Journal, Diary, & Blogging / URBIS Dynamics - Lesson 1
I have now been on Urbis for over a month. I have reviewed 67 pieces of writing and been reviewed 59 times. I have 15 friends, 4 fans and three blocked members. All my work is rated in the top 2% of Poetry, Short Story and Flash Fiction. Once upon a time I attended Rutgers on an independent study in creative writing with a minor in 18th century literature. You see me as a 54 year old man in a blue denim shirt sitting by a sunlit window. That may or may not be my picture. That may or may not be my real name. I could be a decorated war hero, a millionaire, a renunciate living in an ashram, a drug dealer, a dentil floss farmer recently moved to Montana. The fact is: you don’t know. You only know my words. And that’s a problem. In management speak I have no CAPI, the coalition of authority, power and influence. I’m a nobody. I have offered some people excellent insight into their work and been an asshole at least five times that I know of. You all have done the same for me.
My guess is you have chosen this piece to review because you are hoping to solve The Riddle of Urbis (Make a nice title for a satirical piece, just cut me in on the back end). This site is a brilliant concept: Writers helping Writers help Writers. It is about as fair and even handed as a site full of sometimes brilliant, sometimes neurotic, always human beings can get. Here you will find truly gifted people alongside complete and utter bores, and total disagreement on just who is who. You can test ideas, try out new genres, fine tune a draft and not worry about deadlines. You can write and be read and keep that day job. You can even make a new friend.
And yet, I got discouraged. I placed a piece on the site that got excellent reviews, over thirty, and then I received a long review from an intelligent reader who did not get the story. I read his review carefully, researched his site to see who he was and then commented. In my opinion, he wanted the piece to be written in his own style and at a completely different level of diction. He wanted to change the whole thing to fit his concept of Flash Fiction. I wrote back my comment and said as much. He got offended, and resorted to personal attack. I shot back my own, somewhat balanced, expertly crafted counter attack. He got belligerent, down right insulting. I asked for a refund. It was granted. He then fired off what I can only label as tantrum. I finally blocked him. The following day I got a long review from another reader outlining the very same changes and also a slew of personal insults anticipating my response. This reviewer could not have had pre-knowledge of how I might respond unless he was coached. If my algebra serves me well, this guy gave my 8.83 story a 1.00. I immediately requested a refund and blocked him. Yes, yesterday I got discouraged.
What happens when you or I sit down after a bad day, or maybe a bad life, and we click on a poem or worse, a not so great review of our own work, and that day or that life’s history seeps into what we are saying and does not produce a constructive review or critique? There are no editors checking us, no chance to come back the next day and revise. The review goes out, the comment sent; the response is immediate. Some of us practice not being offended, some lash out, still others try and reason and some simply click the problem into cyberspace. All valid, all random, all what happens on Urbis each day. Young writers feel worthless, older writers dig into a lifetime of learned survival, the twenty something’s wind up all over the map. Imagine being one of the panel who monitors refunds on this site? Yipes!
So this morning I got up and figured I’d blog this out. These two young men have turned out to be a valuable lesson in tolerance. When I get published I won’t even have the power to comment on bad reviews. I’ll just have to suck it up and move on, believe in my work and continue the journey. We all have some talent and the right to be heard. If you are sixteen you probably do suck – we all sucked at sixteen. If the community summarily blows you off, Mr. Twenty-Something, listen to what they are saying. Sometimes wisdom does actually come with age. No one wishes to hear a precocious young writer dictate their view of the cosmos. If ten people say you are good and two think you’re a fool take comfort, you might make a living at writing. We all land somewhere. We have all, for the moment, landed on Urbis. As a builder of boats I know a good tool when I find one. Urbis is an excellent tool. Like all new tools, it must be learned. Good writing takes practice; Urbis takes practice. Call it symbiosis or codependence; I’m a fan of this site. Do it wrong enough, long enough and one day it’s right.
Now, if you will, was this a good blog? Or should I just go fuck myself.
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Excellent blog for Urbis. You’ve expressed my own frustration with a particular reviewer recently (I chose the forums). I think many Urbisonians will feel the same.
I’m not sure what your first ideas about anonymity have to do with the discouragement you feel because of the wonky review you got. I think there could be a tie in there to make this more cohesive (but of course this is a blog).
I like the irony of “You all . . . same for me.” Sweet.
