That's what makes listening to feedback so tough.

You know, I'm not sure this is true, at least not for all writers. For example, Beatrix Potter created the Tale of Peter Rabbit to entertain a child who was ill in bed, and Jean de Brunhoff created Babar for his own children. There are certainly writers who are driven by ego, and other by financial gain (or financial necessity; cf JK Rowlings and the first Harry Potter). But there are many ways to write, and some of them are clearly very other-oriented. > So don’t run away from that dynamic. Rather embrace. I agree, but for whatever your core writing motivation is, ego or not.