My third review - 3 o'clock and all's well

"I really enjoyed reading this, Mark, even though I am the "wrong" side of 70! I have grandchildren in the age-group you are writing for and I think they would love it, especially the boys.

Yes, you hit exactly the right note for your target readership and this is not as easy as one may think. I have read an awful lot of YWO chapters (and I do mean awful!) ostensibly meant for children, which are hopelessly wide of the mark. I think you have just the right combination of excitement and humour here.

Just two teeny-weeny nitpicks: I'd be inclined not to use kakapoop and galoop in the same sentence - could you change one of them just a bit? And do you really need to repeat "like a cat on fire" when they shoot out into space? But, these are really tiny points in an excellent story"

So far my story has been reviewed by 3 people and it seems to be surviving the experience. Not one person has said - 'you are a gimp, Lloyd, a gimp of the highest order.' or 'Your words grate on my consciousness like nail on a blackboard' or, worse still 'well, it was OK, I suppose.'

I need 8 reviews to get a chance at cracking the top 10 and if I manage that I will get a review from a publisher or the janitor at a publishing house - depending on how much moolah the site owners are actually coughing up.

*****

Voice is an interesting topic. I want to go to a workshop that focuses entirely on voice. I worry that my voice isn't authentic. I tend to try to write something in a particular style and it is only occasionally that I manage to write in a way that is readily identifiable as my own voice. When I'm writing I have to avoid reading as the style and ideas of what I am reading will leach into my script.

Hmm...any voice coaches out there?

By the way, if you are reading this it would be rude not to say hello.