How to Receive and Process Feedback

When I first started getting feedback on my scripts, I focused on self-validation. It never occurred to me to focus on anything else. I was either a good writer or a bad one.

One fellow writer swooned about my writing and asked if I had written a lot of scripts. My characters were amazing, the dialogue was phenomenal…I felt like a screenwriting prodigy.

Later that same day, I received feedback from another writer, pages and pages of it, about what was not working in my screenplay. This person warned me not to send it to producers, that it was not anywhere near ready, that it was basically a hot mess.

I was devastated. I made that negative feedback mean everything about who I was as a person and my ability to write. I shut down that project at that moment. In my mind, I completely canceled out the good feedback I had gotten prior to that.

I used to blame the person who gave me that feedback for being the reason I never finished the script or continued to market it. Fast forward 15 years; I see now it was me who shut that project down. Not because of the feedback, but because I was not willing to learn anything new about what I had written.

I’ve seen my demise replayed over and over through other writers. Writers, or any creative, can be their own worst enemy on every level. I finally said, “Someone needs to stop this madness!” and that is why I became a creative coach.

So, I’m going to share with you four tips for receiving and processing feedback on your creative projects.

If you need coaching on this topic, I can help you. Let’s start with a free 45-minute consultation!