In this WMG Writer’s Guide, international bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses the destructive ways peer workshops and the quest for perfection derail many writers’ careers. Listening to critics and academics-amateur and professional-often strips out the joy of writing. And a failure to recognize writing as a business furthers the potential damage. But Rusch offers hope for writers who have suffered at the hands of critique-external and internal-and outlines a path to healing.