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5 ways to deal with a bad review

How do you cope when the work you've laboured over for years receives a less than flattering reception?

3 Jun 2024 9:00

Thuy On

Bad review. Image is of a man's torso, wearing a suit and stripey tie and pointing out à la Lord Kitchener. His finger is touching a yellow star, the only one filled in a row of five.

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Photo: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay.

Ouch. So you’ve sent your creative baby out into the world and it received a bad review. It hurts. We understand, but before you become too invested and woebegone about it, here are five ways to combat feelings of inadequacy, pain and anger.

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Thuy On

Thuy On is the former Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian. She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025). Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy