30 Day Know Thyself Writing Challenge
Day 26: Who do you trust to read your writing and offer critical feedback before you submit your work?
I think I’d trust pretty much anyone who genuinely wants to read something I have written, whether because they’ve heard a piece is good (as was common in high school) or simply because I’ve written it. It’s rare these days, but when a friend learns that I’m a writer and asks to see my work there is no greater feeling. Preemptive reader confidence! It’s like a high five and a hot fudge sundae!
At the same time, of course, I am paradoxically protective of my writing. When someone you really care about asks to see your writing…well, it’s a little intimidating. You don’t want to disappoint. You’re only, you know, bearing an intimate shoulder of your most fragile and tremulous soul. No pressure.
I am, however, becoming more lax as far as sharing my work with other writers. Maybe I have it backwards, but for some reason I fear judgment less from those who know what hardship and struggle writing can be; have fought and stressed and lost sleep over completing a single draft, and have a better understanding of how raw and far from finished any given piece always feels.
For the sake of critical feedback, sometimes you just have to bust out your cape and become the bold, the muscled, the soaring, The Great Impervious Ego! Taking criticism constructively and without offense, panic, or tears since 1988.
P.S. Today The Read Room broke 1,000 hits. Pardon me while I click my heels together…
Julie Israel 