How To Stop Caring What People Think Of Your Writing
A method of shouting your shine that actually works.
I used to care about what people thought of me, my work, everything. The chatter of the Greek chorus was deafening. I was a chameleon whose body, opinions, and words changed based on my surroundings. Don’t take up space, don’t kick up a fuss. Even when they were mean, petty, duplicitous and cruel — I just smiled and said nothing because fuss. Even though I wanted to open my mouth and shout, BUT! BUT! BUT!
But only moth balls spilled out.
Sometimes, it takes the most ferocious of storms to clean the shores. To strip them of all the garbage and the kind of harm that cuts deep. For me, that storm was moving to Los Angeles in 2015 and leaving my seemingly terrific-life-on-paper behind. Distance creates space and space creates clarity and clarity forces you to see — and once you see, you cannot unsee.
I had many in my life that appeared to be friendly but were predators posing as house pets.
“Friends” cut down my work or call me strange to put me in my place and shut me down. “Friends” talked behind my back, and call me a lunatic when I was in the midst of the darkest of depressions. People stopped replying to my emails and taking my calls because of the essays I wrote…
