Oct 17 2010

But is it “Giving Up”?

Recently I came across a blog that basically told writers that if they were not here to sell books then move over for those who want to make a living at it, take your ‘art’ and post it on  free reading sites and leave the publishers to those writers who want to make money.

Now as someone who has been writing for over twenty-eight years, I am both utterly disgusted and greatly offended at the implications made by the writer.   Seriously, who the hell does -not- want to make money off of their writing?  Who does not want to get published?  Come on, face it.  If someone is out there submitting manuscripts to publishers it’s because they Want. To. Get. Published.  Why else would they go through all the red tape and rejection letters?  Besides, as I have already stated in an article, the sheer amount of material that a mercenary has to churn out often leaves a lot of room for improvement in the quality of their work.  And if someone is having to produce a book every month or two to keep a royalty check coming, then, it begs the question, are you really doing that great as a writer? 

But that’s not the point of this article.  When a mercenary writer says, “move over for those of us who want to make a living at this and take your ‘art’ with you,” my rebuttal is, “What makes you think we don’t want to make money at this?  Why are we in the way of you?  Maybe you are the ones clogging up the system for all the real writers out there who can’t get their foot in the door because the publishers’ inboxes are crammed so full of mediocre material from crackpot writers who are so busy trying to squeeze a few pennies out of their computer that those of us with real talent have to resort to other avenues of publication to get any recognition for all the hard work that we do.  What, exactly, makes you so special that you think you are the only writer that counts?  There’s plenty of readers to go around. ”

Yes, I know, bitch rant, but those statements do have merit to them.  Still, this is not the purpose of this article.  I have come across articles that have both praised self-publication and also shot it down in flames.  As a self-published author, you already know where I stand.  What I did want to explore in today’s article is whether or not deciding to self-publish is in essence ‘giving up’ on your dream of making a name for yourself as a writer or getting a traditional publishing deal.

Before I begin, I thought I would give you some inspiration, and maybe even a little hope, by listing a few authors who have went the self-publication route.

Mark Twain – self published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Nathaniel Hawthorne – author of The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables

Zane Grey – author of over 60 western novels

T. S. Eliot – the Nobel Prize winning poet

Edgar Allen Poe – if you haven’t heard of him, then….well, do I really need to say it?

Earnest Hemmingway – self published his first novel

L. Frank Baum – author of The Wizard of Oz

Arthur Agatston – The South Beach Diet

Herman Melville – author of Moby Dick, had several books of poetry self published

Beatrix Potter – author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Edgar Rice Burroughs – creator of Tarzan

Howard Fast – Spartacus

Stephen King – yes, even Mr. King has went the self publishing route when he posted “The Plant” on his website in 2000.  Remember that digital publications count as self publishing as well.  It’s not just for hard copies any more.

Amanda Brown – Legally Blonde

Alexandre Dumas – author of The Three Musketeers

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen – authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul which sold over 108 million copies

This is not, by any means, a complete list.  In fact, I could list about a dozen more writers, but I tried to include names that people might be familiar with.  A lot of these writers even went on to get traditional publishing deals.  But do you know what set them apart from other writers who may not have gotten their shot at traditional publishing?  They never gave up.  Please, please, do not think that just because you decide to self publish something that you cannot keep pursuing traditional publishing avenues.  I would strongly suggest that if you are going to self publish, keep right on sending out your manuscripts to all the traditional publishes as well. 

Now I have come across articles by writers who stated that their manuscript had been turned down because they had decided to self publish.  But as you can see from the list above, simply deciding to self publish does not make you unmarketable by traditional publishers.  In all honesty, if a traditional publisher is going to reject you, they will use any excuse that they can think of to dissuade you from sending your work back to them. 

I mean, let’s face it.  If they think that they cannot make any money off of your ideas, then they simply do not want to mess with you.  Now imagine that they sent you a letter that stated something like, “it has promise, we suggest you send it to a professional editor and have them help you with XX, and XX, and XX.”  A letter like this leads a writer to think that they actually have a chance at getting published with this publisher if they will only get it edited.  But if the company does not want to ever see your manuscript in their inbox again, they will have to come up with some excuse to dissuade you from trying to resubmit your work.  If they catch wind that you have self-published and have not really done well in self-publishing, they will use that against you to keep you from bothering them.

