I guess most writers feel the same but it sometimes seems absurd how protective I feel of my writing. Putting it out there feels like giving away a small part of my soul. (Y’know if I believed in the notion of a soul but I can’t think of an atheist version of this simile.) So waiting for critiques after I posted the opening to Choose Yr Future on Scribophile was an absolute agony.

It’s a strange experience. For one thing, I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think there was some merit in the writing so it takes a level of arrogance I wouldn’t normally display. On the other, it has left me a mess of self doubt over whether or not I was merely imagining that it has merit. These are the two extremes that I swing between.

On the whole, the response was positive and criticism was constructive which is how it should be. I know I would struggle being a member of an actual reading group but the virtual world means that I can be brave. Of course, not everyone will like what I write and I have to remember that this doesn’t necessarily make my writing bad. I don’t love everything I read and sometimes have the arrogance to wonder how the writer in question managed to get themselves published.

So now I have to review more work before I can post anymore of Choose Yr Future. I like the way Scribophile works. You build up points from critiquing others’ work so you can post your own. Remembering how you want your own work to be treated is a good benchmark for reviewing other peoples’. So far, it has definitely been a positive experience.