The Dreaded Feedback

I hate receiving feedback. I have put my work out there to be judged, and I feel all exposed, and I hate knowing that somebody hasn’t liked something about it! After all, my writing is me. I’m in my writing! I feel like I’m standing naked in a public square, being flogged for a mortal sin against humanity. 

I don’t know why I feel so bad or why I take it so personally. Somebody wise said somewhere on the internet:

"When a person criticizes your writing; they’re not criticizing you, they’re criticizing your work."

Additionally, feedback is a writer's tool. I have many friends who, being more open to criticism than I am, have actually improved a lot more than I have. I wish I could do the same. 

I wish I didn’t build up my story in my mind as the best story I’ve ever written, one that the world will take notice of. Of course, that’s why I write and without that feeling half of the fun of writing my own story is taken away. So, I don’t want to do away with that feeling either. 

I guess I just want to find a balance between feeling crazily obsessed about my writing while being able to detach from it when it comes to the revision stage-- no arrogance, no forced sentiment, just a need to create outstanding work. 

Writing is a subjective field. People may like it or people may not. I can’t please everyone with my writing, but then again, pleasing no one is obviously a pointless waste of talent. 

So, what do I do? I just take a deep breath, and plunge into the words of the criticism, then take a deep breath and see my story, again look at the criticism, again see my story, somewhere in that process, my emotions about my beloved piece settle down and I am able to think about my piece objectively. 

That's what I'm going to do again tonight. Hopefully, I won’t feel like I need a very big pit to sink into.

Here goes!