But what if the opposite were true?  What if you self published your work, had tens of thousands of hits on your website, had fans clamoring for more, and had already sold hundreds of copies or had your e-book downloaded hundreds of time?  Is that even possible?  Yes, it is.  But it is a lot, and I do mean a LOT of work.  I repeat.  A. Lot. Of. Work.  But if you do beat the odds and build up your own little fan base, and they do turn you down, well, you are already making money and have fans who want your work, so you have already met part of your goal and gotten your own bit of revenge on them.  So who’s laughing now?

In my article “Self Publishing vs Traditional Publishing” I stated that a traditional publisher would not spend one red cent on a writer until that writer’s work proved that it would make the company money.  Which means that the writer is out there doing their own advertising, setting up their own book signings, putting together and keeping up their own websites, doing their own networking, getting the word of mouth out about their work, etc.  If you are already going to have to do that, then why not go ahead and self publish so when readers start getting interested in your manuscript, you will already have an e-book ready for download or a book ready for them to purchase?

In all honesty, do you really have anything to lose by self publishing your work?  I would much rather get my name out there and be making money off of my work than I had sit around waiting for Random House to come knocking on my door.  Because trust me.  It. Is. Not. Going. To. Happen.  As I said, you are not the next Anne Rice.  But that’s okay.  You don’t really want to be known as “the next” anything.  Why would I want to be known as “The Next Anne Rice”?  Then no one would remember my name when the name of a really great writer is placed in the same sentence.  But I do want to be known as “N. C. Matthews.”  After all, there is only one me.

So is getting self published a way of ‘giving in’ or ‘giving up’ on your dream of publication?  Nope.  In my opinion, it’s just a way to get published.  After all, publication, in any form, so long as it is making me money, is dream enough for me.

Oct 14 2010

To Be (or not to be) a Mercenary

The first thing that might pop into your head is, ‘What, exactly, is a mercenary writer?’  Good question.  A mercenary writer is basically a writer who “writes where the money is.”  That is to say, the writer writes about whatever the hot topic is at the moment.  If vampires are hot, they write about that.  If the wild west is hot, that’s what they write about.  If televisions coming to life and taking over the world is where the money is, then they churn out as many stories/novels on the subject as possible.  They have their publishers dictating what they write about, they write as many stories on the subject as possible to up their chances of making money off of one of them, and they have hard headlines to meet.  The opposite of a mercenary writer is the artist who writes what they want to write about, regardless of whether or not it is “hot” at the time, and spends a considerable amount of time honing and fine-tuning their work instead of rushing through to get the novel out to the masses.

A lot can be said about mercenary writers; some of it good, some of it bad.  Likewise, there are pros and cons of being a mercenary writer.  Some of the pros are simple enough.  If you are writing all the time and churning out monumental amounts of novels, then your chances of getting published are much better.  Getting published ups your chances of actually making money off of your craft. 

However, a lot can be said for the ‘bleeding heart’ artist as well.  Since money is not a motivation behind their creativity and they are seldom on a deadline, their work is often of much higher quality as far as writing goes.  The stories are often more intricate, sometimes spanning entire series of novels to tell the tale.  The story very seldom feels rushed as the case can be when a writer is put under a stout deadline.   The characters are usually much more rounded, well developed, and often feel more ‘real’ to the reader.  It’s very easy for the reader to get sucked into the story, to have a lot of time and emotion invested in the characters and plotline.  Often the characters are so well defined that readers may even feel a kinship with the characters. 

It has been debated on whether or not a mercenary writer is actually any good.  As I have often said, a good story is in the mind’s eye of the reader.  But it is certainly a valid point that a writer who is churning out a book a month is sacrificing quality for quantity.  Getting that much material out in such a short amount of time often leaves little, if any, time to fine tune the story, to develop characters properly, to wrap up loose ends, or even tell the story properly.  A wise writer once said, “If you are not going to spend the time that is required to properly develop your ideas and your characters, then why are you wasting the readers’ time giving them mediocre material?  Why even bother to write if you can’t be bothered to give your ideas the proper nurturing that they deserve? ”  That is not to say that a mercenary cannot have good ideas or even be a good writer;  the argument is that the stories could be a thousand times better if the writer spent the amount of time it takes to fine tune their stories and the characters within them.

