Hype from friends feels great. Honest notes from one friend help more. Keep both kinds around.

Encouragement and feedback are different nutrients, and you need them at different moments. The group chat that tells you everything you make is brilliant keeps you going. The one friend who says the second verse is weak makes the next version better. Having only the first produces confident bad work; having only the second produces someone who stops making things.

Name your honest reader, the one who will tell you the truth kindly, and send them the thing before it goes out. Ask a specific question rather than for an opinion. Keep the cheerleaders as well, since they are doing a different job.