Jan 23, 2017 / Community Pool

Community Pool

The place for feedback, advice, and camaraderie.

Have you just published a new post and are dying for some feedback? Are you redesigning your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

The Community Pool is for peer feedback and advice. Looking for more specific information? Check out some of these resources:

Tap into the wisdom of The Daily Post blogging community and leave your question here in the comments. Others can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

Looking for free, self-guided courses to help you get started with your blog (or revive a dormant one)? Check out our current offerings at Blogging U.

To help us make the Community Pool a productive space for discussion, here are some tips and guidelines you might find useful:

  • While you’re not required to, we encourage everyone who requests feedback to also reply to at least one or two other bloggers who need some help. Spread the love!
  • The Community Pool comments section can get quite big — and starting duplicate threads doesn’t help. Thanks for not posting the same question more than once, as well as for not starting numerous threads in a single Pool.
  • If you’re looking for quality feedback, be as specific as you can. Questions about a particular post tend to draw more comments than ones about entire blogs. Questions about specific design elements are more likely to be answered than ones asking for general layout advice.
  • We discourage leaving links without a more substantive message or question. These are often overlooked by other bloggers, and we frequently remove them to make the comment reading experience smoother. Also note that including multiple links in your comment might automatically put it in the moderation queue, which will delay its publication.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!
  • To keep from losing your place in the comment thread while you visit others’ blogs, right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • No running on the deck.

Are you a new blogger looking to share your very first post? We have a special forum for bloggers just like you in our weekly First Friday posts.

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    1. Everything I say, of course, is entirely my personal opinion. Just keep this in mind XD
      First thing I’d recommend is to tighten up your prose. Instead of bugging it down with “has peeled” and “has become” (where has is the verb) cut it down to “peeled” or “peels” and “become”.

      Love the feel of your second paragraph.

      Always prefer to show, not tell. Instead of stating “Roger stands up to tell the stranger with body language” show the reader how he does so. Does he stands up and square his shoulders, telling the stranger to beat him? Does he look like he’s just waiting for the stranger to make a move so he has an excuse to fight?

      Typo: “Roger you apparently seem to have MET”, not meet

      You seem to grow into your writing after this. Your voice and tone grow more consistent, surer.

      Careful to not let dialogue become just a big block, though. There’s one big chunk that I’m a little confused about who’s talking. It’s good to add tags at the middle, to break this up and showing the character non-verbally.

      Overall, a well written piece. I am not sure I care about any of the characters yet, though. They’re all similar, not sure if they’re all protagonists or who is really the main character. Keep on writing 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    1. You made some good points in your post. You might want to lessen the amount of passive voice in your writing. For instance, “It had struck me that every single boot was bought by me anytime I desired to have one” would be stronger as, “It had struck me that every single boot was one I had bought anytime I desired to have one.” https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m a fairly open-minded person but she is well-and-good creepy. You can officially remove the question mark after your “horror” tag. I especially appreciated your use of second-person narrative and that it was told from that horror’s POV. I think that is what added to the hair-raising. You definitely have a pretty unique style and yet I am reminded of Poe. Sort of stopped reading horror after college but suddenly I want to take out the old stash 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I thought you gave a previous poster really solid writing advice, so I’ve got a feeling you’re a pretty good writer yourself. I’ll be swinging by your blog.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. Very well written. Intriguing read. Might want to look at adding a few images here there in the blog. The visual appeal might help keep the readers interested from my opinion.
      Feel free to browse through my page and share your thoughts on anything that interests you.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I see engaging with other bloggers has already been mentioned. I’d also add the fact that adding pictures to your blog keeps readers engaged and makes it more interesting. Good tips nevertheless.
      Feel free to browse through my page and share your thoughts on anything that interests you.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Hello everyone! I would really appreciate it if you could spare some time and check out my blog. I’ve been blogging for a while, but I could still use some feedback on my content. Lately, I’ve been focusing more on poetry and thoughts on random subjects (Musing Monday). Here is a link to my blog
    https://oceauxnic.wordpress.com
    Thank you for stopping by 🙂
    I hope you all have a great day! Peace and love, wonderful people!

    Like

  20. The western shore of Windermere in the English Lake District was home to children’s author Beatrix Potter. Its wild uplands are also said to be haunted by the tortured spirit of a Cistercian monk, whose blood-curdling cries lured ferrymen to their doom. On this walk through these atmospheric woods, I recount the ghostly legend and consider how Potter’s legacy stretches way beyond her enchanting books. In doing so, I was trying to evoke a feeling of light and shade. Do you think it works?

    http://www.lakelandwalkingtales.co.uk/claife-heights-and-sawrey/

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Many thanks for reading and your kind words. It could work as a series of small, bite-sized blog posts. However, I think it would fragment the idea of following a walk you could then plot on an OS map and follow yourself. I’ll keep your comments in mind though – always open to constructive suggestions. Thank you and glad you enjoyed the photos.

        Liked by 2 people

  25. Thanks for all of the feedback last week on my blog. One of the people who did comment on my book review is going to receive a free book. This person was the only one to comment on the review and not just like it. I love the likes, but I made the deal based on comments. I’ll be publishing the winner on my blog tonight! Keep writing and swimming in the community pool. 📗

    Liked by 1 person

  28. I have a question for the community. Last week I experienced several issues with WordPress that keep continuing and stay unresolved. I detailed the experience, and I’d like to know if any of you have had similar experiences. If you like the piece, please click the “like” button on the post page. Comments and feedback are always welcome, and please leave them in the comments section of the post page as well. If you like what you see, feel free to browse around, and follow along so you don’t miss anything as I post several times a week. Thanks in advance.
    Drew

    The Continuing, Unresolved Issues of WordPress

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Hello,

      Sorry to hear you’ve had a frustrating experience with your posts not appearing where they should. While you’re always welcome to reach out to our Happiness team via Twitter, I’d also recommend help@wordpress.com, as it’s normally faster for the team to locate your account — and the site and/or posts in question — through that medium.

      Like

  29. I just write about my life and thoughts. I’m divorced, still single, 40something… I feel a bit lonely over here with no stoppers by!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. You sound like my sister. She’s always coming up with all these adventures for us to go on. She too is single and bored by my preference to stay at home and do family stuff or “older” activities as you put it. I can sense her frustration, as I can yours in your writing. I’ve also been in a similar situation. It’s always difficult when friends grow out of each other, so to speak. But sadly, that’s life. All we can do is try to look forward with hopeful anticipation of the next adventure seeker to cross your path. I genuinely hope the new gal becomes a lifelong friend. West wishes.

      Liked by 1 person