I guess one of the hardest thing to accept is a critique. Having belonged to a writing group, the first item a new writer wanting to join is told, "you must learn to accept critique," and trust me, we have had many talented writers come and then disappear. They took the everything personal and could not separate the writing from themselves. We writers look at our material as children. We slave, polish, refine and sweat over what we put in the story, forgetting that the listener or reader does not have the same emotional attachment to the story as the writer. So when a story is critiqued, we are only questioning the writing and not the person. My first writing teacher informed his student at the beginning of the class, "bring a towel to wipe the blood of the floor." And he was so right.
One of the benefits of learning to accept critiques it makes you a better writer and person because learning to distinguish between a personal attack and a valid statement makes you grow.
I was accepted to the Guardian ad litem program and one of the questions during the interview was, "How do you feel about being critiqued?" I smiled and told them, "I welcome critique because it teaches me to do my job better."
A final word, this is not something that one learns in three easy lessons, it's messy, painful and a b*&%#&, but the end results are really worth it.
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