How to swallow your pride as a writer

What they say: “I’m no writer, but …”

What you hear: “This is the most flammable bag of poop we have ever read. You’re fired.”

What they mean: “We’re trying not to step on your toes, but we might have some context that will help flesh out a key message or narrative area.”

As communicators, even the best of us get our feelings hurt now and again, either from your own harsh inner critic or an actual editor who seemingly interferes with carefully curated language choice.

I’ll just lay it out there …

Good writing feedback is almost never about your competence as a writer. Rather, it’s about what best serves the story (your key messaging) and its reasons for existing (your strategy).

But if you find yourself unable to make requested revisions or you’re just too upset about particular feedback you’ve received, then it’s time to come back to this fundamental truth: no communicator writes alone .

Swallow your pride.

Swallowing your pride doesn’t mean you’re giving in to what your reviewers want. Swallowing your pride is knowing to not take edits personally and where to turn for help making your work stand out.

So, swallow your pride and follow these two big tips to get the kind of feedback that makes you a better writer, not a sadder one!

#1 Hire an editor. This is not your boss or best friend. This is an actual professional editor you hire, just like you would hire a writer or graphic designer to help you complete a strategic assignment successfully.

Hiring an editor helps you swallow your pride by acting as an “outside source” who is less tied to the information or sentiment of your communication.

Good editors possess these qualities:

• Ability to review your work objectively
• Knowledge of your discipline’s writing style rules
• Superior language and grammar wisdom
• Curiosity of your work and a passion for helping you make it better

Kind of like a professional photographer makes you look your best, an editor makes you read your best. And I promise, the best editors love your writing more than you do!

#2 Get ahead of the group review process. If you face a review-by-committee process, first off, my condolences.

Secondly, if you ask the right questions, you’ll get the right feedback, and thus cancel all risk of feedback failure altogether!

Send these core questions along with the draft of your next writing project and ask your reviewers to answer each one to the best of their abilities:

• Does this piece align with the purpose of the communication?
• Is there a clear beginning, middle, and ending?
• Are the 5 Ws and the H in place?
• Is the opening statement fully supported throughout the piece?
• Are sources accurate, timely, and reputable?

The idea behind sending questions ahead of time is just like sending an agenda ahead of a meeting. It puts everyone on the same wavelength, creates some critical clarity, and aligns everyone around the same messaging.

So, next time you hit send on a piece of writing that needs review, consider hiring an editor — and try to get clarity right away by sending your group editors a list of questions to answer.

There’s no problem having pride, but if it hurts more than it helps, then let’s step back and see what we can do to make writing a little more fun again.