First off, you will need to decide if you are a mercenary writer, if you could become a mercenary writer, or if you even want to be a mercenary writer.  The first question you have to ask yourself is, ‘Do I write what I know others are going to read, or do I write what I like to write about, regardless of how ‘hot’ a topic it is at the time?’  This is, perhaps, one of the most important things about a mercenary writer.  They do not usually write for the sheer joy of creating something and often do not have any emotions tied up in the stories that they write.  They write about whatever will make them a paycheck.  So if you have a tendency to hate writing about things that do not interest you, if you hate having someone tell you what your next story is going to be about, and/or if you cannot stand for anyone to change up your storyline because you have an enormous amount of emotions invested in the plot, you will not be able to make it as a mercenary writer.

The second question you have to ask yourself is, ‘Which is more important to me, making money off of my craft, or being known for being a really excellent writer.’  One of the main differences between a mercenary writer and an artist writer is that mercenaries do make money, although it can be argued that someone having to crank out a book a month to keep the publishers interested in them is not making very good money.  An artist, however, may write fewer works but are often very well known as a ‘good’ writer because they spent the necessary time fine tuning their work before they submitted it for publication.  It’s the difference between Anne Rice and a romance/erotic writer who has fifteen novels out there but no one knows who that writer actually is.  Money is not usually the driving force behind an artist’s writing.  With that taken out of the equation, it frees them up to put their heart and soul into their craft.  If you would rather be known for being good instead of making money, or if you would not be willing to sacrifice the quality of your work in order to crank out a large quantity of work, then you would not make it as a mercenary writer.

The last question you have to ask yourself is if you really want to be a mercenary writer, or are you happy with where you are at as a writer.  Please don’t misunderstand the point of this article.  I am not saying that one is better than the other.   I know which one I am, and I am perfectly content with who I am as a writer.  The question is, are you happy with where you are as a writer?  If you already are a mercenary writer, are you still willing to continue writing what others dictate, are you still willing to sacrifice quality over quantity, and are you happy being a mercenary writer?  If you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, then embrace your inner mercenary and carry on. 

If you are an artist, are you happy with the stories you have created?   Do you enjoy the process of fine tuning your craft?  Would you rather be known as a good writer or is it more important to get as much of your work out there as possible and make money off of them?  And, perhaps most importantly, are you happy being an artistic writer?  If you answered yes, then embrace your inner artist and set out to create something fantastic.

As I said earlier, I know which type of writer that I am.  I am a die hard ‘bleeding heart’ artist.  Most importantly, I am perfectly content being an artistic writer because, for me, being known as a ‘good’ writer overrules my desire to make any money off of my craft.  I already have a career, but writing is my passion.  I do not do it for the money, but for the simple joy of creating something really wonderful, a feat that my hundreds of thousands of fans can attest to.  I continue to write knowing that people really enjoy my intricate tales and get caught up in the storylines.  For me, having my name known is more important than the paycheck that it brings in.

Whichever you are, I would never, ever suggest that you give up your dream of getting published.  Even if you are a hopeless artist when it comes to being a writer, never stop trying to get published.  But don’t sit around and wait for ‘the big’ book deal to come your way.  It doesn’t matter how good you are, you are not going to be the next Anne Rice, so don’t sit on your manuscripts holding out for a huge traditional publishing house to come along and make you an unbelievable offer on your work.  It. Is. Not. Going. To. Happen.  What can happen, however, is you can be your own biggest advocate and get the word out.  If money is not a driving force but you still very much want your work out there being read, then you may want to try alternative methods such as blogging and self-publishing. 

Another thing that I would like to point out is that not all writers are going to be supportive of or even accepting of you as a writer.  It is not uncommon to come across mercenaries who will state that anyone who does not write full time is not really a writer.  Excuse me, but anyone who consistently puts pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a writer.  It’s like saying that someone stops being a mom once the kids get grown.  It doesn’t matter if you write in your spare time or if writing is your full time job.  You. Are. A. Writer.  You may come across writers who will tell you that if you are not going to try to make money off of your work then you should move aside and make room for those who do want to make a living off of their efforts.  To these people I say that there are plenty of readers out there for everyone, and if you are so insecure about your ability as a writer as to try to scare off the competition, then I suggest you become a better writer.

