feedback, re-writing and all that fun stuff...

Trust the Muse. Trust the Process. Trust what you were given. I use "second-guessing" as a critical objective; not "Does this make sense to so-and-so and therefore everybody?" but "Does this scene work?". The advice that's valuable and not ego-shattering comes from precisely what you describe, which is a filtering out of opinions to see what the consensus is. My objective is to find that consensus, and I leave my ego out of it. This is the way advice-gathering and consensus- building has worked for me: people are revealing THEMSELVES in their responses, they are telling me a lot about THEMSELVES. Their individuated responses aren't telling me anything about MYself or my ability as a writer. That's how I can leave my ego out of it. You know, with my third script--my baby, my masterpiece--I was especially upset with negative responses on the first go-round (75 readers--and counting--are total FANS and four readers have HATED it. Just four. But they really upset me at first.) I was recounting to my mother the hatchet job one of these fellows did to the script and she retorted, "Tell him to go write his own damn script!!" Some of the best advice I've ever gotten! So: when you reveal yourself repeatedly, don't get bruised by these kinds of people, and laugh them off. Go for the consensus, then do THAT rewrite, and take it back to your fans. Who still like you and always will. That's my advice from my experience in this challenging field. cheers--Hilary Opinion?