Meredith,
A very wise teacher once told me to "Write to express, not to impress."

For me, writing to impress constricts creativity. Creativity seems to have a memory kind of like body memory. When a pitcher throws his arm out, his conscious mind forgets the pain, but his body remembers. And from the time of the injury forward, without his conscious control, his body avoids that pain so his pitching is affected. I think the same principle applies to creativity.

The creative brain is weak because it is less exercised than the logical brain so it is easily injured. And when an injury occurs, without permission, the brain avoids incurring the pain again by becoming less creative.

Be careful that your critique group does not inflict pain that will constrict your creativity.

We all love your work and want to protect it-and you.
smile