Whether you a mercenary or a bleeding heart artist, regardless of which choices and directions you choose to explore as a writer, remember to always keep your eye on the goals that you have set for yourself.  Be the best that you can be at what you do.  But whatever you do, never give up, never give in.  Because at the end of the day, all that matters is that you are satisfied with the work that you have produced.  After all, a good story is in the mind’s eye of the reader.

N. C. Matthews

Oct 10 2010

How to Tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys

The number one reason why authors get burned when it comes to self-publication is the fact that they are usually woefully undereducated on the subject.   Just like buying a good used car, insurance, or a house, the lack of education and knowledge on the subject attracts all sorts of shady characters to the playing field.  Like anything else that you are thinking about doing for the first time, a good knowledge of the field will help you make the best decision for you.  The self-publishing business is no different.

Many companies will often try to sell you products or services that are ineffective, are drastically overpriced, or maybe even be something that you really don’t need.  Often they will charge you hundreds of dollars for services that you could have easily done yourself, have contracted out for a much smaller fee, or even gotten for free through creative marketing.

Here are a few things that you need to ask yourself when shopping for a self-publishing company.  By answering these questions honestly and doing some research, you will be better prepared to help weed out The Good Guys from The Bad Guys.

1:  Is this company charging me for something that I could easily get for free?  One thing that you have to keep in mind is that with today’s technology, the amount of free advertisement and ways to get your name out there are about as limited as your imagination.  That’s not to say that you should never spend a dime on advertisement.  Just keep in mind that if you can do the same thing on your own, for free, then your money is better spent on the type of advertisement that you cannot get for free.

2:  Is this company charging me for something that I can do for myself?  If you have extensive knowledge of document formatting and can format your own manuscript, then paying someone else to do it for you is a waste of money.

3:  Is this company charging me for something that I know I can get done for a much cheaper price elsewhere?  If you have your own tried-and-true editor that you know you can afford, spending money on one that you have never used before can spell disaster. 

4:  Is this company rushing me to make a decision?  Forcing an author to make a rash and uneducated decision is a ploy that some companies use to bully an author into spending a lot more money than they had planned on services and products that they may not have wanted or needed.  If their offer is good today, then it should still be there tomorrow or next week.  Sure, that 15% off offer might expire, but if the entire offer expires, then there is something fishy in the mist.  If they give you an unrealistic time frame to make a decision (Act now!  This offer good only for the next 4 hours!), then your best bet is to let the ‘offer’ get on by.  But keep in mind that companies cannot be expected to sit around and wait on you forever.  They should, however, be willing to give you a few days to think about it.  If not, you might want to try a different company.

5:  What, exactly, am I getting for my money?  If you are going to spend a lot of money, you need to know beforehand exactly what you are getting for that price.  How many books will I receive?  Exactly where are you going to submit my work?  Who all will be receiving the news release?  What type of guarantee is the company making in regards to the amount of success of their services?  How long will it take for them to deliver on their promises? 

6:  Read the fine print!  You will definitely want to read their disclaimer.  Most companies will allude to the idea that you will have instant success with their company.  Usually the disclaimer tells another story entirely.  Make sure you understand the difference between what they can guarantee, what they hope to achieve for you, and what you can realistically expect with their services. 

7:  GET SAMPLES!  What is my finished book going to look like?  The best way to gage the company’s quality of work is to order a few random books from the company’s site.  If you are going to use their editors or designers, make sure you request samples of their work first.  If they don’t have samples, then they are most likely a scam.

Finding a good quality self-publishing or POD company is easy when you keep these things in mind:

                *don’t pay for something you can easily get for free

                *don’t purchase a service if you can hire someone else to do the work for a lesser price

                *don’t pay for something you can do yourself or get done yourself for free

                *don’t get rushed into making a quick decision

                *don’t pay for ‘promises’ that they cannot deliver on

                *read the fine print

                *make sure you know what you are getting for your money

                *make sure you know what type of quality your work will have before purchasing anything

Oct 8 2010

Another Type of Criticism

For me, there is a little known third category of criticism that exists somewhere between constructive criticism and deconstructive criticism.

I have already said that constructive criticism is basically designed as an honest opinion to help the writer clear up things that the reader did not understand or thought would make the story better in their eyes.  Deconstructive criticism, on the other hand, is designed to make the writer feel bad about their ability to write, to openly bash a piece of work, and seldom has any value or bearing on what the story is actually about.  I consider people who give negative feedback based solely on their dislike of the theme to be giving deconstructive criticism because it does not help the author in any way.  Not everyone is going to like a particular theme or storyline, so feedback based solely on such opinions is useless.

