Shouts From Down Under

Surfing mountain bikes but still no perfect wave...

Today has been gloriously hot, and some of the camping neighbours have packed up and gone, just as the weather came sunny. They've had two weeks of bad weather.

I've been seeing a few reviews lately that are a little empty of anything positive except a bit of lip service. I feel for the writers when they read this, and yes, there probably is a lot to be pointed at and corrected, but none of that will get through to them if they feel like a hopeless git of a writer before they've read even half way through the review.

It has to be said that the mistakes glare at us reviewers like headlights on a dark night, and I'm the first to have four fingers pointing back at me in this.
When I begin a review I have to slow myself down. Stick the mistakes and what not into the mistake section, but concentrate on my feelings, relevant to their title, their blurb and the general flavour of the piece. If I feel a stirring, even slightly, in my feelings and it's because of their writing, well you know, that's a great thing and should be pointed out.

We don't have to feel we are bad reviewers because we may have skipped over a bunch of bad stuff. It's ok. The world won't end, and nobody is going to call the police.
They'll learn it gradually, and learn it a lot better and far deeper than shouting their mistakes at them. Or even saying it friendly but way to much and way to many.
They get it. They know they'll have made mistakes, and I never knew until recently that it was considered a naughty thing to do, to line by line review. I mean, I thought that would be doing people a favour if anything.

I was asked to do one like that a while back. To review every single line and comment. I did it but never heard another thing. I have no idea if the person was offended, was ok about it, was neutral, or perhaps just simply hasn't been online. Doesn't matter, but I now realise from other comments elsewhere, that generally, unless someone asks, you don't critique every single line and word.

Anyway, that's all for this blog, and i'll post some pics of a Tassie / Australia beach and camping site. Our gear is a tad rough some of it, and more suited to bush roughing it, but it doesn't matter. If people look down their noses at our old equipment and strange gazebo etc well good for them. At least someone's interesting around here



Sparky