Competition and Reviews

There are definitely reasons why Monday is referred to as "Moan-day" from time to time. Today was really rough. I'm hoping that things will be better tomorrow.

On a positive note, today was Field Day for my daughter's school. I remember Field Day! It was always so much fun! Our school split into two teams and the teams were pitted against one another. One team would win first place and the other would win second. We'd all go home with ribbons for whichever place our team won and we all had fun! I still remember the egg toss, the water bucket filling race, the tire race, and kickball. My absolute favorite was tug of war! There was a huge rope that in my elementary school eyes had to be a hundred feet long! Each team would grab either side of the gigantic rope and on the sound of the PE teacher's whistle we'd begin tugging for dear life. Somehow I always ended up on the second place team until my fourth grade year. That was the triumphant year when we finally took first place! I still have my huge blue ribbon showing that I was on the first place team. It was such a proud moment for me in my elementary school years.

My daughter didn't bring home any ribbons. I am guessing that everyone participates for fun now and not for the chance of winning first place. That is a bit of contention with me. In today's world children are given trophies for participation, not for winning. Don't get me wrong: I think it's great to congratulate everyone for taking part in an activity. There's something to be said for winning an award though. It's about showing that a little bit of extra effort can pay off. It's about going above and beyond to achieve a goal. And it's about the competition. Seeing who's going to win is a big deal!

See, this is a problem in the world today. Everyone's so afraid to step on the toes of another individual so they make everyone equal. Wait, wasn't that the goal of communism? Everyone was supposed to be equal? Well, we can see how well communism worked out, can't we? Yes, you're supposed to see the sarcasm dripping from that sentence. Competition isn't a negative thing. It can be made negative but the act of competing in itself isn't negative. Competition gives people something to achieve. It gives people a goal to reach. Look at the pro athletes. Michael Phelps and Kristi Yamaguchi didn't start out at the top. They had to work for it. They practiced. They honed their skills. They competed in tournaments and meets. What happened? They improved. They got better at what they do. Eventually they reached the top and earned those coveted gold medals. Competition makes people better.

Writing is also a competition. Think about it from this angle: every day a customer logs into Amazon to buy a book. They have the option to choose from thousands of books! Romance, mystery, children's books, and more...all available to them! Which books do they choose? Some come with a book in mind. Others are looking for something that comes highly recommended. Not every author has the status of a Nora Roberts or a Dean Koontz and have people googling their names on Amazon to see what they have written. Every author is in competition with every other author out there. For example, if a customer looks at three books by authors they've never heard of before how do they pick which book to buy? The answer lies in reviews! As a reader it's extremely important to leave reviews for the books you've read.

Reviews are gold for authors. It lets them know that someone's read their work. Good reviews are more like platinum. That means someone's read and enjoyed their work! Do you have a book in mind that you love dearly? Go to Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble and leave a review. I guarantee you that the author will be ever so grateful that you did! Then another customer will come along, read your review, and might just buy that book because of how much you liked it and that you cared about it enough to review it. Trust me when I tell you that your review doesn't have to be a wordy work of art. My simplest review yet actually made it into a fellow author's blog! That surprised me but yet it pleased me. Even a few sentences about how much you enjoyed the book will make all the difference for that author.

Save an author. Leave a review!