I've just received and read my critiques from the poetry contest I won. Am I taking pleasure in the commendations and praise? Heck, no! I'm getting my knickers in a twist over the negative comments the outlier judge made, about the winning poem and my other two submissions! It's all marked on a point system according to a set of criteria, so with one or two exceptions I have no idea what I ought to have done otherwise. Except, that is, for the place where the judge graded me down for "grammar" and attached a marked-up version telling me I should change a single word--- though if I did, it would distort the entire meaning of the line. Grrrrrrrrrr. *Deep breath. Deep breath. Let it pass.* I got nothing close to full marks, even on the winner. I'd hate to see what scores the other submitters received.
Breathe deeply. Some people just have their nickers in a bunch; no need to join them. The comments I got back on a short story that I recent won an award for were the same way. One judge game me a 100, one judge gave me a 0. Fortunately, all the rest of the judges gave me scores in the mid to upper 90's. Sometimes peoples politics, religion, or whatever, influences how they judge. It shouldn't happen that way, but it does. You have no idea what biases that judge brought with her to your writing.
I haven't worked up the nerve to start entering myself in contests and such, mostly because I think I'm scared of how I'll react to criticism. I want to say i'll be all dignity and grace... but yeahno. And to be clear, we all know there are two different types of criticism and subsequent reactions: there's "Ah, I can't believe I made that obvious mistake, how silly of me! Thank you for pointing that out, fine sir. I shall correct my manuscript/story/poem forthwith," and then there's "Seriously? You're just being nitpicky. That sentence is fine. I picked that word on purpose. You don't even know what my plans for the rest of my story are, you dumb turd." There's always "that dude" who's gotta play devil's advocate and find something wrong just for the sake of finding something wrong, amiright?
Is it your reaction or the judges that is useless? I don't get it. And I don't see any reason at all to be upset. It sounds like you are upset that you didn't get a perfect score, like winning wasn't enough. Come on.
Check my first paragraph. I'm laughing at myself. Then, yeah, venting a little, because the comments from the low-marking judge weren't helpful.
