Come Again?

In January I started on a piece with an August 1 deadline. The last time I worked on the manuscript, I thought it was probably ready to be submitted except for one thing. I've changed in the six months I've been working on the article. The anger I felt then is gone. The article, if accepted, will come out several months down the road. So what do I do with that?

I was struggling with six words -- to keep them or change them. Somehow "sorry rat a$$ of a man" didn't seem appropriate for me to be saying. After all, what if someone I know reads the article? I run with a straight group. You know, they don't chew, smoke, or cuss, or run with those who do. Then I saw an episode of World's Strictest Parents on TV. One of the teens participating kept saying he didn't give a rat's posterior. Oh. I don't want to sound like him. So I softened it, changing s-r-a-o-a-m to simply rat. But now, the issue is no longer an issue. I hold no hard feelings against the man I was having so much trouble forgiving six months ago. So do I toss the article? Change it?

This is a problem I have putting some things in print. People change. Circumstances change. Once it's in print, our words are chiseled in stone. I hope I can remember to hammer my words thoughtfully and not in a spirit of anger. I don't want to be more of an embarrassment than I sometimes am to my family.

Overcoming the Need to Please

But what if someone doesn't like what I write? What if I hurt someone's feelings? It's going to happen whether it's our intent or not, so we just have to get over ourselves.

Years ago my husband and I read Dr. Wayne Dyer's Your Erroneous Zones. Dyer said whatever we do, half the people won't like it. James Patterson, interviewed in the July 5, 2010 issue of Time Magazine, page 8, said this: "There are thousands of people who don't like what I do. Fortunately, there are millions who do."

So don't let the possibility of criticism stand in your way of seeking publication. Criticism will come. We can count on it.