tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59089856679650411832024-02-21T00:25:01.428-05:00The Factotum’s Rostrum<b><i>Jack of all trades, master of none,<br>though ofttimes better than master of one.</i></b>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.comBlogger259125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-30421595676890902262014-05-18T20:46:00.002-04:002014-05-18T20:46:39.900-04:00A fantasy delight from my youth<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1412235.A_Necklace_of_Fallen_Stars" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="A Necklace of Fallen Stars" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363032372m/1412235.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1412235.A_Necklace_of_Fallen_Stars">A Necklace of Fallen Stars</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/328809.Beth_Hilgartner">Beth Hilgartner</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/631264976">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
I re-read this beloved book of my childhood for the first time in a long time. The writing is not as skillful as some of my newer favorites, but I'm not going to knock a star off for that because for me, what makes this book five-stars is the fact that it stayed with me for so many years. I was probably 13 when I first read it. I got it from the library, and for years every time I returned to the library I would take it down and read my favorite parts again. I lost track of the number of times I read this book. I grew up and moved away and every once in a while, in bookstores, especially used bookstores, I would look for this book, but I never found it. I mentioned it in one of those "ten books that changed your life" Facebook games, and a friend bought me an ex-library copy off Amazon. So appropriate that I now have a library copy. This is a charming story about a clever couple of teens, and the thing I remember most — the wistful, magical way it made me feel — has not dimmed with time. I love this book.<br />
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Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-9220891421913568642014-04-11T16:06:00.000-04:002014-04-11T16:06:06.768-04:00An enjoyable devotional<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12185412-too-blessed-to-be-stressed" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Too Blessed to Be Stressed: Inspiration for Climbing Out of Life's Stress-Pool" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328734999m/12185412.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12185412-too-blessed-to-be-stressed">Too Blessed to Be Stressed: Inspiration for Climbing Out of Life's Stress-Pool</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1976086.Debora_M_Coty">Debora M. Coty</a><br/><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/226714107">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />
Debora M. Coty has a breezy, chatty style that makes you feel like you're having coffee with her at the kitchen table. She draws connections between her wacky, Erma Bombeck-style domestic adventures and Scripture to provide life lessons that help us cope with everyday stressors. I give 4 stars rather than 5 only because this book doesn't dig to quite the theological depth I look for. Other women may see that as a benefit, though. ;)<br />
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Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-11601624611709454642014-03-22T13:51:00.000-04:002014-03-22T13:56:21.143-04:00Art? Or graphic design?Google's doodle this morning recognizes the 102nd birthday of Agnes Martin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8P-VjU6Ub4Xn71r1KklHAjnKodm7Botgxcvl6fHmBQ21POkvf0GFmVpDWqmmiwt5yjArG_WSMfOc86ga7DLr7w6B6QLmmAsmq_7zekKqqjq819TQ4WUMt4DdK6pcVLkCOCEjMU97TLxI/s1600/Agnes+Martin+Google+doodle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8P-VjU6Ub4Xn71r1KklHAjnKodm7Botgxcvl6fHmBQ21POkvf0GFmVpDWqmmiwt5yjArG_WSMfOc86ga7DLr7w6B6QLmmAsmq_7zekKqqjq819TQ4WUMt4DdK6pcVLkCOCEjMU97TLxI/s1600/Agnes+Martin+Google+doodle.jpg" height="177" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm interested in the visual arts, so I clicked the link to learn more about her. She was an abstract painter who called herself an abstract expressionist, but others called her minimalist. I think the others nailed it. Here's a sample of her canvases from a Google images search:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11SSDe9oYVwcqSe4xXPQEETZd9aGmiD8Fjv5eUfLVuyLlySQlZ-FTjV1cuWqNbM9gtR0LlJwJ_-BPbuJn9VBHbV0ZiokJTeBEOkQ1THsKPyS7xVFymF-seq5jWeXi2vjn6GqyzETpMiE/s1600/Agnes+Martin+Google+images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11SSDe9oYVwcqSe4xXPQEETZd9aGmiD8Fjv5eUfLVuyLlySQlZ-FTjV1cuWqNbM9gtR0LlJwJ_-BPbuJn9VBHbV0ZiokJTeBEOkQ1THsKPyS7xVFymF-seq5jWeXi2vjn6GqyzETpMiE/s1600/Agnes+Martin+Google+images.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></div>
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How you can examine that body of work and not come up with "minimalist," I don't know.<br />
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I also don't know why artists like Martin win critical acclaim, and artists who produce work like this don't:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://clydekirkpatrick.com/gallery.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9N1vUeIjYxDzFkErP-9RODwSaYo1OqCO0OrZIdvoPvRuYycBCBsab6UrgUKaCXl5c-NvD8BOXIMm0VFsfvruuIY21_sr7zrzLYQ00uY7s7tru3ahAWqyEV9k_qmRJcgiRF3_BrgRf80/s1600/youngsailors_m.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://clydekirkpatrick.com/gallery.html" target="_blank">Young Sailors by Clyde Kirkpatrick</a></td></tr>
