The inner workings of a troubled mind.

Review Time. Yipee!

It's raid time. For the next few days I will be knee deep in poems, short stories, and novels. I LOVE to read. If I could, I would do it all day and night. I also get to review them and that makes me nervous. When I first started reviewing I was afraid to tell someone their piece needed editing. I worried that it would discourage them and they would not want to write anymore. But as someone who craved feedback and writing advice, I offered suggestions in the most positive way I could. Being honest is best. Not everyone is going to like my work and I won't like everything I read, so I have developed some rules that I try to follow.

First I will say, that I rarely come across a piece that is terrible. I did find one with the worst spelling, but I think English is her second language. Many of the stories or poems I come across on this site are upstanding and beautiful. Many of them put my stuff to shame. I don't mind or take it to heart. There is always something to learn from another person. When I review a piece I am as honest as possible. Also I am as encouraging as I can be. I remember posting something that I thought funny, but someone thought horrible. They let me have it, with a page long list of things to fix or take out. I was so excited and happy, I must have thanked her six times in the reply email.

Around here, I am the only one who writes or reads. Trying to get my husband to read one of my poems or stories is like trying to get him off the couch when football is on. Impossible. Sometimes and this is rare, he will read something I wrote and his critique will go like this:

"It's alright." or " I don't get it." or " This is too long. I'll do it later."  That's all the feedback I can squeeze out of him. So when I get a long, in-depth and honest review, I couldn't be happier. Anyway, I am not that hard to please . Any feedback is good enough for me.

Oh yeah, rules. OK I hate rules, so loose guidelines is what I'll call them.

Treat others the way you would like to be treated. (If your the type who likes to be verbally abused, please go get help. I can't do nothin' for ya! And don't treat someone else like that, it's just not nice.)

Honesty is really the best policy. If I told someone I loved their story when I see plenty of grammatical errors and misspellings, that would make me a liar and would not help them get better. Consider your fellow writers here on WDC as friends OR even pen pals. Would you lie to your friend or would you tell your friend snot is falling out of his nose so he doesn't walk around like an idiot all day? (If your a practical joker, once is OK. Twice, is not cool!)

Offer suggestions to the best of your knowledge. I am not that great with grammar so I let them know first off.

Tell them what the first impression is and how the piece made you feel.

For poetry I have a checklist, and that is a great help since I am not completely familiar with all forms of the craft. I usually try to feel the poem and interpret it in my own way, then try and see if it is close to what the author is trying to communicate. Reading a poem aloud is a must.

Thank them for sharing their piece and leave them with an encouraging statement.

That's about it. If I think of anything else, I'll add it in another entry. If you have any suggestions, feel free to drop in and say so. Everyone is welcome here.

On another note, I entered my first contest on this site. It was the writers cramp and no I did not win. The prompt was to use five or six given words and incorporate them into a story in a twenty for hour time frame. I had three hours, so I wrote a story for my kids. My daughter loved it, so I am going to develop it into a mini series for her. This will give her something to do when she says she's bored. I'm planning to enter more contests soon
Anyone have any suggestions?