Writing is easy enough for me, and honesty in my writing is important, but sometimes it isn’t easy to write the complete truth.

For example, when I write a review of something I will be honest – I’d never say it was great if I hated it. I’d always be polite and as constructive as possible rather than slamming it, but I will say if it isn’t up to scratch.

But what about when the less-than-pleasing item is owned/created by someone you want to impress? It gets tough because I want to be respected for honesty and feel the responsibility that if I review something it could influence other people’s use of money & time.

In the past, I have managed this by pointing out all the positives of the item and only mentioning the weaknesses – and obviously not saying anything like ‘great read’ or ‘value for money’. Once I reviewed a book which I found to be fairly boring, but it’s got a lot to do with the fact I don’t like that genre much either. My review commented on how it used simple language and was true to its genre with a few unexpected twists. That way, someone liking the genre would read the book but others wouldn’t bother – win win for everyone!