meant to pinpoint every little thing about the document. However, the majority deal with the content you are writing about. Even if they know it’s a rough draft, someone will comment about how you should rethink a sentence structure. You will always find people who love to nitpick. There is nothing that you can do about it, so deal with it.

The only way to not drive yourself mad is to tell yourself two things: 1. No one is perfect and 2. Not everyone is going to like what you do. It’s as simple as that.

So keep writing and learn how to handle criticism.

Tags: blogging criticism, writing criticism, writing peer reviews