The Truest Compasses

Guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter.

—1 Timothy 6:20

One day I read a bunch of reviews. Some of them were great. And some were awful. So I circled the wagons. I closed my laptop, as a way of saying to myself that I am not my work. I do work that invites and depends on public consumption. But that’s my work, not my whole self.

When you do work like mine, that line is blurry—I write about my life, my self, my home, my feelings. So when someone writes a mean review, it feels more like a personal attack than a comment on my work. But it isn’t.

I work hard to invest in a small circle of friendships and family relationships that have nothing to do with the writing part of my life, and when I circle the wagons, those are the people I reach out to, people who have known me well and forever, who see the whole of my life, not just the one on the pages. Those are the voices that matter most, the truest compasses and guides. I’m learning that not all criticism should be weighed equally—and that people “out there” shouldn’t have the same voice into my life as the people in my little circle of wagons.