The X-Factor?

Earlier today, I had no idea what I was going to blog about. As a matter of fact, 2 hours ago I had no idea what I was going to say.  Then I watched the X-Factor. What do you know, a show I rarely watch inspired me.

There was a certain young lady that went off. Throwing chairs, water, yelling at the people who were there to support her, running blindly out in the rain. I'm assuming the young girl with her was her daughter, but I'm not sure. Watching her total melt down angered me. Especially the fact that she did it in front of the child.

Then there was Jeffery Gutt. When I found out he was singing Hallelujah, I sat up and paid attention. I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite songs and I hate to hear someone mangle it. I loved his version of the song. He had me clapping long after he was finished.

Didn't see much on Facebook about Mr Gutt's performance, but I saw quite a few comments about the meltdown. Isn't it funny that the bad behavior is what we remember most? Someone said that you shouldn't step on stage if you can't take the harsh criticism. That got me thinking. Isn't that what we as writers do every day? We step on stage, putting ourselves out there for the world to see, hoping that someone likes our work. If they don't, we hope we can take the criticism with grace and not have a public X-Factor type meltdown.

Some authors go into meltdown mode. I've seen the posts, and twitter feeds about authors ranting on line because of a bad review.

I know all of us would like to be a Jeffery Gutt, (or whoever your fave is) and knock it out of the park. And we'd all like to say we'd never be the meltdown type. But look inside yourself and ask, what kind of contestant are you? After all, with every book, we are auditioning for the world to see.