Vacation and Writing

While I was on the cruise, I mentioned to several people in casual conversation that I completed the first draft of my fourth novel on this ship. One of the people I said that to told me that he has a degree in English Literature, although he’s not using it at the moment. (He is a bartender at what’s apparently a high-end bar in Orlando Florida.)

The man I was talking to said that what was stopping him from writing was fear that people would think his writing sucked. I did my best to encourage him that the world would not end if somebody told him his writing was bad. In fact, I said, writing is like golf or bartending – part of how you get better is to have people critique you.

Writing for publication is not for the thin-skinned.