Thursday, December 5, 2013

What's your favorite review?

My favorite review of one of my books was in The Western Recorder of all places! The state newspaper for Kentucky Baptists did a review of "Playing Hide and Seek with God" long after I'd ceased being a"Professional Christian" indebted to them for a paycheck.

The review went something like this. "I read the first couple of chapters of this book and got so mad I flung it across the room and stormed outside! After I cooled down I went and picked it back up and finished it. This is not pleasant to read but it's a book we must read."

 How cool is that?

You can see why its my favorite.

I've got a notebook somewhere of all of my book reviews though I could probably find them all online. It's not something I think about though they were fun when the books were published. Other than The Western Recorder, I really don't remember them.

My first book "The Society of Salty Saints" got the most reviews and some woman gave a speech at a missions conference holding it up saying, "we need more Christians like this!" I'd already left the church when she said it and always wondered if she ended up leaving it too.

"Running with the Dolphins" got the next most though I got a lot of mail with that book. Some of it was hate mail! One wrote a letter saying what a lousy person I am and 22 other people signed it with her. I kept the letter and have it stuck in the notebook with the reviews.

Then after eight books in ten years, I stopped writing them.

I turned to social media and began to blog and post notes. The patterns of the way I write remain the same though I was overwhelmed at the instant gratification of feedback. In the old days, I'd wait forever for a review to appear somewhere. Now they're instant!

I also began teaching online classes for writers (www.meellc.com/writingworkshop ) coaching others in unleashing their stories.

Eventually I got around to writing an old fashion book again and relish in the immediacy of readers feedback and reviews!

What's your favorite book review?

How do you get feedback of your writing?

Does it work for you?