As a writer, I have to learn to accept the value of other people’s opinions. That’s is why I recently paid $500 to buy a Foreword Review of my novel: MARCHING AS TO WAR, A Love Story Of Sorts. My favorite poem (from my poetry collection: Brandy Apple Days ‘n Dandelions) pretty much sums up my opinion of the review:

I THINK

I often wonder what people think
When I am sitting in a meeting
And I can’t find my voice
Amidst the outspoken rabble
Who loudly cry, “I think‑-”
So emphatically
That I think only they
Must be the ones
Who think, and therefore
Are the only ones who exist.
This must cause Rodin,
As a thinker,
Considerable Consternation!
At least, that’s what
I think.

The problem with the review is that the reviewer begins and ends the review with the sentence: “Marching as to War is an emotional historical novel in which a young relationship refracts the troubles of the Vietnam era.” The only problem with the sentence is that the word “refracts” normally has the meaning of altering something, such as bending light waves. In the sense used here that would mean altering the troubles of the Vietnam era. Huh? I’m thinking the reviewer might have meant “reflects”, but that’s just a guess. The use of the word “refracts” makes one wonder what other mistakes there were, like the phrase “as with an ex-beau of Diane’s”–of which there were none. I think I deserve an apology, if not a full refund.