Reviewing with River

Like the three responses before mine, I too agree with the posted statements. Criticism is difficult to swallow after you've labored and poured your heart and time into something. Just like kids, writers need to be 'caught doing it right', 'caught being good'. Praise and reinforcement can be quite motivating.

In my reviews, I do tend to be rather detailed and a bit of a 'grammarian'. After almost a year on WdC, I've started to scale back my comments related to grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, etc. For a few who have expressed appreciation and interest, I've provided more detail regarding correcting errors and room for improvement.

Even when there are several compliments, I think it's natural that we each focus in more on the one or two errors pointed out by a reviewer. As we all try to help others become the best they can be, it's important to keep striving for that perfect balance between complimenting the strengths and helping with improvements. We'll each fall short of becoming all we can be if we're never guided regarding possible improvements. Still, with most of our reviews, we do not know our audience when completing reviews...we don't know their sensitivities, their past experiences, their focus or aims overall as a writer, etc. This makes it essential to temper our well-intentioned advice with a heaping of compliments.

Keep aiming for that 'perfect balance'...

Keep writing!

Ruth Rodgers
RRodgersWrites