The third type of criticism is criticism at first glance.  It can be constructive criticism that, at first glance, sounds like deconstructive criticism.  It can even be criticism that you are not sure if it was meant to be helpful or if it is a sarcastic comment that is meant to make the author look like a fool for not getting facts straight.  It is often the result of a reader not really reading the story, not paying close attention to what is being written, or not fully understanding what is going on in the story.  I had this happen to me recently with the latest published installment of The Red Fang. 

Here is the excerpt in question:

…..” It is common vampiric knowledge that a human who ingests enough human blood over a long enough period would eventually die. There is a legend among our kind. A vampire named Tao came across a young girl named Addalynne. When he found her, she was mortally wounded. The legend has changed as time has changed. She was attacked; she was raped and left for dead; she was discovered in a car wreck on the side of the road. But the names have remained unchanged over the centuries.”…..Copyright 2010 Nicola Matthews.  All Rights Reserved.

I received this comment regarding this portion of the story:

“You are writing about an old legend where some girl is found raped in a CAR WRECK. Cars (that you can get into) were first made in the late 19th century.  Kind of a short time for a tale to turn into a legend… Unless your world is set like 8 centuries in the future.  I would really leave out the car wreck part or change it a bit.”

At first glance, you may not know if this is meant to be constructive criticism or a sarcastic comment meant to make me look like a fool.  In one aspect, it IS trying to be helpful by letting me know that having a ‘legend’ that has a girl found in a car wreck is a bit far-fetched and tends to make me look foolish.  On the other hand, the first lines of the comment almost sound sarcastic and could be interpreted as a stab at making me look foolish for not having facts straight as opposed to trying to keep me from  looking foolish by pointing out an discrepancy.  Either way, it doesn’t matter because it is the READER who is in the wrong.  The person making this comment misunderstood what the story actually said.  That passage does not state that the girl of legend was found raped in a car wreck.  What it DOES state is that the legend has changed over the years.  Her being found on the side of the road is one version of the legend, her being found attacked was another version, her being found raped and left for dead a third version, and her being found on the side of the road yet another version.  

At first glance I was not really sure what the reader was talking about, if they were sincere or trying to be sarcastic, and or if the comment had any bearing on the storyline at all.  I kept running the story over and over in my mind, wondering if I had really made such a blaring oversight in my story.  Had I made the legend specifically stating that she was found in a car wreck, and this legend had been passed down for centuries, then there would have definitely been egg on my face.  I had to go back and read the excerpt in question to fully understand what the reader was talking about and realized that, thankfully, it was the reader who had misunderstood what I had written.

It is up to the author to try to decipher if the criticism is worth investing any time in.  Is it helpful to the storyline?  Would taking the advice change the storyline to the point that you feel it would not work?  Do you just like the way you wrote the story regardless of what others think?  In the end, it is left up to the author and the individual story in question to determine whether or not to listen to the criticism at hand.

Oct 7 2010

A Good Story is in the Mind’s Eye of the Reader

It has always been my opinion that a good story is in the mind’s eye of the reader. Just as beauty is subject to the person who is doing the viewing, a good story, or movie, or art, or piece of music is subject to the person who is partaking of the piece of art. I have always believed in ‘live and let write.’

Needless to say that for every book written, piece of music composed, piece of art produced, or movie directed, there is going to be at least one person, and in some instances quite a few people, out there who hates the work. What’s more, these people insist upon sharing their criticism of said work with anybody and everybody who will listen to them. I use to wonder what made these people such experts on the created art form. Had they ever written a book, composed a piece of music, produced a piece of art, or directed a film? Chances are, no, they haven’t. So why criticize? For the most part, critics get paid to share their opinion. For those who go against the general public’s feelings on said work, the critic can get quite famous, or infamous, for having their apparent distaste published on some type of public medium. This, of course, translates in to more papers/magazines/air time sold. So for some, it literally pays to publicly bash a work of art.

