It’s not just you, it’s everyone at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

It’s not just you, it’s everyone

Last night I watched Bruce Springsteen on the Daily Show talk about going out to play songs he was passionate about during the Bush years and being soundly booed *by the very people who loved his work enough to pay to come to listen to him.*

It struck me as interesting that even at the peak of a career he has to have the self confidence to produce the art he wants to produce and still stand up and receive that complicated mix of praise and negativity.

Not everyone will like what you do no matter what.

Last week I talked to a couple hundred freshmen about being a writer and one of the teachers asked how I handled negative reviews.

My response: “they are always gonna be haterz out there, you just to have keep on doing what you’re doing and try not to let them get you down.”

I was certainly incredibly cheered to find out Bruce faces the same sort of stuff, oddly enough.

Filed under the topic Journal on March 25th 2009 at 3:55 pm. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.

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5 Responses so far

1. K on Mar 25th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
My very first review was in the NY Times and they weren’t kind. After that everything else is a cake walk. I think my personality helps in that I’ve never been one to get depressed over bad reviews on my work for more than a day or two. Ultimately it comes down to what you love doing and not other people’s opinions. I try not to live my life by what other people think of me… that’s a road to nowhere. Just sleep with a clear conscience and you’re good to go.
Anyway, who would dare write anything bad about you? Shame on them.
2. Tara Maya on Mar 25th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
It’s both encouraging and discouraging. On the one hand, even folks at the top of the game still receive negative feedback. On the other hand, this means there’s never a plateau you can reach where you’re immune to this stuff.
3. Adam Heine on Mar 25th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I like how, in a verbal response, you pronounced haters with a ‘z’.
4. AliceB on Mar 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Thank you. It’s good to be reminded.
5. tobias buckell on Mar 26th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Thanks K!
Adam: yeah, well, that’s how I roll and all

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