As writers, we all have to learn to hear criticism. This can be tough at first, given that we see our writing as a reflection of ourselves; hate my writing, hate me, we seem to think. However, when I took my first writing workshop many years ago, I found it hardest to figure out what to say about a fellow writer’s stories. Most of the time, all I knew was that I either liked or disliked the piece, but figuring out why was difficult. Slowly, I learned how to give back feedback, but it wasn’t until grad school that I heard an instructor give any useful advice on the subject; basically, he said that a useful critique is not a value judgment, but an honest observation about a piece.