Reviews

There is something special about waking up to find reviews of your work sitting in your inbox.  It's one of the things that I find so addicting about posting fiction online - the instant feedback.  I try to reply to as many reviews as I can - even the one liners - although my policy with one word reviews is to respond with one word.


I am ashamed to admit that I do not review as frequently as I ought to during my own scouring of the fiction sites.  I tend to read stories that are already finished, and so reviewing chapter by chapter seems silly.  I suppose that it is the stories that really grab my emotions and make me laugh or cry or rage that I find worthy of review.  I have to refrain from reviewing the less well written works, as I find it very hard not to be sarcastic when giving negative feedback.  Positive feedback is a lot easier!  Reading completed stories mean that there is no point emailing suggestions about the content of the story, so when I review if I feel the need for constructive criticism I confine myself to the topic of the author's general writing style.


The majority of the reviews that I receive contain general praise for the story, and a plea to update soon.  While all reviews are precious to me, the reviews where someone has taken time out of their day to write me a 'letter' in email form are my favourites.  I even wrote an epilogue to a story that I had considered complete in response to one review - the reader did not feel that the story was completely closed, and although it had been three years since I had written it, once I had read it over I agreed with her, and the epilogue was born.


I believe that the internet has given writers an opportunity to place our work, or sections of it, in the public domain for public perusal, and that that is something new and exciting that we should take advantage of, whether we are playing in someone else's sandpit or creating our own worlds.

Bike Racks

It is a continual source of frustration to me that Crawley has intermittent bike paths simply everywhere, and yet I still ended up locking my bike to a lamp post outside the doctors surgery today.  The other thing that annoys me is the bike path along Northgate Avenue continues to the front of the old library, and then mysteriously vanishes.  You have to navigate a very big roundabout and a busy road, before it picks up again, going the wrong way down a one way street.  Why it doesn't continue on down the front of the Town Hall?  The pavement's more than wide enough!  They even put down fresh tarmac recently, so why not paint a white line down the middle, rather than forcing cyclists to either dodge daydreaming pedestrians or tangle with some frankly rather scary drivers during the Saturday shopping rush.


The good news is that they've finally finished the external refurbish of Gales Drive shops, and they have now put the bike racks back!

Beginnings...

Beginnings are generally considered to be a sensible place to start, but when you are dealing with the internet, I'm not sure I really want to start from the very beginning of my life.  I'm not really sure what I want this blog to say about myself, but I know that academically this is a good place to start if a person wishes, like me, to become a writer.  It's a way of connecting with the readers, whom at this moment consist of two old university friends and my parents.  (Those who read my fanfiction, much as I love them and treasure their input, don't count).  Actually, that may be an unfair statement, as I truely believe that writing fanfiction has made me a better writer overall, and those who have chosen to give me feedback to help me improve my writing should surely be acknowledged.

Now I think I might be being a little too philosophical for a first post.

Re-reading the first sentance, I am not sure that my statement, that I wish to 'become' a writer is correct either.  I am already a writer.  It is one of the ways I define myself - as I also define myself buy my love of cats, my hobby of winding coloured wool into wierd and wonderful shapes and patterns, and my tendency to ride my bicycle.  I write, therefore I am a writer.  I am also both a published and a self published writer.  So far I have made more from the published, although as I never managed to actually put my cheque into the bank, it is more of a symbolic victory.  Still, it happened.  My short story was chosen, and the anthology 'Never Hit By Lightning' is up for sale, and achieved a favourable review on Literature and Latte.

Now, I begin a blog and offer my thoughts and feelings on life to the world for their perusal and discussion.  If you think about it, the internet is pretty terrifying.

To life, to life, l'chaim!