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OK, full disclosure, that was a blatant plug for my uncle. But this really goes to the heart of what art is. I don't see any value in minimalist abstraction. Looking at Agnes Martin's work, I'm just not left with any sort of feeling at all. She's got some nice color combinations, but so do interior decorators and web designers.<br />
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Despite having written a novel about an artist, I have barely begun to study the topic. But one thing I am sure of. Art is not only the skillful execution of the steps necessary to produce a product: that's craft. Art evokes an emotional response. Not just "that's an interesting arrangement of _____" (words, sounds, colors). But "Wow, that really makes me feel _____" (peaceful, sad, joyous).<br />
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If art were just the pleasant arrangement of colors, then a lot more people would deserve the kind of recognition Martin got.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-60472379669193266062014-03-17T05:05:00.000-04:002014-03-17T05:05:00.691-04:00A must read for new writers<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20907688-writing-in-obedience---a-primer-for-christian-fiction-writers" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Writing in Obedience - A Primer for Christian Fiction Writers" border="0" src="https://djgho45yw78yg.cloudfront.net/assets/nocover/111x148.png" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20907688-writing-in-obedience---a-primer-for-christian-fiction-writers">Writing in Obedience - A Primer for Christian Fiction Writers</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/636108.Terry_Burns">Terry Burns</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/870032577">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This is a truly wonderful book that will help Christian writers, especially novelists, clarify their place in the market. It helps us sort out whether our writing is a calling or an offering by describing the difference. It also examines the different types of audiences we may write for and how to tailor your writing for each audience.<br />
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The detailed breakdowns of how different stories need to be structured for these different audiences are alone worth the cover price. I have never seen that information anywhere else.<br />
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This book is a primer, so the second and third parts of the book contain a lot of information that will be very familiar to anyone who’s been around the writing block a few times. But then, this book is meant for the new writer, so that's OK.<br />
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The book is divided into three parts. Part One is packed with unique insights. Parts Two and Three contain a lot of the familiar material, but Burns's really excellent advice about how to keep readers turning pages is explained more clearly than I have ever seen elsewhere. Part Three is about how to get published, with an emphasis on the importance of perseverance.<br />
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The book is written in a casual, conversational style, as if you happened to wind up at a dinner table with Burns and Yezak at a conference and got to pick their brains awhile.<br />
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Even for those of us who already have a roomful of writing books, this book is a great refresher, and the inspirational angle is invaluable.<br />
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For a new writer, this book is a must read.<br />
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Disclosure: I received an advance e-copy of this book for review purposes. <br />
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This post originally appeared at kristenstieffel.com<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-57490197759630833092014-03-09T05:00:00.000-04:002014-03-09T05:00:06.035-04:00Heartfelt devotional for women with eating disorders <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17289486-hope-for-the-hollow" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Hope for the Hollow: A Thirty-Day Inside-Out Makeover for Women Recovering from Eating Disorders" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1359312909m/17289486.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17289486-hope-for-the-hollow">Hope for the Hollow: A Thirty-Day Inside-Out Makeover for Women Recovering from Eating Disorders</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3339385.Jena_Morrow">Jena Morrow</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/856973987">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />This devotional is written for women with full-on, life-threatening eating disorders like anorexia and bullimia. I happened to pick it up while it was on a Kindle free promo, even though my dysfunctional relationship with food isn’t that severe. <br /><br />This is a well-written, heartfelt devotional. It doesn't contain a lot of heady theological material, which for me is a downside. I realize for some, that’s a benefit. <br /><br />The author uses the Message translation a lot, which bugs me because I feel Peterson takes a few too many liberties with the text. Nevertheless, the devo is packed with bedrock spiritual truth that can help anyone develop a right view of themselves and restore a right relationship with God and with the food he has given us to richly enjoy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a><br />Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-60854354493279458992014-03-01T21:57:00.000-05:002014-03-01T21:57:00.042-05:00Masterful storytelling and a thrilling ride <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16134484-prophetess" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Prophetess (Winter, #2)" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352278313m/16134484.