I've maintained my Goodreads for many years now (10+ at this writing), and I've used it as a way to keep track of my reads, and as a tool for sharing what I've liked. My star rating scale was bell-curve shaped. Very few books received 5 stars. Most books landed around a 3 or 4. And I would share what I liked and what I didn't from each story, thinking that my thoughts would be appreciated and may spur conversations about the works I was reading.

Several years ago, I removed all but my 4 and 5 star ratings. I didn't want my bell-curved scale to mess up any author's ratings simply because most people tend to rate 5 stars unless something was truly amiss with the book. But I kept my write-up. My thoughts. My praise. My criticism. And that worked for me, until I became an author.

I published my first book last January. And it has truly been a delight to share my words, the stories in my head, with the world. But it was jarring when I received less than a 5-star on this platform. Oh crap! I thought. Is this what other authors feel like when I post anything less than 'amazing' on their book? Or maybe other authors are smarter than me, and don't read their goodreads reviews. But it's really hard not to.

Even when someone does share well-meaning criticism, I've realized I can't do anything about it. If a plot point didn't land... If you didn't connect with a character... I'm not going to change my published story based on feedback. (But I might ask you to be a beta reader for my next one!)

So then I wondered, is it better if I say the things? Or not? If I can't say something nice, don't leave a review? Leave the reviewing to the professional critics, and only be a voice of positivity in the world? What would I want others to do on my works? And am I inviting bad Karma when I get a bit too critical on an otherwise entertaining/competent book? (Probably...)

I can't bring myself to say I liked a book when I actually didn't. But perhaps I need to soften my approach. Nothing harsh. More good than bad. And a simple statement of "Not for me" when I truly can't find anything else to say.

After all, criticism is easy. Actually doing the thing--the work and struggle to write a book and put it out there--that's really hard. And I think I'd rather build those folks up instead of tear them down.

As a follow-up, I will be modifying my prior reviews as time permits. And going forward, I want to be a less critical person. We'll call it attempted character growth. Thanks for reading!