| On Comments and Kind Words | |||||
|
|||||
|
A fellow eGenerations member recently reminded me that not many members bother to leave comments about the articles or journal entries they read. Another member suggested that positive comments are in order. That started my thinking about the joys of being appreciated and/or encouraged. Since on-line writing seldom pays in the monetary sense, the only rewards are what used to be called "psychic income": the good feelings we get from kind words. I thought of two recent examples: occasions when my spirits were lifted by positive comments. An Elders Tribune member commented as follows: 1. "I first saw your bio in Eons in March last year and asked you via email on Eons Website about writing memoirs. You made some suggestions, but I did not follow up on it until I saw your latest book on Seniorwriting. I ordered one from Barnes and Noble, and now I am almost done reading it, adding copious notes on the margins. I am encouraged by your blogs and the Seniorwriting book. And I am going to try doing it this year. It is going to be my project this year. I picked up a lot of ideas from the book and from reading all the links in your blog. "I enjoyed many of the articles you have written here and in your blogs, and will try to do many of your suggestions on writing my lifestory." I entered the Writer's Digest self-published book contest last year. Of course I did not win, but I loved the unidentified judge's comments. He or she ranked Reinventing Myself 5 out of 5 on both structure and organization, 3 on cover design (and I didn't even design the cover myself), and had no suggestions for improvement. While I fully realize that Reinventing Myself is not the outstanding self-published book among hundreds or thousands, I liked these comments: 2. "I loved her quote that "true genius is the ability to see patterns in things," by an author she couldn't remember. And what an amazing truth that is! . . . This is one intrepid lady, roaring around many countries on the back of a motorcycle. That had to be at least as scary as teaching college freshmen. She has been all over the world, she's a cat lady, has one of the most expensive mouths on the planet, and discovered her new life as a writer in a 25-hour story contest. I hope she lives a million years." Well, I have no interest in living a million years, but I appreciate the wish. The reference to my "most expensive mouth" refers to a chapter in the book entitled "My $30,000 Teeth." The cost has risen by now. This person is a great contest judge. He or she knows how to make the losers feel good! So--When you read a blog post or an on-line article or something else you really like, why not let the author know? If you hate it, maintain your silence. |
