Something To Talk About

I've been writing as much as usual recently, and had a class today, and still I find feedback hard. Today it was better than usual because it was done anonymously, and generally it seems people are too afraid to offend, they don't want to criticize your work in case you get arsey with them but not today. I got plenty of criticism, mainly telling me that they couldn't understand my poem, which is a brilliant starting point, but not really much advice on what I should do or a direction to take. Maybe I am expecting too much but I like to think the criticism I give is as useful as possible. I've got a few close friends in and out of uni whose opinion I trust and who help me the most with my writing. I contrived a sentence which I think sums up my attitude towards constructive criticism. It might be a little obvious, overly deep and what-have-you but I stand by it: If I can’t show my work to people I trust, whose opinions I value, who won’t lie to me, who will tell me what doesn’t work, who I will believe, then how can I ever achieve brilliance? Maybe my ego is once again getting in the way, maybe I am destined to be another Hemingway, so overly competitive, but for me I don't want to be a writer, I want to be the greatest writer. I am going to take everything, if I can.