Kicked in the nuts -- and it was good!

So I sent off my book to someone I trusted. She read the whole thing. Yay! The first person besides Loving Wife (who saw it still steaming and dripping ink off the printer) to read my book.

How'd she like it? She tore that MFer apart and slapped me upside the head with its bloody entrails.

Which is EXACTLY why I sent it to her.

Getting kicked in the nuts about something you have obsessed over for half a year isn't the most pleasant feeling in the world and the very first thing I thought when I read her email was along the lines of 'worthless, bloody hack'. And, indeed, I may be a worthless bloody hack, but within moments of reading her comments the first time through, I also knew she had hit upon those things that weren't sitting quite right but I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

The wrong character is the primary villain? Crap
It sounds like cheap fan fiction of a favorite author? Shit (but Yay for having someone compare me to Jim Butcher!)
Your world building is held together with spit and toilet tissue? Dammit.

But quite honestly, I am grateful. More than grateful, I am relieved. I am relieved that while what she pointed out makes for a lot of work, I immediately agreed with her assessment once it was laid out for me.

So, as is often the phrase in the writing world, I am off to kill my darlings. Because DEATH FOOF is going to get a major overhaul. And that is a good thing.

It's the best sort of kick in the nuts a guy can get.