I’m Stressing You Out

Occasionally I check Goodreads to see what people think of Angst.  I’ll tell you, it’s hard sometimes to see that someone rated your book as 2 stars when you feel like you’ve poured out your heart and soul,  exposing your inner feelings and essentially how crazy you are, especially when you’re not sure why they felt this way.  But today when I checked, I found that someone had given Angst 3 stars and she was someone I had sent a free copy to a few weeks ago for review.  The refreshing part was that when I went to her blog, I saw her review and it was honest and actually a fantastic review that gave me an insight into why people might give my book less than 5 or 4 stars.

And the truth, as I knew it to be, but hadn’t really considered or thought of recently for your average reader, is that my book is a difficult read.  It makes people uncomfortable, it elicits emotion.  It isn’t an easy beach read that you’d pick up to escape and for this reason people like it but they also find the subject matter difficult.  But you know what?  For me, this means that I have succeeded 100% in my goal to express how life feels for a person suffering from mental illness.  It isn’t linear, it doesn’t always make sense.  It isn’t easy, it isn’t pretty, it’s shitty, it’s stressful, it makes you question your desire to continue living and if I’ve been able to express that feeling, if I have elicited emotion and kept the reader with Victoria in the moment, than I feel that I’ve done my job.  So fuck stars and ratings and worrying about whether people will like my book.  People like it, they feel it, but yea, it’s not easy and it makes readers uncomfortable.  And you know what, I truly appreciate an honest review because honesty is how I roll and even if there are criticisms, I appreciate it, because how else will I learn and grow as a writer?

To check out this incredibly thoughtful review that just made my day, visit The Library Life.