Book Reviewers

I needed to write this in response to some of the attacks on reviewers I see happening now days. I wanted to put my two cents in the pile. I wanted the men and women who review my work to know how I feel.

So here's a little history...


I remember the feeling I had when I completed my first short story. I was 13 years old and writing the end on the last sheet of loose leaf paper brought on a huge serge of I'm-the-shit. I sat in the corner of my bedroom and read the damn thing over and over and over again.

I was so super proud of myself...

Then I wanted others to read it (we begin to approach a problem) not an easy task. My mother read it and hugged me. She corrected the spelling and frowned at the penmanship, but she thought it was good. Real good! (She's always been biased.)

After my first critical review...(lol) I could not find another soul to read it or at least listen to me read it.In the summer of 1990 people had other ish to do. I was sad but did my best not to let it show. I recieved so much rejection in those first two weeks of summer that I tucked the little story away and never pulled it out again.

I didn't stop writing, I just stopped showing.

fast forward to1994. I wrote a poem called suicide and showed it to my English teacher. She loved it so much she entered me into a writing competition, and I won the whole damn thing. I could give a flying fck about the certificate and ribbon... people read my work, and they liked it.

Cloud Nine!!!!


I soon found that it was a rare occurrence. People in my circle didn't have a lot of time to read the scribblings of a tortured teen, so I learned to stop asking. However, being read has always been my deepest desire.

which brings me to my point.

To all the reviewers in all the lands I thank you! I pour my heart into my writing--my naked soul can be found in my words. I am overjoyed with your reviews... good, bad, or indifferent.

YOU ARE READING MY WORK, AND THAT IS ALL I TRULY EVER WANTED!!!!


until next time
Julia