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I'll have to give this one some thought, since romance can occur anywhere!

Wow! Glad I can make a commit here without being a hater! LOL!

Many moons ago, we also rated chapters 1-5. I think during that time I left only one 1. Constructive criticism does no equal tearing another person down.  I had one person tell me that with my current writing style no one would ever read my work. The very work this person belittled was a semifinalist at the Faulkner Wisdom Competition and is now published. Your writing sucks can so easily be changed to I feel this might be better said this way and then rewriting a sentence or two. I am a holistic reviewer/editor. I do line edit and find grammar issues and nits. I also give honest thoughts on what I like or dislike about a piece and how I think it could be better. I also tell folks what they've done well.

Revenge reviews. Hey! I reviewed a person on site and read their entire story twice--through rewrites. This person read some of my stuff. But at one time this person made a point of excluding me in a list. I confess that it hurt my feelings and I mentioned that fact to another author. Well said person obviously still holds a grudge against me b/c said person must have blocked me from reviewing work on here, even though recently this person posted something and the title caught my attention. I would have loved to have read it. Their loss, not mine.

An inability to take criticism is a weakness, but some folks also need to learn how to give constructive criticism.

Friends? Yes, I made some of those too. A number of folks from here and I continue give and take via email and even phone calls. I might not have seen these people in person, but we have developed relationships. And a true friend will always be honest. But honesty doesn't have to be cruel. Is better to tell "Joe" he needs to start over with a better opening and then maybe make suggestions? Sure. But That doesn't mean you have to tell Joe to hang up any aspirations. Again--CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

Reciprocating--Well,yes, it should be done. I value as many reviews and comments as I can get. And I always reciprocate. I will get to your work eventually. Most people DO reciprocate. But I've had a few who did not. I've also had some folks who never replied to a review. If you don't reply or reciprocate after two or three times, well, I have other folks on here that I can read and get feedback in return. Would I block a person from reviewing my work just because he/she doesn't like it or gives pretty rough criticism? No. I would block that person if he/she were abusive in the way the gave the criticism. Of the people commenting in this thread, I've read a little Wilma Bailey, a lot of jack the knife, and the one piece that janet reid is posting.

Points? Well, if I have to have points to post, I'll read pieces that offer points. I've so far read a few "freebie" posts, but those few have yet to either reciprocate, probably because they don't have to in order to continue to post, or even acknowledge my reviews. Excuse me! I won't waste my time with folks who don't care to be a part of the group. I've found this site to be about give and take--not take, take, take.

So, that's my two cents worth on this topic, hopefully without the feeling of attacking anyone who commented previously. Oh, you might find a typo or two in this, since I'm not editing it before hitting submit.

I agree with Tom and Jack. Or put the newest first, like on a resume.

I never put my stuff out just on the net, not even Goodreads. The things I've had published are copyrighted before it goes to print. That's why I asked about certain sites overseas. Bokus.com, for example.

Here's another bug for you. When I review and there is a word or phrase in italics, it puts that one word/phrase on a line all by itself. It even then puts a period or question mark on a line all by itself. And this is not just one author, but lots. I know just today I read Ann Everett, Linda Lee, and PByrd and all of their work had this problem. That tells me it's not in their manuscript, but a site issue.

Okay. Reset and got them back, but the new one isn't there.

vsworld, told you Linda Lee was your gal!

Is there a way to share news & even add pictures on this new site?

I've never painted myself into a box that limits the words in a chapter. It takes as many as it takes to cover what I want in a chapter. I've had some as much as 7000 words and under the old site had to divide that. 500 words is not a chapter--IMO. That is barely an essay. I've also found after writing several novels now that my chapters tend to be somewhere around 2500 words. Fantasy and sci-fi chapters (Indeed, the novels themselves) tend to be longer than others. As for short stories, up to 20,000 words is still considered a short story. Then you enter the novella/novelette category up to 50,000 words. EVERY agent/editor/publisher I've worked with says a novel must be at least 50,000 words. Yes, any chapter that is 10K+ words is just too long for today's readers. Most can't fathom a sentence more than ten words long.

I miss Phyl too. I'll email JLiz, but don't have ways to contact the others.

Thanks, ladies! When I finish posting Whatever it Takes, I'll move to this one. Keep your eyes peeled. It's entitled Dyed Rosebuds and is another romantic suspense. It's the sequel to Wilted Magnolias which was taken down and sent to the Faulkner competition where it finished as a finalist.