Yesterday I got the very incredible news that Publisher's Weekly had reviewed my new novel favorably enough to give it a star. (http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1...) After eight years of sketching, writing, redrafting, redrafting, redrafting, editing, copyediting, proofreading, slipping in that ONE LAST CORRECTION because my mother is always right, there is no 8th Avenue in Moorhead, Minnesota....having your valiant efforts called "fantastic" is pretty much all you need to hear.

To be completely fair and non self-congratulatory, last month I received an equally negative review in a publishing journal called Kirkus. (I would link, but then I get cookies that follow me everywhere I go--a painful reminder of that cold December day.) For many years I worked as an editor in book publishing, so I knew that a "bad" Kirkus review can mean one of two things: either you are going to have a successful publication, or your book actually, really, truly does stink and you're delusional. I may still be delusional, but at least the reviewer at Publisher's Weekly knows how to prop a girl up!

So what do you do when you have a great review? You fold it up and put it in the same pocket as the bad one, and remember that you're not going to be everyone's cup of tea. And that's okay.