Criticism is Everywhere These Days…Here’s How To Deal With It
From well-wishers to trolls, everyone thinks they have something to offer
In a recent article, Ted Gioia mentioned having an artist he had criticized reflect on his criticism. I think this is pure gold.
“An interviewer recently asked Rickie Lee Jones to respond to something I wrote about her. I’m grateful that the journalist quoted some of the more positive things I’d said in a very long essay on Jones’s music and career — there were other passages not quite so flattering, which were quietly ignored. Even so, I found the whole situation a little unsettling.
After all, I’m writing for readers, and not to interrogate musicians. In fact, I came to the sad conclusion long ago that my vocation as a music writer makes it almost impossible — except in rare instances — to have genuine friendships with the artists I write about. So if Paul McCartney phones and asks me to join him for dinner, I simply must refuse.
Just joking there. I’m actually having dinner with Paul tomorrow.
In all seriousness, there are trade-offs in any vocation. I wish I didn’t have to be so professional in my dealing with many musicians, but the implicit covenant between a music writer and the reader imposes legitimate constraints. A writer’s responsibility to the reader comes first, overriding all other agendas — at least that’s how I see it. And that’s that.
But I have to say I loved Rickie Lee Jones’s response to the interviewer — which was, more or less, that she didn’t give a rat’s ass what Ted Gioia thinks.”
Yeah. Like that it is all summed up perfectly for us all.
We spend way too much time wondering what other people think about what we do. We spend more time worrying about the critics than playing to our fans… our real fans. The ones that love us.
Having dealt with criticism my entire life, sometimes not so well, I know full well how the process of obsession works.
We get 99 comments with structured praise and forget every one of them. We are totally focused on the one that cut us to the quick. We memorize every word. We play it back in our brains again and again. We contemplate whether or not we could do 35 years in prison for what we plan.
And that is just good old resistance wearing a funny face and making us want to quit.
(1) Never let a total stranger control or define your sense of who you are, and what your mission in life is. Of course, there are situations that should bear attention. It depends on the person who is critiquing us. It depends on the work they are critiquing. Valuable stuff can be learned from a good critique. Nothing is learned from an attack or meaningless drivel that has no answers.
(2) However you can’t just ignore criticism. You pay attention to the criticism, not because it defines you (it doesn’t), but because as a professional you responsibly deal with the consequences of your actions, whether deserved or not. Taking into consideration what is said and by whom may be a good indication that there needs to be more interaction.
(3) Absolutely try to learn from every bit of criticism, if at all possible — although you shouldn’t assume the critic understands what you do better than you do yourself. Your mom is going to love you. The woman next door who is a well-known boudoir photographer may not like your food work, nor be interested in your still life. Neither matter. Finding a good critique takes time, research, and patience.
(4) Much of what passes for criticism can be safely ignored because — and I hate to say this — it isn’t honest criticism. (I could interject how hard it is to even find honesty these days, but I will let that slide.) Most criticism comes from the penalties of the critic. They bring their own mental angst to your imagery and are so busy either signaling some sort of virtue or trying to appear erudite and far higher in station than they actually are.
(5) It’s almost never a good idea to respond to a critic. Unless it is something that throws aspersion on your character or harms you or your family, ignore ad-hoc BS criticism.
I have made this mistake before. You spend wasted time dealing with someone who wasn’t worth your time to begin with. Take it from me, ignoring them is the best way to go if it is at all possible.
(6) If your creative work is taking you in new and bold directions, don’t let critics see it until it’s ready for their feedback. Working on something new? Keep it off of social media until you are ready to stand behind it. Sure, you can tease it a bit, but being too “out there with it” can be problematic as the critics begin filling their quivers full of hate arrows.
(7) Don’t let your emotions rule you when dealing with criticism. Simply said. Challenging to do. Do it anyway.
(8) Even unfair criticism can make you stronger. Yeah. It can. Even if it only helps you develop a stronger and thicker skin, and allows you to ignore or leave the criticism behind you as you press forward.
(9) And consider this: If criticism is getting more intense, it’s often a sign that you’re having an impact and some success. If you are not doing anything, you will not get criticized. If you are doing mediocre work, you will get lackluster criticism. However, if you are doing something grand prepare for the full onslaught of critics and trolls.
Not getting criticized much? Work harder, push harder. It’s there.
Creeping along the alley like a cat burglar wearing a flamenco dress.
(10) The only way to avoid criticism completely is to say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.
I have received criticism my whole creative life. Some of it was amazing. Some of it was intended to hurt — a lot. I have learned over my life that being hurt by something someone else said about me was foolish. I ignore it, and them. Consistently.
Most of the vitriolic critics missed the mark of what I was doing, but in almost every case of good, deliberate criticism, I discovered something valuable. Whether the critic intended that outcome or not.
I am a photographer, designer, and photo editor. You can find me at my self-named website or at Project 52 Pro System where I teach commercial photography online. This is our tenth year of teaching, and it is the most unique online class you will find anywhere.
You can find my books at Amazon, and I have taught two classes at CREATIVELIVE.
