How Do You Want Your Meal? I Mean Feedback?

When I first started out writing, I’d ask for critiques immediately after I finished a chapter. I figured it counted as my revision process (I said when I started out writing) and it would help me figure out where I want to go next.

Today, I read a post on the Ruby Slipper Sisterhood blog where the poster said

But my biggest piece of advice to anyone entering contests, or joining a critique group, or even sharing her manuscript with her best friend, is to not get so hung up on the reaction, either positive or negative, that it stalls your writing.

Now, I will admit, while I like honest, constructive criticism, sometimes a comment a critique says in passing could end up making me freeze up. It may take awhile before I go back to the manuscript and keep forging ahead. Or, I may keep working on the manuscript, but on the chapter I’ve already written and put up for review – I’m not moving forward. Instead, I’m stuck in one spot, focusing on that one sliver of a much longer work.

My current plan is to wait, unless I’m asking for very generalized feedback, on putting work up for critique until I’ve finished at least the first draft of the entire manuscript. I found it’s easier just to have the ms complete so I already know where the plot’s going, who my characters are really like, etc. When I get feedback, I know how to properly use/apply it because I truly know my story.

How about you – do you wait until you’ve finished your manuscript before asking for a critique or do you go with a chapter by chapter approach? What’s your process on receiving feedback on a wip/finished manuscript?