Blog Chain - Can You Handle It?

This round's topic was chosen by the lovely Alyson who wants to know:

Have you developed thick skin as a writer? How do you handle having your work critiqued? 

Do you love revising? Hate it?

You know, my gut reaction to this was "of course, I've got thick skin! You have to!" But really....a bad crit or review hurts just as much as it ever did. The way I react to that has changed though. Now I give the sting a little time to wear off and then go back and look at everything again. Most of the time, with the emotional part out of the way, I can understand (and often even agree with) where the person was coming from. And I can make revisions accordingly.

I love getting crits because sometimes it's really hard to see the problems a ms might have because I'm so close to it. And by that, I don't mean that I'm overly-attached to it. I just mean I'm so used to the words and story that I sometimes just don't see the problems. But I no longer just edit everything that a crit brings in. If the critter makes a good point, or if multiple critters all point out the same thing, then yes, I'll make the change. But if it's a change that I really don't agree with (even if it's coming from my editor) I go with my gut. Being open to making changes, even drastic ones, is very necessary. But you'll never be able to please everybody so I instead of blindly changing everything that is marked, I think good and hard about it and try to make sure the changes I make are the best for the story.

I LOVE revising. It's my favorite part of the whole process. I actually have a really hard time with the first draft, that initial "get the words on the page" stage. But once I have some material to work with, I do really well. Even if I'm completely rewriting a scene or adding a totally new chapter. I'm a fast reviser and can usually do even fairly extensive edits very quickly and can happily work on them for 10+ hours a day. It's that dang first draft that is torture :)

How about you? Is your skin crocodile thick? How do crits go for you? Do you like revising or do you need a Valium when it's time to edit? :D

Be sure to stop by Demitria's blog to see how see handles these things and check out Alyson's blog tomorrow!