Changing the "Baby"

by Terri Ferran

I dressed up my "new baby" (my manuscript) and sent her out on her own last Saturday to face the cold, cruel world of Editing from those wonderful people who have agreed to read it and tell me the truth.

Mingled with the joy of actually finishing the manuscript, is the fear of having someone hate it; or liking it, yet picking it apart.

I mentioned my fears to my daughter, telling her it was like showing my real baby to someone and having them say "Cute, but it's cross-eyed" or "Did you notice its ears are crooked" or "It could use a little more hair" or "Your baby is ugly".

She explained that I was looking at it wrong; that it was more like a shower, where people might say "Here's a bow to make your baby prettier" and were giving me gifts to help my baby.

I realized that my biggest fear was that someone might say "Oh, your baby stinks! You need to change it!" Or worse, never want to hold my baby again.

Like many writers, I hate the criticism of my creations; yet I know I am a better writer because of it. I value the input from others, but find that I dwell too much on small negatives and not enough on the huge positives. I let the moments of glory be overshadowed by mountains of doubt--my own self-doubt.

My goal for this week--enjoy the shower of gifts and ignore the downpour of doubts!