This Is How You Grow Thick Skin as a Writer

When I was in art school in college, I loved our weekly critique sessions. I had the unique experience of being with a cohort of artists who genuinely and eagerly wanted to know how to improve their craft. So our critique sessions would turn into wonderful conversations that included tips on the mechanics of making and thoughtful questions and ideas about the creative process.

It was a bubble of feel-good comradery that would soon burst when a cantankerous artist with moderate success in painting came to visit our podunk, rural art school. He was scheduled to give a series of public lectures about what a genius he thought he was. He was also scheduled to give a guest critique of our group of student artists.

The day he arrived, everyone was excited that a “real” artist would look at our work and give us professional feedback. Except, we never got professional feedback. Instead, this complete jackass walked into the studio, took one quick look around the room, and said, “you’re all going to starve.”

Amazing. People cried. No one learned anything about their craft that day. But I absorbed that experience and remembered it clearly as the best example of the difference between an insult and criticism. And as a writer, I use that distinction to improve my work.

Critique, criticism, and constructive criticism

First, a word about words. Many people use the words criticism and critique interchangeably, but they…