Proofreading note:
fuck myself. = myself?
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“three blocked members” – For the sake of consistency, I’d recommend writing this as “3” instead of “three”.
“54 year old” – hyphenate
“The fact is: you don’t know. You only know my words.” This is a very good point. Urbis members are often judged by their profiles, yet there is no way of knowing if anything is true or all made up. (For the record, my “clone-sibling” isn’t really a clone; that just sounds cooler than saying “twin.”) There should be a comma rather than a colon after “fact is”.
comma after “In management speak”
“My guess is…” I’m reading, not to solve the riddle, but to see someone else’s interpretation of what the riddle is.
semicolon, not comma, after “satirical piece”
“even handed” – hyphenate
“down right” – “downright”
“a not so great review” – hyphenate “not-so-great”
comma after “try and reason”
“twenty something’s” – I’m fairly certain this should be “twenty-somethings”
“we all sucked at sixteen” – How much do you want to bet that I could post a story I wrote at 16 and get better reviews for it than for the stories I have written more recently? Urbis reviewers are often incomprehensible when it comes to what they consider good, and why.
comma before “take comfort” and semicolon instead of comma after
comma after “builder of boats”
comma after “long enough”
This was, in my opinion, one of the better blogs I have seen on Urbis. For one thing, you had something to say. Amazing what that does for a piece of writing… There was also some good advice, a bit of insight into how people think and react, and even a touch of humor.
Wisdom is a grain of salt in a wound that hurts an ego that is not willing to be honest with itself. You take the good and bad with everything, and just plain honest advise.
Your blog was presented in a gentleman fashion and I don’t think it will give any one cause to gripe so thank you.
Gavion E. Chandler
Well, today is my first day at Urbis and I must say that the pace at which reviews are flowing in is amazing. The only word that I can use to describe is Dynamic. I have been a part of other poetry sites where the skill level is amazing but there is no credit system in place. As a result a few lesser-skilled writers like me get over shadowed and dont get our share of reviews.
Having read your article, I feel that I have come at the right place…
Although I’ve been on Urbis a relatively short and inactive amount of time, I feel that your summary of the site hits the nail on the head.
As a young writer myself, I always seek guidance and pointers from those more experienced. These upstarts sound like they may have been sheltered from criticism – constructive or otherwise – and don’t understand the concept of helpful reviews.
A fair insight to how this site aims to work and the inevitable potholes it faces.
Excellent blog! Yes, if you’re sensitive to your work and put effort into it, then it’s probably going to be tough when someone’s review is negative. But criticism (and rejection) come with the territory of any art. The smart ones learn to use it to refocus and improve. Tough as it is, sometimes it’s exactly what makes you better. People (not you but inexperienced writers) want everything to come too easy today and can’t handle disagreement.
This site is a great concept. It’s helpful even if it only gives us a reaction of what people think of our work. It’s the writer’s job to take what he thinks works and fine tune his work. He birthed it. Sometimes we expect too much from reviewers. When someone gives you a review that is incredibly helpful, then rejoice! And let them know. Learning to review constructively also takes practice.
No review should try to change your style. That’s your unique voice. And I’ve noticed some of the reviewers that have an underlying, biting, mean-spirited, inflexible, childish attitude. They become laughable after a while, but it is their credibility that suffers. The fact that your refund was granted tells you something. I completely sympathized to, ‘yesterday I got discouraged.’ You’ve done well to use this blog to work through it. Now it’s over and time to be ‘encouraged’ again.
I loved the last line, though at first it shocked me. It was unexpected, but when I got over the surprise it struck me as very tongue-in-cheek.
I think this is an excellent blog about how to take reviews, and the depth to which we take them to heart. It’s very detailed, and I feel I know accurately what prompted you to write it. I do not begrudge you this rant by any means. I find it entirely justified, and an apt way to let off annoyed steam. I don’t really see anything I would change, because you’ve said what you needed to say, and no more than that. I think this was nicely done.
Hello, I really enjoyed reading this blog for the honesty it contained and I gave you a ten for your rating.
I have to say I agree with everything that you said. Degreed or not, when you write something and post it on this site you are asking everyone for their opinion. You have to really treat everyone as a potential ‘buyer’ of your material. After all, even a sixteen year old might have a job and purchase your work someday.
One has to expect good and bad reviews in the aspect of becoming a better writer.
Loved your blog!
Guild
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