On the one hand I desperately want my story to do well and I'm doing a marginally good job handling that. On the other hand I'm finding myself feeling very protective, maybe even possessive, over the stories for which I have cast my vote. Sheesh.
Everyone desperately wants to do well, even as you sit there and see flaws in your own work (at least I do) as soon as other people start looking at it.
Every negative comment or criticism can seem like a personal affront. I know I've found myself getting angry or annoyed at people that don't get something I thought was obvious or think something is an error that was intentional. It happens.
But you've got to take a deep breath and keep reminding yourself that people are giving their reactions, and most have the best interests of you and your writing at heart. When you give stories that need work to your grandmother or girlfriend etc. for comment and they can just tell you everything works fine, it can be good for the ego (oh sweet ego soothing) but not great for actually improving the story. When you know a story needs work but can't figure out how to fix it, this gets really frustrating. I find that heartless evil strangers are much better at tearing things down and helping figure out why they don't work quite right.
Try not to take the criticism personally. Even the harshest of us don't mean it as anything but explaining what we didn't like with the hopes that when it comes time to revise the story, that will be something to work from. This is why it's a good idea to take some time (months) before revising, to give yourself some distance from your story.
Anyway, we've all been there. Don't let it get to you too much!
