Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 19
May 31, 2018
Friday Story Bazaar ~ Tale Ninety-Three
War Is Idiotic?
by
Alexander M Zoltai
~~~~~~~~~
Ben and Paul were still at it, after many hours, over many days; and, way too many cups of coffee…
Already today, the owner of the cafe had to come to their table three times, cautioning them to be a bit less vociferous in their conversation…
They really tried to control themselves; and, when the owner came up the fourth time, they both nodded to him, stood up, and left the cafe.
Nowhere else to go but the city park—the children would be screami...
May 30, 2018
Top Ten Nerdy Book Places by Jennifer Ansbach
Today’s re-blog helps you find books to read :-)
Like many Nerdy Book Clubbers, I have a reputation as a capital-R Reader, and in addition to being asked about how I could read so much, I often get asked how I find so many books to read. Sometimes people are seeking recommendations. Others are baffled how the books I want to read seem endless (I know I’m not the only one in the Nerdy Book Club room here who finds herself saying, “Oh! That’s on the TBR list!”). Here are the top...
More Conversation about Grammar . . .
Photo by orijinal on Foter.com / CC BY
The first post in this discussion—A Blog Conversation about Grammar—looked at the word history of “grammar” and revealed that many “rules” of English grammar are actually rules for Latin…
In fact, the trustworthy article about grammar that I excerpted said: “There’s a simple test that usually exposes a phony rule of grammar: If it makes your English stilted and unnatural, it’s probably a fraud.”
So, I was happy when an author I know, from Australia, was...
May 28, 2018
Thinking on your feet: writing and my love-hate relationship with exercise
Fascinating re-blog from Roz Morris…
At school I loathed exercise. I had all the left feet possible. I couldn’t catch a ball and I couldn’t see balls anyway without specs. All creatures know when they are disliked, and I sensed how the games teachers loathed me. By the same token, they surely knew I did not hold their subject in high esteem. This is my school magazine. None of these people are me.
Looking back, that might have been one of the first signs that I should be a wr...
A Blog Conversation about Grammar . . .
[image error] Our last discussion here—A Blog Conversation about Book Promotion—had a very short life due to a lack of reader comments; but, having exercised my blogging muscles for seven years; and, to avoid talking to myself, I’ll begin a new conversation about “Grammar”…
Plus, I’ll start by going full-on Writing-Geek; then, I’ll calm down and share my own thoughts and feelings…
Here’s the complete word history of the term “grammar”:
late 14c., “Latin grammar, rules of Latin,” from Old French gramaire “...
May 26, 2018
Listen Up
Many authors will say their manuscript out loud, to themselves—does it sound “right”…?
Todays’ re-blog will tell you pretty much all you need to know about recording your voice…
Yes, I should pause there…
When I teach a workshop, I like to audiotape it. Partly so I can send the recording to the class, which takes some of the stress off taking notes and lets everyone participate a little bit more. But also because ItalkamillionmilesanhourifIdon’tstopmyself.
The same t...
The Books That Bind Us by Susan Knell
Travel and Books — Love :-)
I had the opportunity to visit The Netherlands and Germany this summer, and like many teachers, I try to find children’s books from the culture I’m visiting. Bringing back children’s books from trips, whether across the state or across the ocean and sharing them with students is a wonderful way to show them the world. Being exposed to books from other cultures, countries, and multicultural authors/illustrators is an important way that teachers can p...
May 24, 2018
Friday Story Bazaar ~ Tale Ninety-Two
False Friends
by
Alexander M Zoltai
~~~~~~~~~
~~~ at the cafe:
Bill gave a deep sigh and said: “Life’s too hard…”
Jim patiently replied: “You’re sounding positively pessimistic…”
“I’m not only that, I’m also quite fatalistic…”
“What’s got ya down?”
“The usual—the world!”
“Right…”
“Can’t talk about it right now…”
“Right…”
~~~ at Jim’s apartment:
Jim gave his friend a tired look and said: “Bill, I’m worried about ya…”
“So am I… I don’t know what I can do—it’s all too much…”
“Well, we know I’...
Omit Needless Words: How I Learned to Write with Brevity
Here’s the stunning conclusion of today’s re-blog:
“When you omit the needless, you choose the necessary—and sometimes, that is one perfect ray of sun falling on the back of your hand.”
Read on to find out how the author got there :-)
By Ryder S. Ziebarth
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary pa...
May 23, 2018
A Blog Conversation about Book Promotion . . .
[image error] Our last conversation here—about Genre—ended for lack of reader comments; but, it had a decent run, on May, 14th, May 16th, and May 21st…
I’ll get our next conversation going with this quote:
“As writers and artists, we feel the drive to do meaningful work, but we get overwhelmed by the process of connecting with an audience. We follow best practices in marketing that never seem to pan out, don’t produce results, and make us feel lost and frustrated. But creating doesn’t have to feel this wa...
