Every once in a while you get a very eager reader—eager to prove to you that you have written your book wrong. Or some variation of that.

Your first impulse is to defend your creative child. To explain what led you to this or to that creative decision.

Don't explain. Save your breath. By trying to justify the reasons you made this or that decision you do two things that will sink you fast:

1. You open the door to judging. Now, no matter what you say, that eager reader will scrutinize as much as they're scrutinized your writing.

2. You open the door to oversharing. By oversharing I mean, you might slip and share too much. Volunteer too much private information. Sa something you intended to keep private. And bingo, once it's public, it's put of your hands.

As an artists, YOU DON'T OWE AN EXPLANATION TO ANYONE.

You make your art the way you make it because you make your art the way you make it, and that's it.

Whatever guidelines you have for yourself are for you and you alone. No one needs to know them. And no one has the right to demand them from you.

So don't explain. If that eager reader persists, walk way, or turn off your screens, of just block them. Your creative child will thank you.

Gif by Maria Ines Gul