They say authors have immensely fragile egos. How would you handle negative criticism or a negative review?

I’m very fortunate to have a partner who is a computer genius of sorts. When somebody is negative about one of my stories, their credit score mysteriously takes a southern dive, their phone number disappears from the Do Not Call list and they’re signed up for Publisher’s Clearing House junk mail… along with their relatives, too. It’s not about ego. It’s about good old-fashioned red-blooded revenge.

There are people who are not going to like my books. I recognize that. There are books I’ve read that I didn’t particularly care for. A reviewer who says “This just wasn’t for me” is hardly going to be seen as a reason for me to quit. However, someone who says something along the lines of “This is the biggest piece of stinking crap that doesn’t deserve the paper it’s printed on” is bound to elicit a sarcastic response… then I’ll go order a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Sunday and make it all better.

Do we have fragile egos? Maybe. Everybody has an ego, though. It’s healthy. Putting a book out there for people to read is to put a part of ourselves out there and we hope for the best. It’s one of our children and we’re going to have a reaction when there’s disapproval. Look at George Bush Sr. His son has the lowest approval rating of any U.S. President, yet he still defends him.

As a writer, what scares you the most?

Paris Hilton’s acting.

I am the first to admit that I am my own worst critic and I’m okay with that. It works for me. If a book I’m writing has some areas that are crap, I’m not afraid to call them crap and fix them. Editing is one of my best friends and once I can read a draft of the book and be happy with it, that’s when I’ll start looking for a publisher. I’ve had very good luck with them not changing my work — not that I’m afraid of constructive criticism or further editing for the right reasons — but what scares me is that as I continue on with each book, someone may eventually want to make changes for the wrong reasons.

By that, I mean as an author who happens to be gay writing stories with central characters who are also gay, there may be a publisher who one day decides that they can sell some larger number of books to a wider audience if they just change a few things, mainly the characters. I do want success, but I don’t want the kind that means trivializing a part of my life that I choose to write about or the style in which I write it.