Raven's View

Here we are, at another Round of Words in 80 Days. Time now to look at the year's goals, count up last round's accomplishments, and plan for the next round. 

My goals as a writer are simple: to write, to get better at it, and to publish some of it. This last round, the writing part was doing some Flash Fiction stories, finishing editing novel #2, and starting editing novel #3. To get better, I was in a critique group, read in my genre(s) with a critical eye, and tried out some tips I found in writing blogs. For publishing, I sent queries for novel #2 out to some 20 agents. Some have declined, and so far one asked for a complete manuscript.  

For this round, much the same. More Flash, more editing, more learning. And either try more agents or sign a contract! 

I have a question now for all y'all. How do you handle the case where a friend has a book you don't really think is very good, but would like a review. Do you give a bad review? Or no review, and pretend you're busy-busy? Or praise it anyway? Or do you just send them some constructive criticism instead? Which would you prefer as an author?

And finally, here's my latest, and slightly risque, Flash Fiction, Party Animal.