Yabbit Hunting

By Darvell Hunt

The fall hunting season came again, but I don’t think too many people bought yabbit hunting permits. Why? Because no permit is required and the season lasts all year long.

Stephen King says the first gut reaction to criticism of your writing is the phrase “Yeah, but…” followed by rationalizing and self-serving excuses about why your writing is so wonderful and why the critiquer has no idea what you’re trying to say.

Suspend that temptation to go hunting for excuses. All writing is subjective and if someone says something about what you have written, it’s always a valid point. The more criticism you can accept as a writer, the more right you have to call yourself a writer—and the more others will call probably you a writer.

Conversely, there are no valid “yabbits.” You can always ignore comments about your writing, maybe because the critiquer really doesn’t know what you are doing; but if they don’t know, perhaps your target reader won’t know either. You cannot explain anything to your reader that does not appear on the page. You won’t be there to say, “Well, yeah, but… such and such.”

Don't make excuses. Just fix your writing and it will speak for itself.