Confession: I am a lemons kind of person. This is according to my family who claims that I tend to focus on the negative versus the positive. The opposite, of course, and what they say I should do is make “lemonade.” Be happy; look on the bright side. Lemonade, lemonade, lemonade.
The last post was about all the sparkly (aka the nice things people had to say about ADORKABLE), and I kind of glossed over the not-so-great things. Well, to be honest, I pay attention to the bad reviews. I pay A LOT of attention. I’d previously read several articles from other authors that said: Whatever you do, DO NOT read your reviews! It will only cause you heartache. And it’s true.
These past couple weeks have been like a rollercoaster of ups and downs, flying and falling within literally minutes, and yes…lemons and lemonade.
Everyone is free to have their own opinions. There are people who hate some of the books that I absolutely love. There are people who love the books that I don’t enjoy. And that is okay. No one is right or wrong. If a book sounds good to someone, she or he must decide to read or not and then make up her or his own mind about it.
So here is what I’ve learned: I need to stop obsessively reading the reviews and checking Amazon and Goodreads every five minutes. I shouldn’t focus on the negative reviews more than the positive–or doubt the positive by saying “Maybe they were just being nice…” I should realize that it is okay to believe the good. I love reading. I love writing. And, despite any positive or negative reviews, I really do still love my book.
See that family who I know are going to read this post? There is your lemonade :).
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. Be on the lookout next week for a very fun challenge and giveaway!
Lemonade is always the better choice, although a couple of the negative comments (and there a only a few in total) would tick off Mother Theresa. In the immortal words of Taylor Swift “the haters gonna hate” and in the immortal words of a Disney princess “Let it Go”.