When the First Reviews Come In. “The writing had this strange magic. At…

“The writing had this strange magic. At times, it was witty and biting; other times, it felt like someone opening an old wound right in front of me. Some parts rambled, but even then, I didn’t want to look away. It felt messy in the best way — like life itself.”

That was the first line of my editorial review for The Unabridged Life of Missy Kinkaid, my latest novel. The review came from Literary Titan, a service I’ve used before, but this time I did something different — I sent the book out before publication. As any author knows, that’s a vulnerable leap.

This book was a stylistic departure for me — part present tense, part past tense — a narrative choice that mirrored Missy’s complicated relationship with her own history. My editor caught what I missed and encouraged me to lean into the duality rather than smooth it out. By the time I hit send, I felt confident. Then the review arrived.

And there it was: “Some parts rambled.”

For a split second, my stomach dropped. But then I reread the rest — the part about “strange magic” and “messy in the best way.” I realized that what they described was exactly what I was going for: the imperfection of being human.

As writers, we crave validation, even when we pretend we don’t. We want someone to tell us that our work resonates. And yet, the moment feedback arrives, we zero in on the single critique instead of the paragraphs of praise. It’s human nature. But it’s also an opportunity to grow.