Navigating Feedback: A Writer's Guide

Two Paradoxes of Responding First paradox: The reader is always right; the writer

is always right. The reader gets to decide what’s true about her reaction: about what she has

seen or what happened to her, about what she thinks or how she feels. It makes no sense

to quarrel with the reader about what’s happening to her (though you can

ask the reader to explain more fully what she is saying). But you,

as the writer, get to decide what to do about the feedback you get: what changes

to make, if any. You don’t have to follow her advice. Just listen openly

– swallow it all. You can do that better if you realize that you get to take