Sharing our writing with others is nothing short of asking them to watch over our children. This is our creation, after all. If we are serious writers, our longer works are a sacred portal to our souls.
The point is that we will receive a reader’s estimation of our work in direct proportion to 
what we poured into the work. Thus, the feedback we asked for, or did not ask for, can be somewhere between tenuous and foreboding, depending on our investment in that particular person’s opinion.
Here are some bits of advice to help you prepare for such a risk:
Be clear about your request.
If I ask someone to spend time with my “child”, I must choose wisely, lest my child return with a cheap haircut and gauged ears. If you only want a specific response to character development, or your use of dialogue, then say so. Tell your readers openly what you do not wish to discuss. If I do not want feedback on the format, plot, or the narration, I might as well establish that before they waste their time. I typically find that a reader presuming to fix mechanical edits is altogether unnecessary.
Never allow a single response to destroy you.
If you love your work, you must take the negative as what it is, just one person’s perspective. Your readers come to your work with all sorts of personal standards and preferences. Your work will definitely not be for everyone. Right-size this feedback. If you are not willing to further revise this work, consider their advice for future works. But do not tell yourself that their preference is right, nor wrong. Stay emotionally detached. It’s just more information.
Thank your readers.
When a reader takes that time just for you, to help you achieve your writing goals, and then they risk telling you their honest estimation of your work, you had better set that ego aside and thank them properly. As I express sincere gratitude, I realize that I am privileged to gain a reader’s insight. Even if I disagree, even if I feel a bit bruised, or even if they think it is absolute perfection, it is still just one view. I will learn and grow from their honesty. That’s the goal.
In the end, I could disregard criticism. I could also run with it endlessly. Accepting the experience my readers share with me is the bravest, and most humble thing I can do. Let us not forget, being brave and humble is a wonderful thing.
