Don't Trust Your Readers

I've read a lot of people's drafts in my time. And in that time, I've realized something: sometimes I am willing to put up with people's crap, and sometimes I'm really not.

I noticed this in my writing classes, where my classmates would write pieces of the same general quality, but sometimes I would be very kind and supportive, and other times I would rip them apart. Since their work was the same, it had to be me who was different.

I was certain of it when I worked on the school literary magazine. I had to read some submissions a half dozen or so different times as it went through the process of being submitted, voted on, reviewed, edited, proofread, and laid out. Every time I read each piece, I had a different reaction to it. Some of them went from love to hate to on the fence, back to hate, back to love, and then simply accepting it.

I consider myself a very good editor. I am fair, balanced, and helpful. However, I am also human. Sometimes I'm just not in a good mood. Sometimes reading something produces a knee-jerk reaction. The same is true for any human.

When you have somebody look at your writing, remember that no matter how good they are, they are giving you an opinion which is affected by how they feel at that time.