Saturday 3 May, 2008

Vulnerable

It is not news, I realise, to state that authors are neurotic about the reviews their books get. Some writer friends of mine don't read the reviews at all. I, on the other hand, track them down the minute I hear of them and then FREAK OUT. Yes, that's right, my first review (an advance notice in a trade magazine) was bad. In answer to the question 'what does it feel like', I'd have to say if feels like being punched in the chest. Or the face. Not sure which. I don't mean to suggest that the reviewer is wrong (though I hope she is wrong) or that people shouldn't write what they think. Just that it's hard to deal with the visceral feeling a review can provoke if you feel insecure about your work. And who doesn't feel insecure about their work? Rick Moody said something I liked in the Age today. 'I think it's a truly dreadful book, but it's emotionally really accessible and vulnerable and I admire that.' He's referring to his first novel, Garden State. Reading that made me think that the challenge is to do what he's done - to be friends with the books we write no matter what anyone else says.

Now where's the whiskey . . .