Comments. They are right there, at the bottom of the screen, calling to you. Your finger hesitates on the mouse wheel…
DON’T DO IT!!!
Don’t read the comments. It has been scientifically proven that it takes one hundred seventeen positive comments to undo the damage of a less than flattering one. One hundred seventeen, give or take a hundred… sixteen.
Don’t read the comments. Ever. Let the trolls have their say. Let them rant, belittle, backhanded compliment, etc. Let them think you are completely unphased by their brutality by never replying.
Let your assistant read them and only bring the best of them to you. You don’t have an assistant? Wait until you have been writing long enough that you need an assistant to help before reading comments. Trust me, there is nothing but despair and heartbreak waiting for you there.
Even within the positive ones you will find negative comments between the lines. You know how I know? Because if you didn’t believe your writing was crap, you wouldn’t go seeking adulation in the first place. Just keep writing less and less crappy stuff.
Get constructive comments from your trusted friends, not the anonymous rants of a East Europe troll farm.
PS I have read all the below comments and agree completely. 😉