I do write myself, and I don't show it to other people, simply because I've never yet written anything I'm happy enough about to show others. If I ever do, I will try to listen to criticism and learn from it, however unpleasant I find it, just like I had to do through my 'A' Levels and my degree. Where do these people get the idea from that criticism is bad?
Well, if they are American they get it from being raised and schooled that way. Precious can never do wrong and we'll just pass you along.
I write stories and bad poetry ... but I know that my end results aren't all that great .. I write for myself and, sometimes, for my kids. Then again I don't push for accolades or anything beyond an email link on the page (mainly for "it's broken!!" not for "Oh my gawd that was cool!").
When I was writing, back in my webtv days, I was a member of a club/newsgroup where we would post our stuff. No one but me ever actually critiqued the stories. It was all "cool!", "great job!", and "more!". I, on the other hand, would spot big (1) grammar mistakes, mistypellings or dropped thoughts (where an idea was started but not finished). Before I could point that out I would first be sure to drop compliments .. elsewise my messages would have been ignored.
I always wished that others would have done the same for me.. because an honest evaluation of my work would only have improved the final outcome.
To get back to the sims.. I'm getting ready to put up some walls, floors and maybe a bit of recolored furniture. I know that this stuff is Oh So Not great .. but I do want to share. I do love being part of a community and I enjoy giving back just a little, especially compared to how much I've "taken" over the years. Gives me the warm glow of belonging that webtv gave me in days of yore.
~misty
(1) huge glaring mistakes because I really suck at grammar and the intricacies of most of it escapes me.