Pep Talk: Confidence Tips from Superstar Drag Queens

RuPaul in drag (photo credit below)

This is an excerpt from my new monthly column at the Grub Daily entitled Pep Talk, in which, as Grub Street's Confidence and Writing Coach, I help you to feel positive about your work and writing career.  The column is written under my other name.  You can read the whole post here.

On RuPaul’s Drag Race the other night, a beautiful drag queen named Coco Montrese was ripped apart by the judging panel.  Part of Coco’s challenge had been to give an ex-marine who was new to drag a successful makeover.  The judges said that “Horchata”—the newbie queen on Coco’s team—had terrible eyebrows, bad make-up, and a dress that looked like it had been ripped from Coco’s own.  Poor Coco was almost in tears.  Why, she cried, did she always fail the judges?  She tried so hard to please them.  Why did she get rejected?

Well, you know what RuPaul advised the beautiful, super-talented Coco?  He said that she needed to learn to enjoy the criticism and have fun with it.  “If you’re not enjoying it, the audience won’t enjoy it.”  Coco nodded, damp-eyed.

Now, I told you that to tell you this:  A couple of years ago, when I was working as a literary magazine editor...  (For the rest of the post, click here.)

Photo credit: David Shankbone, via Wikimedia Commons