WORD: Read to a Friend

I am not the biggest fan of reading work aloud. I hate reading out loud, I don't have time to do it and have said so. But a late-night experience proved disastrous for my ego and fabulous for my novel, and I should eat my humble pie before it gets cold.
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My best friend was over and we were eating candy at 2 or 3 in the morning when I had the brilliant idea to read sections of my novel out to her. She was somewhat familiar with the story and I filled in whatever plot points we missed. And learned a few things.
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1. Stark writing, anyone? I'm a huge fan of both stark, to-the-point writing and writing a la E. Lockhart and John Green, full of witty repartee. Reading my novel out loud, I realized it failed to do either. There were so many distracting comments that served to make me feel smarter and the reader more confused.
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2. Funny bits are strange. She laughed at the parts I didn't think were especially funny. As in: my grand opinion of my own humor was way off. One of Jessica's authors recently posted about humor and voice (www.bookendslitagency.blogspot.com) and I recommend reading it.
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3. Don't think so much of yourself. I realized how much of my novel was pretentious, more like a girl writing for The New York Times rather than a girl writing a good book. Don't write for critics. Write for yourself, and then your friends, who don't put up with any bull and deserve a story as straightforward as a phone call.
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I have a lot of revising to do before my December 1st deadline, and I'm submitting three college applications today (eek!). But reading my novel aloud to a live human being helps a lot. If I read to myself, I'm not thinking as deeply as I should about what's wrong. So find a friend and subject them to some novel reading and promise to acknowledge them in the back of your book. I will.