When I'm writing, I am lost in my book. Except family and close friends, I don't care about what critics, publishers or readers might think.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't write for publishers, certainly not for critics, and not for readers, But I am delighted that so many people have found my books enjoyable and want to continue to read them.
The biggest critics of my books are people who never read them.
I'm not one of those writers who insist they don't read reviews and don't care much about them. I do read them, and I do care about them, and they're not always what you want them to be in an ideal world.
Many fiction writers write for the critics or for themselves; they forget the common reader. I never do. I don't think journalism clashes with my fiction; on the contrary, it helps enormously.
Critics have a problem with sentimentality. Readers do not. I write for readers.
When I write a book, I write a book for myself; the reaction is up to the reader. It's not my business whether people like or dislike it.
Sometimes literary critics review the book they wanted you to write, not the book you wrote, and that's very irksome.
I am a book reviewer. I write for a glossy magazine called 'SCI FI.' The money is not life-changing, but it's a low-stress gig. Publishers send me their books. More than I could possibly read. I pick a few and write about them, put a very few others on the shelf, to be perused at my leisure, someday.
There's more fiction in my life than in books, so I don't bother with them.
I reach my readers regardless of what the critics have written.