On the other hand -- I try not to show my stories to the writer's group until I've gotten them as good as I can get them. Because once they've seen it, they've been burned. Never again will they look on it with fresh, new eyes of a naive reader. They won't be able to warn you that the revelation that John really is not the long-lost son of the king isn't sufficiently foreshadowed because they know it's coming. . . .

Life is full of tradeoffs.