Being Brave

I have avoided most reality shows over the years, but there is a recent one that my entire family has become addicted to, Face Off on the SyFy channel. In case you’ve never seen it, it’s about make-up artists trying to make their mark in L.A. Most of them, I believe, are amateurs or just getting started in the business as professionals.

The show kind of snuck up on us. Jordan—my artistic daughter—was the first one to watch it. She started recording it and watching when I was on the computer. Yep. Totally sucked me in. Then last season—the third season—she snagged Mike and Kristen about half way through. And this season, we all sit down as a family on Tuesday nights to watch it.

This past week I was watching it and I was struck about how brave these artists are to put their stuff out there, in such a public forum, to be critiqued in front of thousands, and thousands of viewers.

Really. Think of it. We all have our trusted CP’s, but can you imagine creating a story in three days and then submitting it to a panel of say, Jodi Picoult, Nora Roberts, and Dan Brown. And then, not only to be critiqued by these giants of your chosen industry, but to have a camera focused on you while you stand there and take their critique—good, bad, or indifferent.

They’re either desperate, brave, or crazy. Or a little bit of all three.  

I always enjoy hearing what the contestant’s think of their productions compared to what the judges think—and what we four think watching it in our living room. It’s a lot like putting out chapters out to our critique partners the first time.

Sometimes I’m sure what I’ve written is the best thing ever only to get back harsh critiques. And other times, I’ve struggled with something for so long and so hard, that I’m simply posting it out of exhaustion and last resort—help me fix this, please! And I get back positive critiques.  Which just goes to show that we are not the best judges of our own work.

 

So, I salute the bravery of the Face Off contestants. And I thank my CP’s for their honesty and friendship—I couldn’t get through this without you.