Urubuquaqua's profile

Please, don’t review my face. I was thirtheen years old in this picture, it was 1973 and I was already writing by that time, only in another language.
Yes, English is not my first language. Surprise, I have an honours B.A. in English and half an M.A. done in Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, plus some extra university stuff I don’t know where to classify.
Sure I want constructive criticism. No I don’t need any smart ass kid telling me to use the MS Word spellchecker. I review my stuff many times before I post it. However, there are mistakes that won’t be caught by a spellchecker. Some other times what people may qualify as “mistakes” (depending on their experience and amount of reading, of course) I call “style.”
N…

Please, don’t review my face. I was thirtheen years old in this picture, it was 1973 and I was already writing by that time, only in another language.
Yes, English is not my first language. Surprise, I have an honours B.A. in English and half an M.A. done in Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, plus some extra university stuff I don’t know where to classify.
Sure I want constructive criticism. No I don’t need any smart ass kid telling me to use the MS Word spellchecker. I review my stuff many times before I post it. However, there are mistakes that won’t be caught by a spellchecker. Some other times what people may qualify as “mistakes” (depending on their experience and amount of reading, of course) I call “style.”
Now, reviews: every time I review somebody I am ready to understand that: what is good for me is not necessarily good for the person I am reviewing; there are different ways of writing, some I like and some I don’t, and my personal taste is not an indicator of the quality of the piece I am reviewing; I am talking to somebody that does have feelings, especially about his/her writing and I know nothing about that particular person.
For all these reasons, I try to be objective, as helpful as possible and always, always kind. Now, what do I expect from my reviewers? I expect the same. No, I don’t need tough love, but thank you anyway for offering. Yes, I gratefully accept corrections to my English when they are specific and no “you have grammar problems”, especially because this is bullshit. My grammar and spelling are better than that of many a native speaker and I am aware of that. On the other hand I know certain things will always be hard for me in English. Punctuation is one of these things, prepositions are other. The reviews I really appreciate are those that point to specific problems in my text and
a)        explain why that is a problem;
b)        offer me a solution, or a suggestion if possible;
c)        give me an idea of the effect of my writing on that reader, beyond the technical aspects.
I am ok with general observations on style, diction, tropes, voice, etc. Please, spare me from reviews of the kind: “Horrible” (no no), “beautiful” (why?) and specially “keep on writing.” I really don’t need these.