Every Writer Needs Two Critics…

This piece is from “The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspiration for Writing Vol. 1” by Monica Wood. This is a wonderful book to have in your collection. It is full of tidbits, musings, quotes and ideas to get you writing such as “Write about a roll of film that has been obtained surreptitiously.” Many are funny, some are serious, all get you thinking. And we all know what happens when a writer gets to thinking…

Enjoy and we’d love to hear what you think about this passage!

“Every writer needs two critics: one who gives only praise, and another who never ever lies. The praiser will be someone who loves you madly: your mother, probably, or your baby brother. The truth-teller should be someone whose taste in literature mirrors yours, who reads widely, who respects you enough to tell you when something’s not working.

My praiser is my older sister, Anne, who believes I was a child prodigy and who, from the moment of my first publication, has been shopping for the perfect dress to wear to a Nobel Price ceremony. Her toughest criticism: “This line isn’t quite as stunning and remarkable as the one that precedes it.” (I should add, in her defense, that she’s a grammar maven with a preternatural ability to catch dangling modifiers.

My truth-teller is my husband, Dan Abbott, who gets this look- this rueful, grim look-  whenever I show him something ill-formed, dishonest, preposterous, or just plain bad. He hates to break the news, but he does anyway.

You know when you need a kick in the seat, and you know when you need an extravagant compliment. Make sure you’ve got people who can deliver both.”