Heidi and I were interviewed Rosie Ugliuzza as a lead-in to the Pennwriters course we're teaching in a few weeks. You can read the interview here.
Space is still available in the class, by the way.
Writing with Authority
The easiest way to engage your reader is by using concrete nouns and action verbs. In this one-month online course, Seton Hill University creative writing faculty Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller will show you how to analyze your writing and use easy techniques that will increase the authority of your voice. Participants will:
* Discover how to spot passive voice
* Scrutinize their writing for generic nouns and indefinite pronouns
* Learn to avoid weak verbs and overuse of “be” in all its forms
* Practice using strong synonyms to find the best action verb
* Apply word cloud research to make their plot come alive
25 March 2011
24 March 2011
PREVIEWS AVAILABLE
Just so yinz know, free previews of THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK are up and waiting to be read.
Here's the one at Amazon.com. If you don't have a Kindle, download the free Kindle Reader software on the right hand side of the page below the sample. It's basically a Kindle app for your PC.
And here's the CreateSpace preview. This is where the print version of the book will end up.
23 March 2011
NEXT SEASON ON SURVIVOR
Got this in an email forward and figured it was food enough to post...
Next Season on Survivor
Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year.
Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district's curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.
Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.H.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English.
Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.
Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly.
They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences.
They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.
In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.
They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings.
They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the SOLS tests.
If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.
Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program.
They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times.
If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.
The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they will not be able to afford it.
There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day.
The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.
If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school.
However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies.
The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.
The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their job.
Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy, and to the ones that know it is hard.
Next Season on Survivor
Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year.
Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district's curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.
Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.H.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English.
Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.
Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly.
They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences.
They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.
In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.
They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings.
They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the SOLS tests.
If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.
Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program.
They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times.
If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.
The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they will not be able to afford it.
There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day.
The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.
If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school.
However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies.
The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.
The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their job.
Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy, and to the ones that know it is hard.
22 March 2011
Twitterly Promiscuous Week 2
The start of week two find me changing the name, yet again. I didn't think 'whore' was an obscenity. Shows you how I was raised. (My mom doesn't read my blog.)
Results
Following: 2005 (I used justunfollow.com to unfollow 100 non-followers every 24 hours. There was a glitch one day and it let me delete, like, 500.) This is not an accurate count of how many people I followed over the last seven days.
Followers: 637 (If I was all scientific-like I'd give you a ratio of following:follower, but as I'm just a science teacher and not a real scientist, this will have to do.
What I learned: target tweeters who have list YOU want. For the first few days I was looking for other writers, then I was all, like, 'This is stupid.' So I began going after other writers' lists. Also, I learned if I stayed close to the top of the list (newest Followers), I was more likely to get followed back. New people aren't cynical to Twitter's attention-seeking ways yet. By the time they catch on I've already charmed them with my informative and witty tweets.
Results
Following: 2005 (I used justunfollow.com to unfollow 100 non-followers every 24 hours. There was a glitch one day and it let me delete, like, 500.) This is not an accurate count of how many people I followed over the last seven days.
Followers: 637 (If I was all scientific-like I'd give you a ratio of following:follower, but as I'm just a science teacher and not a real scientist, this will have to do.
What I learned: target tweeters who have list YOU want. For the first few days I was looking for other writers, then I was all, like, 'This is stupid.' So I began going after other writers' lists. Also, I learned if I stayed close to the top of the list (newest Followers), I was more likely to get followed back. New people aren't cynical to Twitter's attention-seeking ways yet. By the time they catch on I've already charmed them with my informative and witty tweets.
21 March 2011
Scott A. Johnson on Education.
From http://americanhorrorwriter.blogspot.com/2011/03/teachers-rant.html
"But one of the most horrifying things to come up recently is the closing of schools and firing of teachers, and even cutting teachers' salaries. We see commercials every day touting that we, as a nation, need to embrace math and science, and that we're falling dramatically behind as far as the education levels..."
Another perspective from somebody outside of the profession. I figure the main reason we don't hear more from parents about this (and why senior citizens are one of the most vocal groups in American politics) is because parenting is a full-time job. They're too busy to write opinions and actively participate in local politics.
Read the rest at: http://americanhorrorwriter.blogspot.com/2011/03/teachers-rant.html
"But one of the most horrifying things to come up recently is the closing of schools and firing of teachers, and even cutting teachers' salaries. We see commercials every day touting that we, as a nation, need to embrace math and science, and that we're falling dramatically behind as far as the education levels..."
Another perspective from somebody outside of the profession. I figure the main reason we don't hear more from parents about this (and why senior citizens are one of the most vocal groups in American politics) is because parenting is a full-time job. They're too busy to write opinions and actively participate in local politics.
Read the rest at: http://americanhorrorwriter.blogspot.com/2011/03/teachers-rant.html
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