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Hi Ali,

I am glad to meet you here, on WDC. I was trying to be a good boy and complete some M2M reviews, as I did not reach my recommended quota last month. My failing was for all the usual reasons, so with a healthy dose of guilt as my motivator, I decided to start earlier this month. I pulled up the active ‘Stars’ list and told myself I was going to read some postings and write a review.

Immediately I had the issue of whose port to look at, so, I tried to develop an action plan. You see, I can bounce around with great ease and never come to rest firmly on anything. The aforementioned issue can be attributed to the fact that I suffer from . . . not A.D.D. but, from C.F.B. (Crap for Brains), this ailment combined with the fact that the Rising Star pages are an ocean of material to look through and choose from; this combination culminates in vacillation. You see, crap often floats on water; this makes it difficult for me to settle in on any one thing.

None-the-less, I told myself, this time, I would use some rules:
First, we cannot review someone we have already used as a M2M review, OK good there.

Next, I thought that I would pick from a black case, so that maybe I would be somewhere close to the same level of expertise, Ok you have a black case too.

I decided that I would pick a member who actually used a name someone might normally associate to a human, as apposed to an abstract concept, Ok ‘Ali’ works.

I said to myself next throw a dart at the list, then read, and write for who ever it lands on, without concern for what the content, genre, or writing style! After I got back from the computer store and installed my new monitor, I started clicking on your pages.

Now, here is where the rub begins, you have a nice Bio Block, and unlike many others on our forum, you filled in information on your Biography page as well. Now, I am perplexed, because I know some things about you, and you are not some anonymous person in cyberspace. Ok, so now I must actually try to write something worthwhile as a review, I mean, my dearly departed mother taught me never to be impolite to anyone, but more especially someone you know.

However, there staring back at me, big as life, was your picture, a most endearing photo of an angelic young woman. Oh my, now I was starting to feel intimidated. Being that I am an old fat guy, that has four grown children of my own, and each is your senior by several years, my youngest girl is twenty-three and a fifth year senior at FSU in Tallahassee. This is a concern because, over the last thirty years, I have not found any combination of words that they could easily comprehend; I am told this is because they stopped teaching ‘The art of Talking with Old Farts” back in 1989. Therefore, I sometimes have difficulty communicating with young folks, if anything I send you starts to sound like gibberish, it is not your fault, I am just outdated and like many of my computers just to obsolete to warrant spending any money on upgrades.

I was pleased to see that you have a wide variety of postings, with many different subjects and genre twists. That is, I was pleased . . . four hours ago! That is when I started reading, and I soon found that I could not stop myself from clicking on the next item in your portfolio. I was desperately trying to find something that was not so outrageously wonderful, something, that I could sound even moderately intelligent in making suggestions for. Nevertheless, posting after posting you wrote page after page of interesting tidbits, shared experiences, and insights into your psyche. You say that one day you want to become a journalist. But, I say that might be too dangerous for the world, we would not get anything accomplished, because we would all be standing around at the corner magazine stand waiting on your next printed page of news and gossip. Please study political science or take up Law you can then run for president, this way we could finally have some reason to hate you, thus making you less goddess like.

The aforementioned not withstanding, you are masquerading in your Black bag, I do not understand why the powers that be have not promoted you to the status of Preferred Author, you so deserve the yellow case. Wearing the correct uniform makes it easier for myself, and the others like me to understand why your stuff is so much better then ours.

Now there were many posting that I wanted to write about but I decided to pick this one, your Writer’s Compass piece because it is amazing. You managed to illustrate the most basic concepts needed to apply to our craft, in the most concise outline I have seen. Mind you, I have been trying to learn this stuff for a long time and have looked at a lot of information; I have three whole bookshelves devoted to this one subject. Your compass is hands-down the best . . . what a noobies needs to know project out there. I cannot believe I have not seen it before, why isn’t it required reading for noobies, or why is there not a link to it on the sites front page. (If, there is any Staff or Moderators out there, are you listening?)

Oh and you are running a forum on the subject as well, Supergirl that’s who you are!
Anyway, I guess you may have an inkling that I liked your work. I am going to join your fan club and watch you very closely. (Check that, more correctly, I will monitor your progress from afar, I don’t what to sound like a midnight stalker) I will be adding your Compass to my list of tools to send to our fellows whenever I need to send them an encouraging example of writing tools.

I know my review may not add much to your sea of knowledge. However, perhaps, if today the outside world has not been as kind to you as it should have been. Then, maybe my adorations will encourage you to know, that if everything else in your life turns to fertilizer, you can always find solace in your writing, it is on par with the best of your peers.

Joey C.