The harsher the critique - the better

I recently revisited old critiques of my first novel - it was difficult to re-read. I remember them very differently than when I first read them. I remember one editor telling me that she wished I spent more time with my secondary characters; however, I thought she wanted to see more of them because they were such interesting characters. Boy was I wrong. After revisiting her notes, she wanted me to revisit them to work on them because they were so indistinctive. By spending more time on the characters, I could develop their personalities beyond just physical appearance.

It is so important to get as much feedback as possible - even when it is difficult to hear. But it will make your work better. Watching the Oscars last weekend, I thought to myself how many Oscar winners worked so long and so hard  and received such heavy criticism only to help them become the successful people they are today. I want to embrace every difficult, harsh, mean feedback there is out there. I want to be better. I hope I can accomplish that. I know my first novel is not great, but it is ok. Who can say that there first attempt at anything was successful. Maybe a marginal few can but most of us can't. I embrace my faults and I can work on them to make a better novel. I can never re-write Bound, it's my first novel. All I can do is make Hearthstone and all that follows better.