Coming to Terms with Book Reviews

By Jeffe Kennedy

This is the cover for the Italian translation of my erotic romance, Going Under. I love it so hard.

A girl never forgets her first translation. 🙂

A little known fact about me (I think) is that I spent many years studying martial arts – primarily Chinese internal styles. I still practice some of the arts on my own, but no longer study with a school. It was a valuable experience on many levels and most recently fun to play with as I created a martial system for my warrior heroine, Ursula, in my upcoming release (May 26), The Talon of the Hawk. With Ursula on my mind – particularly as I’m starting the fourth book in that series – I’ve mulling over the metaphor of knife-throwing.

Yes, I learned how to throw knives as part of the training I did, including a shuriken, which I confess I keep on my desk and have a tendency to toy with on annoying conference calls. One thing my teacher said about knife-throwing is that it’s important to learn to enjoy the moments you DON’T stick the knife in the target as much as the moments you DO.

Counter-intuitive, yes?

Now, my teacher got any number of things warped and wrong (don’t get me started), but I think he had something there. A lesson I’ve yet to fully internalize. See, it’s very easy to get focused on success. Learning to throw knives can be an exercise in frustration – all those times the knives miss the target, barely stick and fall away or, the worst, bang loudly and ignominiously flat before bouncing off. When you manage to get it right and *really* stick the point deep in the wood, it’s… satisfying. Even thrilling.

But my teacher’s point is along the lines of the journey being the valuable lesson, not the destination. Viewed that way, it’s irrelevant whether the knife sticks, because it’s the process of throwing that’s important.

I think about this – especially lately – when one of my books gets a less than five-star review. And yes, I confess I’m one of THOSE people who see anything less than five-stars as not-quite-good enough. It’s the grade that’s not an A. It’s the room for improvement. It’s the knife that kinda sticks but then falls away.

A five-star review, in contrast, feels as thrilling as the perfect throw with the point buried solidly deep. Every time.

And yet… I *know* I shouldn’t feel this way. In my heart I know that the reviews and ratings are just part of the destination, that it’s the writing, the journey that truly matters. Most of the time this works for me – diverting myself back into the work, focusing on the writing and what it means to me, where it takes me. In fact, that this is on my mind at all right now is likely a product of having been between books for too long. I need to get Book 4 of The Twelve Kingdoms started. In a big way.

At any rate, I suppose this is my particular room for improvement. One of the many ways I need to grow and learn. I understand in my head that not everyone will LOVE my books, but I have a ways to travel to embrace the miss in my heart as much as the hit.

Time to throw some more knives.