The Best Feedback I’ve Gotten

Every writer lives for feedback. It’s not just because they want to hear their writing is good; although most of them do. Feedback is the basis of editing. It’s where you see how your writing has affected others.

I don’t think I’m any different in that regard. But there are really two types of writing feedback I have to focus on: editors and readers. Anyone who edits my work has to tell me how to make it better. More importantly they tell me how it reads and what it conveys. Editing may not be the most thrilling part of writing, but it’s crucial.

Editors may make your writing better, but readers are your ultimate audience. If you’re writing to educate, and your readers don’t learn anything from you, then you’ve failed. Since I’m a medical writer, I usually have to explain concepts that don’t lend themselves to simple explanations. Sometimes my readers are doctors or other medical professionals, and have some understanding of the concept already. When I hear them say that my writing is well-written or easy to understand, I’m pleased. If they’re in one of those fields and make a point to say that, it’s because it wasn’t simple originally.

But there’s more than one type of reader. Sometimes those readers are not medical professionals. It’s even more challenging writing for them, because the terminology I’m so immersed in isn’t familiar. (Once, I sought medical attention for a persistent rash. After my visit, I told my sister that it was just contact dermatitis. She looked disturbed for a second. I had to explain some skin irritant caused the rash and it would go away.) So when one of those readers praises me for that, I feel especially good.

That’s where I got my best bit of feedback. I wrote a long, detailed piece about blood counts in leukemia. I’ve done pieces like that before and gotten a variety of comments, but the first comment I got still sticks with me.

“God bless you Annie for this read and all the easy to understand explanations,” they said. I don’t know whether this person was a patient or cared for someone who was. But I do know that my article made enough of a difference they had to tell me about it. And isn’t that the best kind of feedback you can get?