We’ve made it to Day 26 of our series, 31 Days of Writing Tips. Each post in this series has been written as a free write in five minutes flat in conjunction with the writing challenge, 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.

Today’s writing prompt is: ACCEPT

Find more posts in the series on the Table of Contents page.

Today’s writing advice is easier said than done, but it’s so important to learn how to accept (and even invite!) constructive criticism for our writing.

If we want to pursue excellence as writers, we have to be willing to graciously and gratefully receive (and often implement) suggested changes to improve our work.

If you’re busy with a work in progress or you’ve reached the end of a draft with whatever project you’re working on, ask someone to read it and give honest, constructive feedback. If you’re not quite ready for review yet, set an estimated timeline and ask someone if they would be willing to set aside time just after your deadline to read your work.

Depending on the length of your project and the relationship you have with the person you plan to ask, you may want to consider compensating them for their time. I would say if the writing sample is more than 1,000 words, it would be a kind gesture to offer monetary payment.

Also, it’s helpful to tell them up front what you’re expecting from them. Ann Kroeker offers three helpful “categories” in one of her podcast episodes: bless, address, or press. She encourages writers to be specific about whether they’re looking for positive comments only regarding what works well, whether they want their reader to address a particular issue in their work, or whether they want them to press further and deeper into the constructive advice.

Listen to the full podcast episode for a more extensive explanation here.

Have you ever experienced constructive criticism regarding your writing? If so, how did it feel? Did you end up following the advice?

Find more posts in this series of writing tips HERE.