Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

The picture above is my idea of a really awful review – one star and a fist behind it. This piece was inspired by a discussion on FB started by my dear friend, the children’s author Brenda May Williams 

We are often asked “What is the hardest thing about being a writer?” with the expected response being a) finding a publisher or b) getting ideas.

No, for me the worst part and the hardest lesson was accepting constructive criticism and learning from it. Never having reacted well to being told off, it was a very hard job but I managed it.

I have only ever received one truly negative review and it was on an early version of Shaman’s Drum before it was published by Crooked Cat. The woman was scathing about certain things but when I scraped myself off the ceiling, I had to admit she was…