Never underestimate the importance of a good critique group.  Without one, a writer may simply flounder in a sea of words and ideas. A critique group can make the difference between a mediocre story and an excellent piece of writing worthy of publication. Without the support of groups I’ve belonged to over the years, I would not have six books and several short stories published.

If you are wondering if you should join a critique group, here are ten things about critique groups you should know.

1. Not all critique groups are created equal. You may have to try out a few to find one that works for you. The members need not write in the same genre as you, in fact it helps if there is a variety of writing being critiqued.
2. Park your ego at the door. Although it is nice to hear what the members like about your…

by Meg Dowell

For the first week of 2017, because of the new year, I did not write any articles. Clients either weren’t ready to assign them yet or they were having me work on other projects (because being a content creator means you get to write marketing emails too).

For many of you, this probably doesn’t sound like that big a deal. But you have to understand that the nature of my work resulted in me writing over 500 articles last year – that doesn’t include these blog posts. I write articles. It is what people pay me to do. And having already taken a week off of work between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, enduring another week without producing an article was like going without food: it was unbearable.

Hi, SEers! Happy Wednesday.

I wrote a post on my own blog recently about Amazon and reviews. If you’d like to read it, you can find it here.  That post was the inspiration for this one.

There are nine categories on the Amazon Community Guidelines page that dictate the rules for reviewing books (or anything else, I suppose). Some are just common sense. Others pose some problems.

For example, one of the categories is Eligibility. You must have spent $50 on Amazon before you are allowed to review a product.

• What about people who don’t have an account or have just opened one? (And before you laugh at the absurdity of that statement, you should know I know people who have family members buy things for them on Amazon because they don’t want to enter credit card information online.)
• What about teenagers who read the YA books their…

I recently got a book review that I didn’t care for. It was a five-star review, but one of the comments was, in my opinion, way off the mark. Which got me thinking…

• Why would the reviewer give the book five stars if it was lacking in some way?
• Why are there not better criteria for reviews?
• We need reviews as a mark of credibility, but how credible are the reviewers?

I’m not going to say which book of mine I mean or who reviewed it or what comment I didn’t like. I’m bringing all this up because I think we need to have a frank discussion about reviews. I knew I was taking that particular comment personally, so I decided to look at reviews of books I had no stake in. I looked at reviews of bestsellers. You know, books by household names that have hundreds of reviews.

It was…

Each and every day,

You hear of pain;

It’s a part of life,

Like sun and rain.

A young father shot,

A life suddenly ends;

Wife and children left,

For themselves to fend.

A drug addicts child,

Always left alone;

Of starvation dies,

He’s skin and bone.

An aircraft crash,

Kills all on board;

Each link with life,

A severed cord.

At first a death,

Is so surreal;

It’s permanency,

Is so unreal.

The first few days,

They go so fast;

The funeral,

In a flash it’s past.

Harsh reality,

When people leave;

And left alone,

Your loss you grieve.

Life is fragile,

Not guaranteed;

Make sure each day,

Is gladly received.

by Robbie Cheadle

Robbie Cheadle is the co-author of the Sir Chocolate book series together with her 11 year old son, Michael.

Follow Robbie Cheadle at:

Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle

Plus.google: https://plus.google.com/105609586198905397891

Since I got my butt kicked editing the hard-copy of my author media kit yesterday (the longer one I print out, not the one in the sidebar) I figure it will be the topic of today’s discussion. IT owes me that much!

I have slowed down my writing articles a lot lately so I figure we were due for one. I’ll discuss why I’ve slowed down at a later time. Anywho, the author media kit…

Though “It is always worth it” (See my most recent guest post here), that doesn’t mean it’s not important to focus on putting energy toward the right things (balance is seriously everything!) Energy and time spent directed toward the wrong thing is just as ineffective as no energy toward the work at all. Running into a wall will produce the same thing as standing still. It is insanity, repeating the same…

Apparently I am on something of an architecture kick. In addition to finding one of the most incredible library parking garages in the world, I’ve discovered a stellar bus stop.

Those are words I never thought I would type.

When bus stops come to mind, I typically don’t think of anything extraordinary. The stop nearest to my old apartment had no sidewalk leading to it, and though it was supposed to be a covered bus stop, the roof had blown off long ago. I spent many damp mornings there waiting to catch a ride into town.

One bus stop in Singapore is a little different.

In tandem with DP Architects, the Singaporean government has worked to create an experimental bus stop in the Jurong Lake District. The bus stop is intended to inspire people to take greater ownership of their community and features free WiFi, phone charging stations, bike parking, and…