From: mumble@nomail.invalid   
      
   On 06/09/2014 11:22 AM, William Vetter wrote:   
   > On Sunday, June 8, 2014 10:40:30 PM UTC-4, Michelle Bottorff wrote:   
   >> J.Pascal  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>> To ignore criticism and seek to discredit the critic instead is not   
   >>   
   >>>> useful, it is avoidance, and at best it does nothing to improve your   
   >>   
   >>>> writing skills.   
   >>   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >>> Honestly, mumble... as I said... this is assuming that you have the   
   >>   
   >>> ability to help anyone.  It's not illegitimate to ask where you're   
   >>   
   >>> coming from with a criticism in order to help evaluate it.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> It didn't look helpful to me either.   
   >>   
   > They are not critiques.  They are zingers.   
   > If he had ever been involved in some kind of workshop where people critique   
   one another's manuscripts, they would resemble critiques.   
   >   
      
   Criticism does not involve pandering to the desire of the manuscript   
   writer to be praised, it is rather commentary which is intended to help   
   the manuscript writer improve.   
      
   No, I have never been involved in one of the "workshop" sessions in   
   which people take turns patting each other's backs, but I have been   
   involved in formal document reviews, which are a face-to-face meeting   
   where the author fields comments from multiple reviewers, and in some   
   cases benefits immensely from the kindly eviscerations provided by their   
   reviews.  One learns that "the reader is always right" and those whose   
   egos permit such learn to modify their presentation so that readers   
   other than himself and a small circle of like-minded colleagues will   
   grasp the material and receive its intended meaning.   
      
   So-called "writers" like yourself William Vetter and your "colleague"   
   Julie Pascal (intern/wannabe-"professional writer") are unable to let go   
   of your egoic need to be recognized as The Next Great Writing Genius for   
   long enough to absorb that which might actually help you arrive there.   
      
   If you offer your work to others for criticism, be prepared to bleed,   
   always; only through a willingness to bleed for improvement can you   
   achieve the state which allows it, as long as you remain wedded to the   
   idea that you are already great you will never become so.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)