Woo - and indeed - hoo! Not only have I received feedback for one of my poems but they were rather positive about it as well. I can die happy in the knowledge that I have created something that has given somebody else pleasure assuming that they have no reason to just be polite. Or perhaps they are a polite person who can't say a bad word about anyone and felt obliged to post something on my Guestbook out of pity. I'll let Mr. Pessimist take a back seat on this one and allow my ego to have a massage and if nothing else having words of praise in my Guestbook can only be a good thing.
   It has given me more confidence about continuing with this venture - not that I was thinking of stopping - now that I've done a couple in quite a good turn around time. My initial fears about writing personalised poems for people I did not know are fading and strangely I have found the last couple of efforts to have been easier than those I did for family and friends (or myself). This I put down to the fact that I know too much information about those close to me and trying to edit that down can be quite painstaking. At such times Helen has chipped in with suggestions about what events she thinks are important for poems done for our parents and if others do likewise it can get a bit unwieldy.
   Poems ordered from Design a Rhyme come with a limited number of facts and information and such constraints can help focus as I know what I have to write about without being distracted by personal views. Also the fear of writing poems for family anniversaries and special occasions is that the number may change but the personnel generally doesn't. In that regard I'm already worrying about my father's 70th birthday and it's not for another 3 years. It may well be expected, and I don't resent that (in fact I'm quite proud), especially since I've started this little business up, but what more do I have to say that I did not already mention on his 60th. If he hadn't framed a copy I could have hoped the senility had kicked in and just replaced the 6 with a 7 and see if he noticed (only joking Dad, honest).
   With those done via the website I have composed them in less than a day whereas family occasions poems can take upto a week.  In the case of the latter I will have the main structure and most of the couplets worked out in the first afternoon and the rest of the time is spent redrafting safe in the knowledge that it is not needed until a certain date. If somebody buys one then I will continue with any redrafts until it is complete in order to send it to the customer as soon as possible.
   All I need now is a few more orders.