I stumbled into a situation the other day that I’d never expected to come across. I’m not sure if it was foolish of me to think this wouldn’t happen, but I can’t see it being something I’d anticipate. Even now, I can’t imagine it happening again.
I’ve mentioned many times that I have a fantastic group of CP’s and beta readers who I swap stories with. Aside from that, I also have one non-writer friend who occasionally reads my novels. A few days ago, I sent them my most recently revised WIP.
This person was very complimentary with their feedback, which filled me with lots of warm fuzzies because I’m worried about this book. Intensely worried. But that’s a different post.
Anyway, then they asked me the unexpected thing. “Do you mind if I share this with a friend?”
Which right there is flattering. At least I thought so. But then my brain did this weird analytical-panic thing and rapidly cascaded through all of the ways that could go wrong. Most of them being innocent and unintentional, but still with not-so-great consequences.
My ultimate answer was “I’m flattered, but my answer is no.”
I don’t regret the answer – I still think it was the right thing to do. But I’m wondering what other people do when that comes up?