Meet this reviewer

Open for dialog

I write this to help you feel more at ease with my review and to share a bit more about myself and my motivations for reviewing.

As an eighty-four-year-old college dropout, I love to write because it allows me to revise my thoughts. Experience has taught me the value of erasers. Unlike speaking, which offers no way to retract words once spoken, writing allows me to refine my ideas. Have you ever wished that a spoken word could fly back into your mouth and politely disappear? There have definitely been many times when I wished that were possible!

My port is a massive mess to me because I neglected it for years.

Editing is a tedious chore that I gleefully let slide. "It's more fun to get an idea and run with it!" I think all writers feel something extraordinary when they can see their story, or a poem, has made it from their brain to the paper, or most likely the screen before them.

You could honestly call me lazy. It is so easy to procrastinate.

My eyes are too close to the page to see my own writing clearly;

I must administer these self-tests now.

1. Is what I wrote readable? (Language clarity)
2. Does it flow smoothly? (even transitions from one thought to the next)
3. Is it easy to follow? (with no appealing exits that take my reader somewhere I never intended)
4. Does it convey what was on my mind? (choice of words, nuances)
5. Did I write a real conclusion, or does it just stop and leave my poor reader dangling?

Why do I review others? I hope to :
1. Help them avoid a few of the mistakes I have made.
2. Encourage others to take a little time to make their work as good as it can be at that moment.
3. Help pass on a few tools that I have accumulated to make that possible.
4. Then, I honestly hope to encourage the people whom I review to return the favor.
5. Having help to complete the monumental task before me would mean so much.

Each one of you has a unique viewpoint. A review from you offers a fresh perspective on my work and helps me learn.

I believe that no piece is ever finished; I strive for perfection. It is difficult for me to let go sometimes Until we can transfer our thoughts directly from brain to brain, no communication will ever be perfect.