Imagine my surprise this morning while I craned to listen to NPR’s All Things Considered as I brushed my teeth. I sort of have this unnatural ability to wake up just enough to recognize when something of interest might come out of my radio. And if I hear Susan Stamberg’s voice, all thoughts of teeth brushing or showering must be put on hold.

Oh, back to this morning....Lynn Neary’s words about “first reader” and the sometimes bizarre rituals we writers go through caused me to sit quietly as she aired a story about Ann Patchett’s first reader: her friend and writer Elizabeth McCracken. Both women were interviewed and it was a bit of a gush-fest. It was easy to see that the piece was a public relations effort to announce Patchett’s new book, Run. There was also a review in the NYTimes this morning.

What caught my ear was the discussion of the opening chapter in which a statue of the Virgin Mary is described in great detail and it’s that object that becomes a focal point of the plot; who is next in line to have it after its owner dies? Funny, but that was part of our discussion last night at Reading as a Writer as we talked about Howards End and how the act of Mrs. Wilcox leaving the house to Margaret helped set in motion a twisty-turny (yes, that’s now a real word) story.

The need for a trusted reader to tell you what’s good and what’s, well not good, is vital for all of us.

I definitely have a posse of first readers that I force to read my early drafts--especially when I know there’s a problem that I can’t quite identify. For sheer honesty, it’s my partner who, when she stops reading and looks up at me and says, “Wow, that’s an amazing sentence,” I wear a smile for the rest of the day.

And then there are my long-distance readers who get the most unorganized drafts because I don’t have to see them face to face when they tell me what has to be rewritten.

There’s also my workshop group, and....I suppose I do have a lot of people I share my work with and for me, it’s proved a blessing. (Except for that one incident....)

Who is your “first reader?” And how far along does the draft have to be before you’ll share? And be honest!