Publishers Weekly--My FIRST Review...

BLEEDING HEARTS on Publishers Weekly

This was the moment I'd been nervously anticipating: my first published review.

It's not like I'd never been critiqued before. I'd survived dozens of contest judges' feedback, some of it quite...subjective. =) That's part of the game. You can't write something and expect people to read it without forming an opinion. Even "no opinion" is an opinion.  (Stop me before I start channeling Neil Peart.)

It's an important step in putting your work out there: you are vulnerable and awaiting judgement. You open your notebook, set it on the table, and let other people tell you their opinion.

However, I survived it all because 1) I learned TREMENDOUSLY from the experience and 2) I'd made finals in a few contests, so it couldn't be all that bad but most of all 3) I knew it was going to toughen me up so that I could face this moment without blinking.

I survived my first review. My publisher and my editors and my family and friends are thrilled but I'm just quietly taking it in. It's pretty cool to be reviewed by PW, not to mention it being my first.

You never forget your first. I won't forget mine.