Please don’t send me your stuff

Quick PSA: 

Unless I have an existing, mutually agreed-upon working relationship with you, please do not send me your writing for critique, review, or other professional feedback.

I don’t have the time to read your stuff, and I don’t want the legal exposure. Even if I did have the time to read your novel—which I don’t because my schedule is stacked with my own projects—I can’t look at what you send me because I don’t want to be on the receiving end of a future lawsuit that claims I ripped off your work in one of my own stories. 

(And no, I am not interested in writing a novel with or for anyone else, regardless of how amazing your idea may be, or how certain you are that it will lead to untold riches for us both. See the paragraph above about the legal exposure thing.)

I get such requests on a semi-regular basis, but they’ve picked up lately for some reason, so I am putting this out here to discourage future requests. This isn’t me pulling the ladder up and thinking I am too good to help out new writers. It’s to protect myself against copyright claims and to minimize the chances of someone showing up at my place one day with a framing hammer, a bunch of zip ties, and an unshakeable conviction that I stole their idea for a novel.