We were scanning the long list of articles we have bookmarked, sincerely believing we will a) remember we’ve created said bookmark, b) read the articles, and c) work up the energy to write an insightful post on the article. Let us merely suggest you have been spared far more drivel than you can imagine. No thanks necessary.
A surprising number of the articles dealt with reviews; there is a subset focusing on how authors respond to reviews. Not that we’re suggesting anything, but all of those were about authors who check elegance and grace at the door when they encounter bad reviews. We’ve seen it first-hand, and there’s nothing more appalling than watching someone (in a virtual way) complain that they’ve had their heart torn to pieces. Maybe it’s because we’re cynical enough to see such whining as a not-so-creative ploy to build upon the negative publicity slash-and-burn reviews generate.
But enough about us. It’s clear we’re never going to do anything with those older articles, but we can point you in the direction of something fresh on the topic. Or not so fresh, as the caution remains the same don’t, but if you must:
A letter to the editor correcting a misquoted lyric? Sure, fine; there’s an elegant and classy way of going about that, even if the review were a scathing one: “While not wanting to appear bitter over a review that takes me to task for failings great and small, I would be a poor steward of my craft if I didn’t point out that I never wrote ‘This will be a very strong whore.’ The line in question runs: ‘This will be a very long war.’
