| The self-indulgent writer listens only to the | | | | Often these writers depend on the |
| mumblings of sycophants, toadies, and flatterers, | | | | obsequiousness of friends and relatives to justify |
| thus failing to heed the valid criticisms of editors, | | | | their worth as an author, novelist, playwright, |
| critiquers, and reviewers. | | | | poet, journalist, essayist, or even a critic. Friends |
| Since improvement involves the time to review, | | | | are usually poor judges of writing or they refuse |
| to edit, to revise, and to rewrite, the self-indulgent | | | | to be honest for fear of alienating, disappointing, |
| writer avoids or neglects to do this. All writing can | | | | or denigrating that person. Relatives also make |
| be enhanced by revision and review: a change in | | | | poor sounding boards from the same reason, but |
| viewpoint, a change in syntax, a change in | | | | also through envy and belief that they can do as |
| sentence structure, or a change in design. Most | | | | well or better. Generally their commendation is |
| flourishing writers take the time and effort to | | | | unsound and of little use to the serious writer |
| appraise their work before submission to an | | | | who hopes for an effective evaluation of the |
| editor, a publisher, or a broadcaster. | | | | composition. |
| Those writers that do not assess their work | | | | Thus, the self-indulgent writer eliminates any |
| abandon themselves to self-pity and blame their | | | | review or criticism, and even neglects to evaluate |
| lack of success on unreceptive editors, publishers, | | | | his or her own work by taking the time to even |
| the publishing industry, the media, and to a general | | | | use a grammar and spellchecker that are part of |
| misunderstanding of them as authors. They fail to | | | | most, if not all, word processors. Submissions are |
| realize that their self-indulgence is the reason for | | | | sent with typos, spelling mistakes, and gross |
| their failure. They fail to understand that success | | | | grammar errors. Then they wonder why their |
| is more hard work than talent or genius. It is | | | | work is rejected, thus the mumbling of |
| easier to blame others than it is to strive, to | | | | self-indulgent writers. |
| develop, and to improve their talents. | | | | |