Two months into my regular visits to this site, I’m starting to get.opinionated.:)
First off, what a great site! The reviews have broadened my horizons, stretched my mind, and taught me SO much in such a short time. Suffice it to say, I’m hooked.:) In addition to the wonderful personalities(read: motley crew!) behind the words, it’s a treat to see such talent in the myriad of writing styles and voices. Part of the beauty and magic of the written word lies in its ability to convey what lies beneath the surface. When I read reviews, I slip inside people’s minds and see the world through their eyes. Often, I glimpse hearts/souls. I don’t have to agree with people/opinions in order to respect them. The Internet makes the world a very small place, and we have a lovely community of world citizens here on MouthShut.
Next, my fast-developing quirks. Seems like everyone else has them, so here are mine:
Ratings/Stars/Trust: Read Dr. Seuss’ excellent children’s book The Sneetches. It’s about two’kinds’ of people, one WITH stars on their stomachs and one WITHOUT. The ones with stars think they’re better than ones without, and the ones without are jealous. So then, the ones without stars get stars, which prompts the ones who originally had stars to remove theirs. New standard: it’s better to be without. Get the idea? (I’m buried under my current manuscript-in-progress, but when I come up for air, I’ll write a review.)
My point is this: Life’s short. Just do your best and let the chips fall where they fall. Focus on putting positive energy into the universe and watch, it’ll come back to you.
Spelling/Punctuation: I’m developing a neurotic twitch every time I read the following in a review:
I instead of I
u instead of you
ur instead of your
r instead of are
coz instead of because
Along with a host of other abbreviations, I particularly cringe at sentences that begin with lower case letters. I think this is fine for informal writing, such as the Comments section(yep, I’m already anticipating the comments/M2Ms I’m going to get after this confession:P), but basic correct spelling/punctuation elevates the professionalism of the site. Plus, we do have this handy-dandy’MouthSpell’ built into the MouthShut system.
That’s it. Tried to keep it short and sweet.:)