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We've all been there...the big event on your calendar...the one you're uber excited about. The one you'll do anything for to look your absolute best.

So, you eat nothing but carrots for a week to fit into the dress you splurged on that's two sizes too small. You get your lip waxed, nose hairs trimmed, and matchy-matchy manicure/pedicure nails. For once, your hair is cut to perfection, and you've successfully elbowed out of way an elderly woman who was going to snatch the cutest shoes you've ever seen in your life to score a pair of black pumps for a mere $29.99. Yes, indeed. Everything is going as planned. All the planets are aligned. There is peace in the Middle East. You even read on Drudge that the lion has laid down with the lamb. Life is good.

And then it happens.

A half hour before the public shindig, an enormous red pimple erupts like Mount Vesuvius, front and center on your schnoz. You stare into the mirror. Horrified. Whimpering. Pretty sure this is the end of life as you know it because doggone if everyone's gaze is going to zero in on the mother of all blemishes, scarring your reputation forever and ever. Amen.

Cue the death march.

Yeah, so that's exactly what a crappy review feels like, especially when it's a review that has nothing to do with your writing expertise. It simply has to do with a reader who doesn't like your genre and honestly shouldn't have picked up the book in the first place.

Those kinds of reviews used to burrow under my skin like a guinea worm (I'll spare you a link...trust me, you don't want to see a picture of that nasty parasite), plaguing me for days, making me consider throwing out my computer and never--EVER--write again.

Not anymore. Now when I read a scathing review, I stand up and applaud. No, I haven't gone nutty-nuts (though some might debate that point). Stabby reviews are actually a Godsend if you look at them with the right attitude.

It's normal to curl into the fetal position and suck your thumb for a few minutes after reading one. Key word: FEW. After that, re-read it for what it is...a warning to other readers of the same ilk to not read your book. That's a good thing! As long as you've got the standard "Bad Review" out there, shining like a beacon to ward off other would-be naysayers of your story type, you'll probably get a lot less fewer slap-you-upside-the-head reviews in the long run.

You tracking with me here? Bad reviews are part of the writing game if you're a good writer. It means you've done something with your wordsmithing to tweak a nerve. For some that feels like pleasure and they'll write a 5 star. To others, it's pain. Either way, you've created a reaction, which is the goal: to make a reader think in a way they've never thought before.

Chances are the people that really love you aren't even going to notice that zit anyway.