Oh gosh, I hate when folks read over my shoulder as I write. I, too, find myself quite embarrassed about my novel writing rather than my poetry. I suppose it has to do with the fact that poetry, in a very cheap blanket statement, is not easily 'judge-able' due to its general lack of an easily 'followable' storyline or understandable, clear idea one can catch with a skim-over. On the other hand, novel writing and the like involves (again, generalizing here), concrete concepts most folks understand or have experienced that we, as writers, are all busy trying to make uniquely our own. I care so deeply about my interpretations, but what if that stranger thinks it's 'dumb' or doesn't do the subject justice. Or worse, what if they simply think it's poor writing?! Sometimes I am even embarrassed without the stranger over the shoulder, as I am concerned that what I am writing is so utterly important to me as I sit alone that I might be delusional, and it might be worth shit to someone else. Let me re-iterate that I don't believe poetry OR prose is one particular thing (easy or hard to do, easy or hard to understand, etc)... I fear a backlash if I am misunderstood. I just mean this all in a very generalized way. And truthfully, I have only two ways of personally coping with this embarrassment. A. I keep my font tiny when typing in public, with an extra tab always at the ready to block my work from those wandering eyes who bother to squint past the font size. B. I remind myself that 90% (or some other arbitrary percentage) of the people who do happen to read my work over my shoulder have no experience or interest in creative writing, so to them (I tell myself...) my work is probably pretty impressive, even in a seemingly worthless first draft. I suggest you remind yourself that the mere fact that you make an effort to work on your art makes you worthy of a pat on the back from whomever gets the privilege of reading, or even glancing.