Reviews can be Gratifying

Tonight I happened to look at the Amazon reviews of A Writer’s Craft and saw that there are now three: all from people I don’t know who have used the book in a class, and all three gave it five stars. So that made my night!

I promise, I don’t obsessively check my reviews, but I should be grading, so some procrasitnation is required. The earliest review is from March, 2019. I don’t remember the last time I looked to see if there were any reviews at all, but it was probably at least 4 months ago, maybe longer, and at that point, there were none.

Full disclosure, though: I also checked Goodreads, where there’s one two-star review. That person didn’t say why. I’m sorry the book wasn’t what they were looking for,

The reviewers on Amazon did write about the book, which was also great to see. I know that reviewers can be fickle and there will be negative ones mixed in with the positive, but it’s great to see that my book has reached real people and that a few took the time to say something about it. That means a lot, and I’m very grateful.

Published by Kendall Dunkelberg

I am a poet, translator, and professor of literature and creative writing at Mississippi University for Women, where I direct the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing, the undergraduate concentration in creative writing, and the Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium. I am Chair of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy, and I have published four collections of poetry, Tree Fall with Birdsong, Barrier Island Suite, Time Capsules, and Landscapes and Architectures, as well as a collection of translations of the Belgian poet Paul Snoek, Hercules, Richelieu, and Nostradamus, and the textbook A Writer's Craft: Multi-Genre Creative Writing. I was born and raised in Osage, Iowa, and have lived for over thirty years in Columbus, Mississippi, where my wife Kim and I let wildflowers grow in our yard to the delight of spring polinators and only some of our neighbors.

2 thoughts on “Reviews can be Gratifying

  1. For what it’s worth I found your blog after reading a post about an AT&T modem experience you had 6 years ago. As I read it I thought, ‘Wow, this is really well written.’ Kept me engaged until the end, which is a feat considering the topic. It was a surprise, but not unexpected to find you are an English professor. So…while I haven’t read/purchased your book, I firmly believe it would be a great tool, and an even better read.

    1. Thank you, Fawn! That post (actually a series of them about ATT) continues to generate my highest daily hits, which surprises me, esp. since DSL is practically as much of a dinosaur as dial-up. (I wrote a lot about modems back in the day — on a website before blogs were a thing.) Most posts don’t have that kind of longevity, but that one struck a chord, something I never expected. I always wonder whether any of those readers look around to see some of my other writing about poetry or cooking, etc., so it’s nice to know someone has!

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