Hi, Margie! I think it's very brave of you to share this and ask for help. Many would not risk the potential for more 'ouchie' comments!

Since you're asking for opinions, I would like to gently suggest that unless a writer has asked for assistance in making his/her piece better, it is best to remain silent. We're not here in an editing capacity (well, unless we are officially editors for publications, of course!).

We're all putting our hearts and souls into words for everyone to see. We're sharing our experiences, our wisdom, our humour, our pain, heck, even our recipes - whatever! We're not here writing English papers and expecting to be graded or corrected.

We've got a huge variety of backgrounds here, too. People who are great at writing, others not so much, people whose first language is not English, people who have something to say but aren't the best at grammar etc.

It's not our job to criticise them unless they ask for our help in being better writers.

It's only our job to listen to each other's stories and to support each other in sharing whatever it is we've come here to say.

At least - that's my opinion, for what it's worth.

Sending you big hugs, Margie. 💜