My best friend & worst enemy...

One would think that getting a review back from a critic which is shinny and perfect is the best thing that could happen to an unpublished author... Right?

No. Not really.

When I send my MS to you, I want you to pick it apart until you see blood. Be merciless. Be insightful. Question everything.

Why? Because with that picking and the drawing of blood comes healing, which is a renewal of said parts you picked at. Gross imagery, but true none the less.

Out of pain comes transformation.

As all writers realize (hopefully): If you can't endure the pain of transformation, you need to stop asking for the critiques.

Now, this whole concept can be applied to other areas of life. But that is a more spiritually deep issue. We are allowed to experience things in our lives to gain a deeper understanding of who we are... or justifiably who we want to be… or who we should be. Ouch.

But back to the surface we swim.

The previous "shinning" critique I mentioned, is a writers worst enemy. It doesn't help the writer in any way shape or form. It's almost as if a man with a serious injury to his back heads into the Emergency Room. The doctor checks him over, ignoring the fact there is a gash as long as Long Island in his back, and says, "You look great!" The man does look great, but what about the gash? The man is bleeding to death! The man doesn't know what he can't see. So he needed the doctor to point it out.

Well, okay, maybe not exactly like that. But very similar.
In any event, what kind of blood are you drawing today for your fellow authorial friends? Just be sure to have gauze and Neosporin handy to help. ;)

(SIDE NOTE: I don't know why all my word pictures are gruesome today. Maybe it was because I saw some pretty interesting pictures of my FIL last night after he got bit by a horse. *shudder*)