Thank you, Jennifer, for posting it in those terms, It puts into much clearer terms a distinction I have tried to make in the past, with only partial success: how constructive critique differs from movie, music, and book reviews provided for potential consumers. Teacher feedback os the kind of feedback for a work in progress, or at least a work stiull subject to revision. Reader feedback is a rating of a finished, immutable product; it judges whether the writing is worth spending money or time on reading it. Teacher feedback is NOT a rating. It may include a critics estimate of the potential of a piece, but the important part is WHERE the strongest and weakest elements are, WHY they are strong or weak, and HOW the weakest elements can be improved. Applied iteratively, it can result in any arbitrary amount of improvement, so any prohection of te value of the final product is meaningless. Teacher review is what we aim for here. Any piece of writing can be improved. One only must find where and how to best make those improvements. Reader reviews may be good for ego stroking, but they do not result in better writing.
Before you read the critiques, tell yourself that red is your friend. That the red marks you see are helping you to become a better writer, help you to refine your technique and master your trade. You're going to have to find a way to turn those negative feelings into positive (or neutral feelings at the very least). Best of luck. I'm not good with criticism either. Fortunately for me, I am my own worse critic.
I just wanted to make one point about ego to the OP; When you get upset at someone finding fault in your work it is a sign of an unhealthy ego, not a large ego. Rather, you are insecure about yourself, and thus your work becomes and extension of self. When someone attacks your work, you assume they are attacking you. Facing your insecurity is the key to solving your trouble.
Don't explode! I have a simple solution to your problem. It will either work or it won't. You've gotta find something else in your life that's so intense it turns the volume down on writing. And ponder on this: It's not only ok to be wrong, it's necessary. I tried.
