Work in progress

I've come to believe there's no winning when it comes to work in progress.

My policy, which I don't plan to change, is never to show it to anyone. No matter how far along I am in a book, regardless of how desperate I am for feedback, I keep the book to myself. Until, that is, I've finished my second draft, at which point I run it by Dave. Other than Dave, no one sees it until I turn it in to the editor.

The problem with this approach is that part of my mind constantly inhabits the world of the current work, so naturally I want to talk about this nifty place I'm living. I want to discuss the cool ending of the first chapter of Overthrowing Heaven, or this amazing place that figures centrally in the book, or, well, you get the idea. And, I want to talk about it without being the kind of tease I just was (though, I have to admit, being a tease can be fun, too).

So, why not talk about it?

Because doing so would create its own set of problems. For one thing, talking about a book or story almost inevitably colors the reader's perceptions of that work, and I want reader reactions that reflect only the words on the page, not what I've previously said. And then, of course, there's the fragile state of my writing ego. What if I show this draft to someone and he or she hates it? Would I be motivated to go back and change it? I certainly hope not, not unless the reader found a genuine problem, because I have to stick to my vision and trust in it, but I can imagine myself succumbing to this weakness.

There's no winning. I'm going to stick with my current policy, but every now and then it will bug me.