Writing and trust. They go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong

Every time I send out a manuscript, either to a publisher, agent or a beta reader,  a sense of fear grips my heart. Not necessarily because they won’t like  the work  (I can handle that with a chocolate binge), but because I never know if they will like it too much and steal my idea or even the story altogether.

As writers we need to trust others not to pilfer what we have created. A few writers may go the curse or voodoo way and put a little something on their work before sending it out, I’m just kidding. But who knows? The majority of us have to close our eyes and step out in faith that the individual we are sending our work to will deal with us honestly.

What is the guarantee that honesty will prevail? None. When people send me their work I feel proud and honored. I think to myself that either this person trusts me or they will be able to track me down and kick my ass if the need arises.  I think for the majority of writers this trust goes two ways. We wouldn’t want to break someone’s trust nor would we want someone to disappoint us by betraying our trust.

By the way did you recognize the adapted Grease song in the title or did you think I was making stuff up?

How do you handle the situation of sharing your work with others?