Tag: Shakespeare

The best advice? Beware of advice #MFRWauthor

Free adviceWhether it’s good or bad to give advice or receive it depends I think on how good the result ultimately turns out to be. Giving or accepting, we should beware, though. Giving advice is dangerous because our advice could be totally wrong and end up hurting someone. Or it could be right that time, and encourage the person and others to ask for our advice again, when we might not be so astute. Often we give the advice we would like for ourselves and it doesn’t fit the person asking at all. Or we don’t understand their situation fully.

I have given bad advice many a time. Not intentionally, but it still feels just as rotten when the person I doled out my opinion to is in tears. Or angry.

Receiving advice is just as tricky. I have accepted advice because it was what I wanted to hear and it turned out all wrong. I’ve also turned down advice for the same reason and with the same result. No matter how illogical, it’s hard not to blame the advice giver when that happens. “So-and-so told me I should/shouldn’t do such-and-such. It’s not my fault!” Of course it always was my fault.

The worst advice I was given as a writer is to write a particular kind of book. At the time, a lot of people were writing those books and having success, so I gave in. Unfortunately, I ignored one of Shakespeare’s famous lines: To thine own self be true (Hamlet). I gave up the effort, but not until after I’d spent much time and effort on it.

So what advice is best? When the advice is tested by time. Here are some examples from 25 Excellent Pieces of Advice That Most People Ignore.

  • Take time to know yourself
  • A narrow focus brings big results
  • Don’t make assumptions
  • Be your best at all times
  • Don’t be afraid of being afraid

And here are a few goodies from the Bard. William Shakespeare--the Bard

  • Neither a borrower nor a lender be (Hamlet)
  • What’s done cannot be undone (Macbeth) [So be careful when you decide what you want “done.”]
  • Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none (All’s Well that End’s Well)
  • Better a witty fool than a foolish wit (Twelfth Night)
  • ‘Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall (Measure for Measure)
  • That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man/If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. (Two Gentlemen of Verona) [There is more than one interpretation of this statement to an erotic romance writer!]

All of this sage advice is great but I heard one more I’d like to share. I heard a TV interview with a terribly wounded soldier who found the strength to turn his injuries around and help others damaged by war. I could kick myself now because I can’t recall his name but I remember his advice, and it’s good.

You can’t always control your situation, but you can control your attitude about your situation.

Some advice to take to heart! May all your advice (given and received) be useful and fruitful, and from the heart.

Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.

Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!

Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!

Bad Reviews #MFRWauthor

I’m reminded of Shakespeare’s line in Henry VI, “…let’s kill all the lawyers!” except in my mind it’s “…let’s kill all the reviewers!” (Just kidding!) The line in the play is a mockery of what would happen if those who are meant to represent the accused are done away with. Chaos would result, along with the justice system. The writing world without reviewers would also suffer, though perhaps not collapse.

Reviewers present one person’s snapshot of a book, one person’s truth as he or she sees it, at the time they read the book, and so is not the end all, be all for the book or the author. Authors shouldn’t take it as such, either. So here are a few things to remember after you thrown a pillow against the wall (throw only soft, non-breakable stuff!) and cry into said pillow after you retrieve it.

  • Reviewers point out things wrong with our books that we can fix in our next book. Characters not cleanly drawn? Descriptions lack depth? Not enough (too much) emotion? Do better next time. Reviewers give us a chance to improve.
  • Reviewers aren’t God. They can make mistakes. They can be wrong. They can be totally off their rockers and… Well, let’s leave it there. Read what a reviewer says, evaluate it objectively to see if you feel they’re right, and then move on. Rehashing a criticism does no good.
  • Reviewers provide as much joy saying nice things as they do saying negative things. When I reviewed (yes, I’ve spent my time on the Dark Side), I always tried to say something nice even when I wasn’t particularly fond of a book. I also tried to phrase the good comments in a way the author could use it in a snippet for their website.
  • Reviewers are people, too. They appreciate being thanked for their work, even if you don’t feel like thanking them. Maybe they were having a bad day when they reviewed your book. A polite word might make all the difference the next one of your books they decide to read. Like chicken soup, it can’t hurt.
  • Reviewers are one way to publicize your book, so take everything good from a review that you can and (as my brilliant author friend, Jan Selbourne, says) flog it for all it’s worth!

Reviewers are good for the writing industry. If we are blessed with good reviews, thank goodness! If we are cursed with bad reviews, get the angst out of your system and keep on writing, taking any useful advice from the review that you can. Good luck!

Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.

Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!

Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!