Writers write. We rewrite. And edit. And rewrite again.
It’s hard to know when a piece is done.
Walk away, come back later with fresh eyes.

Then rewrite, edit, rewrite again.

Sharing with readers, submitting to journals, entering contests, uploading files for publication…
Pressing that “enter” key can be quite intimidating.

Are you sure? Surely sure? Really truly sure it’s the best it can be?
Maybe one more read through.

Once “enter” has been hit, we want to be done.
Need to be done.
Have to be done.
ARE DONE.

Wanna read something I ALREADY SUBMITTED TO A CONTEST?

Okay…
You missed a word here.

What?
No. I fastidiously edited this piece and the word in question was there and removed because a) it’s implied, b) it’s clear by the next sentence what is meant (hey, here’s an idea, read the whole thing before commenting!) and c) that word has very few synonyms and is necessary in more important parts of the story.

I didn’t ask for a critique on this piece I’VE ALREADY SUBMITTED; I wondered if you wanted to read it. Because I like it, I think it’s good, and maybe we can discuss. Keeping in mind, of course, that it’s ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED.

Writers have enough thoughts, ideas, deadlines, and doubts swirling our brains. We don’t need more things clogging the drain.

So, yeah, premature unsolicited crit after the fact is definitely a top twelve pet peeve.

Next week’s pet peeve:
Submitting to contests, journals, or other collections and receiving NO RESPONSE.
Is an auto-reply of “Thank you for your submission” too much to expect?

Just kidding. About posting more pet peeves, not about the non-response. Grrr.

That could be a thing, though, you know? I just made up #12, but I bet with YOUR help we could easily compile a list of Writer Pet Peeves!