My latest is out with my first wave of betas.
*gasp*
This part is always more nerve-wracking to me than sending stuff to agents, for some reason. I guess it's easier to write it off if it's an agent, someone I don't know, than someone I do.
There's a lot of trust that goes into letting someone else read and critique your work. I mean, you have to open your writing up to them and take the chance that they may not like it. And since they know you, there's the paranoia that "may not like it" may translate into "thinks about how sucky a writer you are every time you see each other from now on". Oi.
Luckily, I never have to worry about thinking my crit partners are judging me like that. But it doesn't change how nervous I get when I send my work out.
Especially work that I am particularly attached to. Which, for me, tends to be everything I write. :)
So in the meantime, I try not to think about it too hard. I mean, what can I do? Nothing. I already did everything I could. And I WANT my betas to read it, whether they like it or not. Because if they don't like it, they can help me make it better. And if they do like it, they can help me make it better.
Either way, I get better as a writer. And I get to read some pretty awesome stuff in return!
How do you cope with beta nerves? Is it worse for you to send it to friends/ crit partners, or agents, or editors, or anyone else?
2 comments:
Ah, this is all so true. Sometimes I think it's harder to send to friends because of the "what if they hate it and they don't want to tell you because they like you" fears. But other times, the agent/editor is the tough one because it "counts" so much more.
Showing my stories to anyone is rough. If I had to choose, I'd say the hardest (so far--there's a lot of this path I haven't trodden yet) is sending the full to an agent. I've only done it twice, both times filled with utter terror.
But yeah, beta readers (especially new ones who've never read my stuff before) is pretty scary too.
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