You've got this crazy notion to become an author.  You've written books.  You're proud of them.  You'd love to see a creation of yours in print, on a shelf in a proper bookshop...

The time's come.  You've got to let that baby go.  Someone else has to read your hard work, or you're not an author, and you never will be.  Trouble is, as everyone knows, ask for feedback and you'll get it!  Laying yourself bare can be petrifying, soul-destroying, confidence-pummelling.  My advice - choose that first audience carefully.  I picked someone I'd known nearly all my life; someone I trusted implicitly; someone I was certain wished me well and wanted me to succeed in my endeavour.  That way, I knew they'd approach my efforts with an open mind, and the criticism would be constructive.

Despite the relationship of trust, leaving my precious manuscript on my friend's sideboard and going home without it still felt as if I was abandoning a newborn baby in a hungry tiger's lair.  I barely slept for a week, and couldn't concentrate properly on anything until I heard from her.  Guess what?  She liked it!  But - there were comments, questions, suggestions...and, in my opinion, I have a better book as a result of that good-natured, enthusiastic, intelligent input.

To take the next step, from hobby to so much more, it is essential to thicken your skin and let go.  It'll sharpen and strengthen both your writing and resolve, and you'll learn from it.  I now feel a flutter of excitement when I share a piece of work with my carefully chosen 'Focus Group' for the first time.  Accept not everyone will like what you've done, but there's a pretty good chance someone will, and they're the start of a receptive audience, a following, a career.

Not everyone who decides to create a piece of art can see it through to completion.  Plenty fall by the wayside, especially when the process takes months or years, each second of your spare time, and every ounce of your mental energy.  Be proud of what you've achieved, stay true to the story you've written and the way you wish it to be told, and just write, right?