My name is John Anderson and I work at LinkVehicle. I wanted to speak to you about becoming a publisher in our marketplace. We sell Text-Link-Ads and Blog Reviews on our publisher websites (these are Static HTML links). We allow our publishers to place ads manually or by installing our PHP server side script. Our Text-Links are normally placed in the headers, sidebars, or footers of websites and our bloggers are required to write a 200 word review. We split the cost of each ad placed on our publisher websites 50/50 and bill our advertisers on a recurring monthly basis. This means you’ll receive a check from us via PayPal on the 1st of every month! If you have any additional questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Otherwise, please sign up and submit your website(s) into our marketplace for inclusion. You can suggest your price when submitting your website or let our publisher team decide the price. FYI, we have a large team of SEO professionals that work around the clock to sell ads on our publishers websites. You have nothing to lose but a nice monthly check if you don’t sign up!

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John Anderson
Sales Director
P: (855) 281 9304
John@LinkVehicle.com

For me, taking criticism is a skill that must be developed. In college, my weekly music and composition lessons forced me to take criticism each week. Knowing that it would come at a set time and place each week helped some.

At the end of the day, good critiques and criticisms are the means by which we improve. It is like being sculpted into a masterpiece. If we resist the reshaping process, we will look like nothing but a block of stone. At the same time, if we allow every cut, we may end up mangled and scarred. So, there must be a filter of some sort to process the criticism.

I think we all do this for differing reasons. One, of course, is the obvious need for attention. Two, perhaps we are seeking validation and encouragement. Three, perhaps we asked for criticism or guidance. Four, maybe we just like sharing our work as most artists tend to do. Five, perhaps we got into writing just because we like making numeric lists of things.

At the heart of criticism, for me, is the question of whether I am or can be completely honest with myself about my work. This is in music, art, and writing. If I can be open with myself and see my work for what it is (and do so as if the work is not even mine), then accepting criticism typically either confirms the failings I already see, points out things I did not see but can evaluate honestly, or completely misses the mark.

In all three instances, my ego can remain pretty much intact because I was able to present my work in a detached way. Or we might even say that there is/should be no ego involved in this part of the process.

Ego is certainly a critical aspect of the creative process, but I do not think it needs to be a part of the “publication” or “presentation” part of what we do. After we create a thing, in many respects it must die to us. Writing seems to be the only “art” form (if we dare call it that) where we continue to try to sculpt and reform the dead body. I think sometimes we must simply walk away and move onto the next project— putting distance between ourselves and our work is critical if we wish to share it. Move on. Do something else. Bring out your old work later and share it when you have removed the fetish.

Frank Lloyd Wright was once asked what his favorite building was. His answer: The next one.

Sage advice.

Keith, the pain of criticism is indeed a strange and necessary valley to walk through. I medicate myself with the music of the Innocence Mission or the Magnetic Fields when criticism gets me down. But it has be dealt with. There is no evading it completely.

By being proactive, you’re better prepared to deal with the side effects.

I attempt to embrace criticism as objectively as I can muster … which allows me to see it at face value. Not everyone understands the struggle, the work, the process you endure to share your art.

So why not help them understand by offering your work before it’s ready for mass consumption? Set the expectations, make the rules, share your work early and often so that the audience expects it in draft form.

Just my humble way of pushing the fringes a bit I guess.

Good luck!

I think one of criticism’s jobs is to purge. It weeds out many people and strengthens and deepens those who pass through it.

Another job criticism does is it draws people’s attention to certain things. Which means that it is a metric, an indicator, of impact. A sure fire way to know whether our work matters is how much criticism it receives.

So how do I handle criticism as an introvert? I don’t try to deny or evade the pain. I let the hurt run its course. Then pick myself up and keep working. If courage is action in the face of fear. And faith is action in the face of doubt. Then ____ is action in the face of criticism. I’m still searching for that word. But I think that holds a key.

Good thoughts, Shawn and Sarah. I agree that it definitely depends on who the criticism comes from, and also what kind of criticism it is. I do not miss that aspect of teaching. Criticism was definitely a reality when it came to teaching evaluations. Ha!