Other ‘critics’ are those who do not get paid to share their personal thoughts regarding a piece of art. Some people do it because a piece of work hits them so strongly that they just have to share their feelings, whether they be positive or negative. Others will publicly bash a piece of art because they like the attention that it brings them, even if that attention is negative, much like their paid counterparts who bash a movie that the general public loves. And still others will attempt to openly humiliate the creator of the work of art simply because he/she is jealous of the creativity that the creator possesses.

I’ve made it clear that I have always thought that I was a pretty good writer.  Not great, mind you, but fairly decent.  I spend an absurd amount of time researching, making notes, creating characters, outlining events and deciding on what plot twists I want to integrate into a story. And then there were the endless months, and sometimes years, spent writing the story, proofreading it, editing it, re-reading and re-doing and sometimes throwing out whole chapters and story endings only to replace them with something I thought would be even more bizarre or fun or just plain silly. All in all, I pour my heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into the work that I produce. I was praised by English instructors, won writing contests, received awards, been told by family and friends that I was a very talented author.

Loving the written word, I joined many role playing forums and games over the years as an outlet for my very active imagination. I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of being around so many talented writers. What was more, those talented writers thought that I was a very talented writer as well.

With encouragement from a growing fan base, I decided to go more ‘mainstream’ and began posting a few of my stories out on the web. Now I know you can’t please all the people all the time, but I was completely unprepared for the outright rudeness of some people. It was quite the eye-opener. I was amazed at the number of people who had never written anything in their life who seemed to think that they were experts on what made a story good or bad. But, as I’ve said, a good story is in the mind’s eye of the reader. So to each his own.

Another thing that I was unprepared for, and something that still boggles my mind, is the whole popularity thing that goes on with some sites. Readers apparently don’t know that a good idea and good writing do not go hand in hand. I have seen readers fall all over themselves to praise a writer who sounds like they barely made it out of the first grade.  

I’ve always said that I do not think on an elementary level, therefore I do not write on an elementary level. Since I have a tendency to write above a lot of people’s heads, I assumed that I would get a lot of backlash on my use of compound and complex sentences. I also like to write without any regards to formal English composition rules, so my work often sounds more like someone is giving an oral recount of the story rather than it reading like a story that was written down for public consumption. It’s just my style, and I have gotten many, many compliments on how this style makes the reader feel like they are right in the thick of the story. Of course, with the good comes the bad, as in plenty of bad reviews on my lack of attention to the proper English writing rules. Well, rules be damned. I’m not turning this in for an assignment.

On the flipside of the elementary coin were the writers who would write with the same complexity that I so enjoy using in my own work. I have gotten complaint after complaint regarding my work being too hard to comprehend because of my complex writing style. It made me wonder if these other writers, who so many readers were fawning all over, had the same problem. The more complaints and insults that I received, the more I began to doubt my ability as a writer. Could I possibly be as bad as some people wanted me to believe? Writing was not, and is not, a hobby of mine. I have been cranking out literary works for over twenty-eight years, a fine feat for someone who has not yet hit her thirty-sixth birthday. Surely someone with that kind of experience could not be all that bad. So what did all those other writers possibly possess that brought in tens of thousands of readers to their work? What was I lacking?

In a word, confidence. I was doing what everyone else was not doing. I was letting assholes bring me down and second-guess myself and my talent. I found that I was always having to defend my work. But so were the other writers. The only difference was that I was apologizing for my work.

Well, I refuse to apologize any more for producing the fruits of my imagination. They may not be the best in the world, and I certainly never claimed to be the best writer. But I am a good writer. A damn good writer. I have the tens of thousands of readers to back up this statement. What’s more important, perhaps the most important thing, is that I like the way I write. I like my ideas and my writing style and my overall pieces of literary work. At the end of the day, I feel that I have produced something worth reading. I don’t care if other people think I use too many adjectives or adverbs or complex sentences. I wrote it a certain way for a reason.

So the bottom line is, if you can’t appreciate the fruits of my labor, then I wholeheartedly say ‘Fuck you, and the horse you rode in on!’

As a writer, you have to be prepared to get all kinds of criticism:  the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Some of it you might can use, but most of it you will probably be able to toss out with the trash.  Whatever you do, don’t let the occasional asshole persuade you to think that you can’t write.  That’s not to say that there will never be room for improvement.  But knowing the difference between criticism that can help make your work better and words slung by someone who was obviously out to ruffle your feathers can go a long way in soothing your hurt feelings…and possibly even give you a good laugh.