How do you deal with comments that make you lose your motivation to write?

So, I was working on a smut shot when I got a comment on my longfic from a semi-regular commenter. It struck me as a little odd because I’d already posted the new chapter a few days ago, and they had already commented on it back then. So getting a second comment days later felt… unexpected.

I went to check it out, and, it turns out they’d left me some unsolicited writing advice. They weren’t rude or anything, and they made it clear that I could ignore their comment if I wanted. It wasn’t hate. They were pretty polite about it. But basically, they sent me a YouTube video (or rather, the title of one) about improving dialogue. Then they said they love the way I write, but they felt some scenes would have more impact if other parts weren’t so slow.

And like… I get it. I know I get wordy. I know I could stand to rein in my descriptions a bit and that my fics would probably benefit from heavier editing. But the thing is, I thought my dialogue was fine? I totally understand if someone finds the pacing slow in certain places because of how descriptive I tend to be. But honestly, I really thought dialogue was one of my stronger points. Not that I think I’m flawless or anything (I know I can improve across the board) but dialogue was the last thing I expected to get critiqued on.

It’s just… that was the one part of my writing I felt the least self-conscious about. And to have someone send a whole video about how to “fix” it? Yeah, that stung. I guess it kind of shook my confidence. If the part I felt most secure about is this bad… how bad is the rest of it?

I’ve completely lost my motivation to work on the smut shot I was planning to post today. I’ve been staring at my writing for hours and just can’t get back into it.

And now I’m stuck in this weird loop trying to figure out how to respond to the comment. I’ve always replied to every single one I’ve received, ignoring just this one feels weird. And it’s not like they were mean or anything. I’ve had comments in the past that were more critical (about stylistic choices or character decisions) and I’ve still responded and had decent conversations. But this comment? I don’t know. It’s really getting to me. Making me question everything, especially my writing.

Anyway, sorry for the long, vent-y post. My question is: how do you get your motivation back after something like this? How would you deal with this?