Of course, why I review depends on which reviews we’re talking about. The books and CDs that I review for TitleTrakk are part of the deal. I get free book/CD, I write review and keep book/CD and get a clip. That’s pretty straight forward.

The other reviews however, are all me. The CDs that I review on BandVox are just because these are bands that I love and I want to see them succeed. I get a lot of thank you notes from the bands which makes me feel great- but mostly I just want to spread the word around.

The Writer’s Reviews that I post up here are for another reason. I’ve already addressed a few in an earlier post, mainly that I was frustrated with not being able to properly express how I felt about a given book on my TitleTrakk reviews because they were written for readers rather than other writers. But that’s only part of it.

I’ve been reviewing for so long (has it really only been a year?) that I’m not longer able to just sit down and enjoy a good book. Or a good movie. Or a good CD. My mind won’t quit and constantly takes notes. Part of that may be from all of my study on the art and craft of writing, but part of it is definitely because I have to pull apart the varying elements of each story for the ones that I’m supposed to review. And my mind just won’t let me rest until I put that gathered information to some sort of use.

The other reason, is because I’m an aspiring novelist, and so are most of the people that read this blog. The rest already are novelists. Either way, we’re all working at improving our writing. So, say your crit group is telling you that while your protagonist is fascinating and loveable, she doesn’t arc well, and neither does your story. You know what the story is in your head, so you need an outside example so that you can see it from someone else’s point of view.

So, you think “didn’t WordVixen review a book like that last month?”, and you search through my reviews and find it. Aha! Perfect! Lovable character, fun to read, lacking arc. And now you know the perfect book to check out to compare to your own work. You read it, notice where the story falls apart in the other person’s novel, and a lightbulb flashes.

Obviously, none of this is likely. But it does make me feel useful. I may not succeed everytime- probably because I’m easily distracted- but it’s what I’m aiming to do with the Writer’s Reviews. Plus, it’s cool to get attention like this. Hm… I sound smart in quotes.

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