Dealing with Criticism as a Professional Writer

Video Transcript

"REBECCA SATO: Hi. I'm Rebecca with ExpertVillage.com. And we were just talking about how really anyone who knows how to write can write, can write a book, can write whatever you want. There are skills that you need to develop and there are certain marketing things that you need to learn. But what I want to focus more on is the actual writing, powerful writing that people going to want to read. And I think anyone that really wanted to and who's willing to put in the time, energy and effort could that have some level of success. And I mentioned J.K. Rowling and here she is. This is J.K. Rowling. A lot of people know this and a lot of people don't know this. But the books, she just made millions and millions of dollars off of--was never really her intention. It just kinda happened. She--from her--According to her own biography, I'll just read you a little excerpt from it. Well, first, let me give you a little background. Nobody--she kinda always have the desire to write but nobody really ever encouraged her or told her that she's a very good writer. She wasn't really getting any support with that. In school, she ends up studying French. It's not like she was on this great career path to be a wonderful novelist. And the reason I'm sharing this story is because I think she is an inspiration to a lot of writers that good writing kind of triumphs overall. And this is from her biography. She mentions her friend, Sean. And she said, "He was the only person who thought I was bound to be a success at it," meaning her writing, "which meant more to me than I ever told him at the time." And I think that--something we can learn from that is it's important to surround yourself with people who believe in you. And if you can't surround yourself with people who believe in you, at least listen to the ones that do and ignore the ones that don't."