Not all feedback is useful, and too much of it can drown your work. Andrew Sean Greer on how to make the most out of the feedback you get: "We think that the book is the patient, the editor is the doctor. They know they're going to say, nurse, here's what I need you to do, and that you do it. But that is not true. The editor is the patient. They're the reader. They know they're feeling things." "It's like a patient who comes in and says, doctor, my arm hurts. I'm sure it's arm cancer. You, the writer, say: there's no such thing as arm cancer, but the arm hurts. That's important. I will figure it out." "The editor will not know the answer, because it's in your head, the thing you want to make. They have no access to it. A good editor will not tell you specifically what to do. They will just tell you where it hurts." "You could have a lot of people read your book, and if they consistently say where it hurts, ignore, please ignore the advice they give you. It'll really throw you off, especially in a workshop. But they're right about what's not working."