Narcolepsy for the Agoraphobic Writer

Do you ever wonder if you are turning agoraphobic and narcoleptic at the same time? Sometimes I wonder if my writing is becoming more that way. Like lately, I have considered sending out some of my most prized work into the world of small publishers- such as those found on my small university campus, but I am seized by this sudden fear that it might be read. That's the point of publishing right? To have your work out there for the world to read. Maybe it is the fear that someone I know will read my work. They might associate me with my writing and by so doing, insult my writing because of the person who write the piece. Automatically, as the author, I wish I could kill the concept of the author so that whoever read what I wrote would disconnect me from it in all forms.
There is a secret fear possessed by many an author who has been rejected or judged for the things they create on a personal level. Where once I was OK to have my writing read in class, I now squeeze into a corner and Coward at the thought of having my story read silently, let alone read out loud with an audience. A co-writer friend of mine expressed she harbored this same contagious fear.
Wouldn't it be convenient if we could hand a person we loved a book and ask them to read it. After the fact, I might ask for their opinion, and after the opinion was revealed, peel off my skin and say, "Hey, I wrote this jim dandy of a book. Take it as it is."