I used to be terrified of showing my work to people. Sometimes, I still am. I know it\u2019s not perfect, I know what I need to change, I know it\u2019s crap. I wrote it just for me, for that piece of me that needed to see it existing in the world, and now I\u2019ll put it in a drawer and never see it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My time is worth more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the me I wrote that story for is worth more than an imperfect, not-quite-what-I-meant-to-say work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was in middle school, I had hair below my shoulders. You should know, as an adult, I have curly-wavy hair and a tight regiment of moisturizing haircare products. As a kid, I lived in the desert. And as a kid in the desert, we used Suave. We used whatever was cheapest and on sale, and that was Suave. So I spent many years with very dry hair that didn\u2019t like a hairbrush and eventually, I just gave up when I ran into a mouse-sized tangle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around Christmas that year, as we were waiting at the ice cream shop after the middle school winter concert, my mother got a good look at the now-guinea pig sized tangle on my shoulder. \u201cWHAT\u2019S THIS?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was a tangle I couldn\u2019t work out,\u201d I told her. \u201cIn September.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes we know we have a problem. Sometimes we even kind of know what that problem is, and we even know how to fix it before it becomes a huge issue. Sometimes we still need another person to say that they can see the problem, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, that\u2019s how you get a free chin-length bob in middle school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I used to be terrified of showing my work to people. Sometimes, I still am. I know it\u2019s not perfect, I know what I need to change, I know it\u2019s crap. I wrote it just for me, for that piece of me that needed to see it existing in the world, and now I\u2019ll put … Continue reading Community: Critique Partner<\/span>