—Coffee Break—
Please excuse my blog...
By Cynthia Sabelhaus
It’s interesting how a tiny bit of
criticism can ruin your day. Fifty kind comments can be vaporized by a
single flash of negativity. I thought I was fairly immune, but when your
humble editors began receiving criticism on our web forum, we took it
WAY too personally. Most of the cutting comments seemed to come from
nonmembers, just stopping by to read our work for free and then bitch
about the content. Constructive criticism is a good thing, especially
when it’s solicited. These surprise attacks blindside you, crushing your
spirit and making you wonder, however briefly, whether all your work has
fallen embarrassingly short.
Okay, I already admitted we were thin-skinned. When someone
sizes up a magazine that is the product of hundreds of hours of
volunteer effort, not counting the thousands of hours the authors poured
into the stories and poems we publish, and declares it “ordinary,” you
feel kicked to the curb.
When Sandy reacted to a complaint regarding an inadequate number
of stories in an issue, she scrambled to find more. I had to remind her
that since our stories were all so “ordinary,” it didn’t seem necessary
to bother. We were both able to giggle.
When someone complained that my column was a blog, not worthy of
publication--well, hell! I seriously considered permanently cancelling
“Coffee Break.” But then I remembered my ongoing battle with our
Communications department at work.
There are 12,500 employees where I work. Whenever I ask to have
a large poster board mounted in the lobbies, or an announcement made
over the PA system, the Comm Gestapo refuse, citing the complaints they
have received whenever they’ve done something similar in the past. When
you really look into the data, however, it turns out less than 1% of
employees have ever complained. The remaining 99% have yet to weigh in,
and they probably never will. Meanwhile, lack of communication is the
number one complaint in every employee opinion survey. Go figure.
We’ve also had folks posting silly notes to the forum--I love
them, by the way. Some others aren’t so happy about it. There have been
anony-mous haiku responded to by other authors of haiku—where have you
gone, Haiku Harry? I miss you!
So, here’s what I propose. If you have some-thing meaningful to
post, please post away. And if you have something trivial, post that,
too. Even the criticism, no matter how blunt or sometimes off base, is
welcome. That means that those being critiqued need to lighten up
(myself more than most), and although we should consider the com-ments,
let’s not take them personally.
After all, those of us here at the “facility” are used to
receiving negative feedback. But the food is regular, the uniforms leave
no boring wardrobe choices to be made, and we have plenty of time to
pursue our art.
Please use the forum. Intellectual discussions on the many
aspects of writing would be swell. But sometimes you may just want to
post a silly slogan, a shot in the dark, really, just to see if there is
anyone outside the asylum walls.
The good news in this issue is the
announce-ment of the winners of both the fiction and non-fiction
contests. The top three winning stories and articles are printed in
these pages. Congratulations to all of you! Well done!! We will print
the honorable mentions and additional nonfiction en-tries in upcoming
issues.
We have much to look forward to as summer moves inevitably
toward fall. The Olympics may be over, but the presidential debates
promise as much entertainment and a scoring system that makes the
gymnastics judging look like first grade math.
So now I will put my pen down before I’m tempted to write
anything further on the American electoral process or those who are
currently engaged in its machinations. Although I’m not a particularly
religious person, the only thing I can think to safely write is: God
save us all! And happy writing!!
--Cynthia