User blog comment:Clary Dragneel/Writing My Novel/@comment-5650583-20160220022056

I understand your point about writing for yourself vs writing for others. When you are writing a story, before anyone else has seen it, you write for yourself. But after someone else has taken a look at it (often a good way to proofread, by the way), then you begin to share your creation with friends, classmates, whoever decides to take a look at it.

In the end, it all comes down to whether or not you want others to see your work. Most of the time, you are your own worst critic, since you know all of the hours of proofreading and rewrites that went into the project. My advice is: Let others see your work. The worst that will happen is that you will learn from your mistakes, and your second story will be even better.