Thank you :-)

Helena was talking about how good it feels to get praise as a writer, especially when the praise is about the "right things" - you know, the ones one hopes to get praise for :-)

The she says: " Of course I should boast that I happily have INTELLIGENT readers who leave witty comments and several of whom have their own blogs (Hart, Ben and Ketutar, in particular)."

Thank you, Helena! *_* My husband can testify that I squealed when I read my name on the list :-) I love to hear someone thinks I'm an intelligent reader who leaves witty comments :-D
You made my day :-)

Then I followed her blog links, took the spelling test at Crystal Clear Proofing, (5/10 :-( I really need to work on my English, spelling, vocabulary and grammar), and found this: Nanonono!
Made me giggle.
And decide I want to take on the challenge... 60K words in 5 days... Hmm... My best result so far is 7K words in one day... That is, 7K original fiction. I can easily spout thousands of words, if I'm "expressing my opinion" on one of my pet peeves. Israel-Palestine and Indo-European religions, mainly Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. I wrote a several thousand words blog entry yesterday in the subject of Eckhard Tolle and A New World. *yuk* (I am not being nice there, so if you love the book, think ego is a "bad thing" or don't want to read a negative critique, don't go there. 

Anyway, NaNoNoNo! took me to Emma Darwin's blog and "revising and editing"
Her books look interesting :-)

I like readin' Patricia's blog, and this time she was talking about the review war at Amazon.com...
I do read the reviews at Amazon, and they do have some influence on me, in such a way that bad reviews might make me decide not to read a book, if I'm not sure I want to read it.
I use Amazon.com's recommendations, "frequently bought together" and "customers also bought..."

I am very interested in Catherine Fisher's Saphique and Incarceron, I think the books look promising and the excerpts and synopsis sound interesting, and then I like Cornelia Funke and Orson Scott Card, so this gives me enough reason to believe I would like these books.

Then I go and find out more information, usually the author's homepage, if there is one.

I haven't read the reviews on Catherine's books.
I read Pi's Journey because of the reviews and... I hated the book.
I read Da Vinci Code because of the reviews, and hated it.
I read Outlander because of the reviews - or started... I just cannot finish it, and life is too short to read books I don't like. There's plenty of books I like out there, so if my "general knowledge" is lacking due to the fact I haven't read some popular books, so be it. I hate Outlander too.
I didn't read Twilight because of the reviews... but then I decided to make up my own mind about it, and started reading it, and I cannot go on, because I hate Bella. I suppose Stephenie isn't that bad a writer, and she'll get better too, if she doesn't let the fame get to her, but keeps writing, and tries to stay popular even when she doesn't write YA vampire books. Good for her. But I sincerely hate Bella and cannot find any reason why both Edward and Jacob (and all the other guys as well) find her so attractive. She's full of herself, moody (usually moping) and doesn't treat people well. 

Then I think about my Dido, and how I hate her too. *sigh* For different reasons, though, but still... but if I made her so that I'd like her, I wouldn't have a story. She would have sold the amulet in the first place, how ever much she liked it, and how ever much she disliked Hallam. Nevertheless, that's one of the reasons I hate her. I was taught to say "yes" if I don't have a really, really, really good reason to say "no", and not liking someone is not a good reason. Saying "no", because you don't like the person asking is just mean.