Hi Joan, Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!!

Oh, wow, that’s a pet peeve of mine, too! I read a couple reviews like that on a book that a friend wrote (an outstanding book btw) and it really irked me that people criticize a book for including something that was obviously mentioned on the back cover synopsis. It’s not the authors fault if the reader didn’t read what the book was about. lol

Merry Christmas to you, too, Patricia. Always great to hear from you!

I thought about this a little more and it reminds me of what I told an outstanding employee who worked for me years ago when I was a manager of a bookstore. She hated when her co-workers slacked off or were not holding up their end (in her opinion) and she drew attention to herself and caused herself to stumble by continuously complaining about the other employees to the point it didn’t matter how great a worker she was because she was causing so much friction and disrupting her own performance (as well as others).

I told her not to worry about what others were doing (or not doing), because if they aren’t taking care of their part it WILL catch up to them, and besides, if others slacked of it only made her performance look even better (if she let it) which could result in a promotion for her.

The cream always rises to the top and as writers it is NOT our job to become the gatekeepers. Becoming gatekeepers and getting upset with what others are doing will only hurt OURSELVES. Frustration is an enemy within and 9 times out of 10 we create our own frustrations, when if we just focus on what WE are doing ourselves we can free ourselves to do the best that we can do.

Don’t worry about slackers, in the end it will catch up with them without your help, and sometimes what we perceive of others isn’t as accurate as we think. One of the people the employee complained about is now a high performing executive and the one who complained, well, I don’t know whatever became of her…

In all my years I have never met someone who overly worries and complains about the performance of peers become better for it, ever. The opposite always seems to happen. That moment of feeling release when pointing out flaws is quite deceptive.

Just food for thought.

Linda – I read your comments and although i haven’t read the book you are speaking of, I have seen similar reviews of sloppily written books. Poor grammar, too many cliches, misspelled words, etc. And these books get four and five star ratings. I won’t hesitate to call a book what it is and point out such things. Perhaps this writer has many “friends” whom she promised something in return for a good review, or your theory is correct.

However, may I encourage you to keep writing? Take this book (or any other sloppily written one) and use it for the positive. Say, “I can do better than that!”

I am also hoping for publication this upcoming year.

One of my pet peeves is when I read a review on Amazon and the reviewer criticizes the book simply because they didn’t like the genre. (I see this often when someone reads a Christian fiction book and they “claim” not to have known it was Christian before they bought it.) Hello! Read the fine print and don’t be critical just because you don’t agree with the author’s viewpoint.

Hope you and Joan have a Happy New Year!

Bryan, thanks for your thoughtful response.
I have given this several days to think on and here is what I have come up with so far.
First, I do NOT knock a book or a writer just because I don’t like the book or identify with the style of writing. I pass books on or delete them, but don’t get angry or critical. I DO have issues with writers who publish their books with sloppy grammar and incoherent sentences! On the one hand this could be because it demonstrates lack of respect for the reader who tries to insert the lacking punctuation in an attempt to understand the words. It could be because it shows a lack of respect for the industry as a whole, as a careless nurse or reckless cab driver reflects poorly on their fields. It could be because it is a waste and misuse of a talent and gift because a gifted writer (in the case I mentioned the story was good, the book could have been very good) because the writer was too lazy, unconcerned, whatever to clean it up. In looking over the reviews regarding this book it does appear that most of the glowing reviews are written by people who reviewed only one book and used very similar terms….I have theories!
However, as you pointed out, it is not about this book, but about me. I am left to ponder if it is not even more of a waste of talent to bury my work because it is not perfect. I think the anger is actually because the ARE doing what I lack courage to do, putting myself out there in all my imperfection.

I wish I wrote fiction because it would be less scarey to put out a book of fictional people and places than what my writing is about….life. Messy, confusing, wonderful life!

So, thanks. I Hope I publish too.

Hi Linda,

Obviously I can’t comment about the quality of the other person’s work because I have not read it and I don’t know what it is. But I do think you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph.

The thing that usually angers us the most as creatives is when someone else does something we want to do, but we are holding back for some reason. Then when we discover the other person isn’t as good as we are, or has some flaws, we see those and say to ourselves ‘see this is the reason why I am not rushing into it, or I haven’t done it yet.’ But it still angers us that the other person did do it and it gets worse when we see that they are succeeding.

So, I don’t think the issue is with the other book or the quality of the writing, it may have more to do with the fact you are holding back. A good rule of thumb is to never compare yourself to others, whether they seem better or worse. It will likely just give you another reason to stall. When we compare ourselves to others we all tend to follow a pattern, which is to call other people who liked it (or disliked it) liars, that they are deluding themselves and that they are just coddling etc. When really, it has nothing to do with them either. I could ask you to consider that maybe, just maybe, the other reviewers were sincere and genuinely liked the book. What would your reaction be? That they are idiots? Or, that maybe there’s something about the book that appeals to them, but does not appeal to you?

So you see, it’s rarely about other people, their work or what other people say about their work. It’s about ourselves. You don’t have to like a book or even think it is well written, especially if it is not, but you have to try to be honest with yourself about why it angers you so much. When you have THAT answer then you can solve the real issue. That’s just my thoughts on the matter. I hope you publish your work!