Feedback

It comes in all forms. A nasty face when a kid tries to eat peas. The wag of a tail when you scratch your dog behind the ears. A pat on the back. A thank you.

Positive feedback keeps people going. Other feedback keeps them honest. Either way, feedback is a critical part of everyone's diet. Without it, how would you know where you stand in the world? How would you improve?

This weekend, I dealt with a minor bout of writer's block. It's nasty stuff, writer's block -- especially if you're a writer! Here's what happened: I submitted a project I've been working on to an editor. There weren't really any guidelines on this particular piece (see... already a minimum of feedback), and the topic was very broad. I had tons of material for it, but a relatively limited word length to work with. I really wasn't sure if what I wrote was what the editor wanted.

In that climate, I began work on another piece. I have to say, the ideas weren't flowing. The lead was tough to write, so I skipped it and moved on. Still, my muse was singing off key. Nothing clever, nothing smooth. It felt like everything I wrote read poorly. And I found that my mind kept wandering over to the earlier piece. "Is it what she wanted?"

Yesterday, I got an email from the editor. Not only was the article good, she said, she wanted to work with me on a couple more projects. Positive feedback (or any feedback, see, because if she said she didn't like it, I could have fixed it!) is the breakfast of champions. And, once again, the words are flying from my head through my keyboard and onto the monitor.