“I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”—Bill Cosby
Most of us like to make people happy. We want to be liked
and accepted and when it comes to our writing, we want people to enjoy it. As
many people as possible—ideally, everyone.
I mean really, how great would it be if everyone loved your writing?
 |
| Photo credit: kate.gardiner on Flickr |
Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. Truth be told,
there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like your style, or your
characters, or your pacing or sentence structure or the way you throw virtual
confetti around like it’s nobody’s business.
You can’t please everyone—there will always be bad reviews
or people who unsubscribe to your blog or a stack of rejection letters. That’s just the way the world works and it’s
not a bad thing. Let’s face it—the world would be a boring place if everyone
liked the same thing.
So what’s my point?
If you try to please
everyone, you will fail. I usually say there are exceptions, but there
really aren’t any here. You can’t please everyone, period.
It doesn’t matter if everyone else likes your work, what
matters is that you are happy with
it. Are you proud of your writing? Do you love your characters, your story? If
the answer is no, then it probably needs more work.
If the answer is yes, then don’t worry about everyone else. Write
until you know you’ve done your best and you smile when you read the words you
put on the page. That’s when you know you’ve succeeded.
And chances are someone else will like it too.
Have you ever fallen victim to trying to please everyone?
