Let’s start with the bouquets
Recently I received two lovely compliments.
Firstly, Winfields Outdoors contacted me. They’ve listed my coastal walking blog (coastalwalker.co.uk)  as one of the best outdoor blogs of 2017. They even gave me a nifty little badge to display.
You can see the full listing on Winfields’ website.
 Secondly, a very nice man contacted me via Facebook and asked if I could write a few blog posts for Newquay.co.uk, an independent information site about the coastal town of Newquay, in Cornwall.
In the end we agreed he could lift some relevant and pre-existing blog posts from my coastalwalker.co.uk site.
Next, the brickbat
I received my first 2 star review on Amazon for my coastal walking book. The purchaser complained that the book was “about the obvious things for any one with even a bit of experience of walking”.
My book is called Walking the English Coast: a Beginner’s Guide. I chose the title carefully, to make it as clear as possible that the book was intended for… guess who?… yes, for beginners.
I don’t know whether to be:
- distressed because somebody hasn’t enjoyed my book
- irritated that the purchaser clearly didn’t bother to read the title
- pleased that I have finally got something other than a 5 star review
- delighted to have another review to add to my meagre collection
I’ve decided on option 3, because a less-than-5-star review makes my reviews appear more honest and genuine. (They all actually are honest and genuine, I must make that clear!)
Anyway, it was nice to receive two nice compliments after the bad review. Cheered me up. How do other writers cope with bad reviews?
Ruth Livingstone 
Wow those are two awesome feathers for your cap. ^_^
I find it interesting that a lot of people who leave bad reviews seem to go OUT OF THEIR WAY to do so for the most ridiculous reasons. My one bad review is someone (in our blogging network, which made it worse) who left a did not finish review on my goodreads page. One major issue was the fact that she couldn’t tell who the first person narrator was, when I literally have each new chapter named simply “Ryan”, “Aleria” or “Nick”, not even giving the chapter numbers.
I’ve quietly cut this person out of my social networks.
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That’s incredible, Misha. What a thoughtless and stupid thing to do. Well, I guess we just have to take the bad with the good 😜
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