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About adriennefoster
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Fiction has been my favorite creative pastime since I was teenager. I have participated in writers' workshops on and off since 1983, spending most of that time with Mark Kreighbaum and my mentor, James N. Frey, who also coached Tess Collins and Paul Clayton. In addition, I have coordinated the writers' workshops for eight genre conventions, including six World Science Fiction Conventions (aka Worldcons). Some of the professional participants for past workshops have included S. M. Stirling, Barry Longyear, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and David Brin. I am currently marketing my first novel, a gothic mystery, and working on my second, an Elizabethan fantasy.
Aside from crafting fiction, my other great interests include ghost folklore and British history. I love good movies and my all-time favorite TV show is The Avengers. Eastenders is my favorite current show and I'm really upset that BBC America has discontinued broadcasting it. Haunted History also intrigues me. At present, I make my living in technical publications.
My pet peeves include people who park sloppy and seeing the word reference used as a verb. I have two cats. I like my onions cooked and celery raw.
Regarding reviewing and Epinions...
Despite my background, I'm still lousy at copyediting my own work. No matter how much try, I usually find grammatical problems or poor word choices in my reviews after they've been posted. One of the Epinions features that I appreciate is the ability to make minor edits without losing any rates. (I do believe in copyeditors, but can't expect anyone to do it for no compensation.) Since I don't catch all of my errors, I thank you for bearing with me.
As for my reviews of haunted hotels, restaurants, and destinations, I would like to point out that I try to make the reviews I post as accurate as I am aware, but sometimes the facts are hard to find and may come up later. The best ghost stories do have historical backgrounds, but unless they are thoroughly researched, are considered folklore. History is based on facts, while folklore is based on hearsay. Sometimes hearsay makes a good starting point in research, which eventually either confirms or disputes the stories.
My attitude toward rating Epinions reviews is precisely expressed by Greatpilgrim in her essay, "The greatest crime at Epinions – are you guilty?". However, as I wander through the site to scout up consumer info for my own purposes, I do rate old reviews using today's standards—especially in the travel category. When I plan trips, I frequently vertical rate the cities I'm going to visit and the standards I currently apply are detailed in my essay, "Creating controversy as I rate in the travel category." However, I would also like to point out that for most of us who have been reading, rating, and commenting (RRCing) on Epinions for a while, our standards are always evolving. Many reviews that were overall rated VH in 2000 would either be a SH or Show in the express review sections today.
When I offer criticism to help improve a writer's work, I generally do not simply direct reviewers to read someone's "how-to" essay. Through experience, I have learned that discussing the theory of writing with novices does not really help them improve their work. (We never think these mistakes apply to us.) Theorists can spout their ideas all they want, but people wanting to improve their work are frequently unable to understand what the theorist is saying until the problem is pointed out in their own work. Therefore, when I comment on the writing of a review, I am much more likely to tell writers what prompted me to rate the way I did. Reading lots of VH reviews is valuable advice, but that in itself is far from enough.
With the many reviews posted on Epinions, I concentrate mainly on the categories where I contribute.
Traveling is a passion for me and one of the items on my "bucket list" is to visit all of the states in my trying, but wonderful country. Following is my progress to date:
visited 14 states (28%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga project
If you email me, please include Epinions in the subject line. I receive so much spam that I delete any messages I receive when I don't recognize the sender's name or e-mail address. I am also giving lyagushka's trick a try, to see if that helps avoid spammers. My user name is ajfoster at pacbell dot net.
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