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16134484-prophetess">Prophetess</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4894926.Keven_Newsome">Keven Newsome</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/468968442">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I can’t believe I waited so long to read the sequel to Winter, a book I love dearly. Prophetess is one of the most amazing pieces of fiction artistry I have ever read. Can I give it six stars?<br />
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The book starts out with a puzzle to solve, and it rolls along, picking up speed until by the time you pass the halfway point, you are barreling at breakneck speed to an inevitable ending that is gripping, chilling, and jaw-dropping.<br />
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Newsome has mastered pacing. As in book one of this series, he tells two parallel stories set four years apart. This technique is hard to pull off, but he does it brilliantly. Every time he breaks from one story to return to the other, it’s at a moment when you cry “no!” because you want to know what happens next, but you also want to return to the other story, so you carom back and forth between them like a pinball, as the story bats you first one way and then the other full-tilt to the astounding climax.<br />
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Phew.<br />
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When book three comes out, it goes to the top of my reading list. Immediately.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-40288566644965642242014-02-18T21:14:00.001-05:002014-02-18T21:14:27.929-05:00Helpful new perspective on sleeplessness<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11957390-surrendered-sleep" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Surrendered Sleep: A Biblical Perspective" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348792266m/11957390.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11957390-surrendered-sleep">Surrendered Sleep: A Biblical Perspective</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5017772.Charles_W_Page">Charles W. Page</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/234814196">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />When I first saw this book, I was curious about how there could be a biblical approach to insomnia. The Bible doesn’t say a lot on this subject specifically, but it turns out to have a lot more to say about sleep generally than you might think.<br /><br />If you’ve already read a lot of “sleep hygiene” literature, some of this book will sound familiar. But Dr. Page takes the approach to healthful sleep to a whole new level.<br /><br />Whereas most sleep literature focuses on behaviors, Dr. Page understands that there’s more to sleeplessness than the temperature of your room or what time you turn in. He gets it. The things that keep us awake aren’t really our outward habits. The things that keep us awake are our inward anxieties and troubles.<br /><br />That’s why this book has chapters on relationships, work, and finances—often tops on my list of late-night rumination. He also examines how a closer walk with God, while it might not put us to sleep, will make the sleeplessness easier to cope with.<br /><br />Plenty of sleep researchers have said something like, if you can’t sleep after half an hour, get up and do something else until you’re sleepy. Which if you’re like me could mean you’re up until 2 or 3 a.m. reading or knitting. Or reading and knitting.<br /><br />Dr. Page is the first writer I’ve seen suggest that if you’re still awake in the middle of the night, you should probably be praying about whatever is keeping you up.<br /><br />The book contains a lot of thoughtful questions to probe what is troubling you and where you stand with God. My copy is now thoroughly highlighted and Post-It noted.<br /><br />There are a few problems with the book; some awkward sentences and typos. The interior page design is striking, but kind of odd and distracting, diced up by dark horizontal and vertical bars. The exploration questions are placed in the margins over a dark gray background, so get a good dark pen if you choose to use the book as a workbook; otherwise your responses will be hard to read. But these are quibbles.<br /><br />The writing is solid, and the book is well-thought-out and thought-provoking. It may not cure your insomnia outright, but it may lessen the symptoms. It will certainly make insomnia easier to live with.<br /><br />Disclosure: The author provided me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a><br />Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-88272404324039032892013-12-28T19:49:00.000-05:002013-12-28T19:49:00.346-05:00This book should be called 'Millionaire Mindset'<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17916251-the-millionaire-map" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Millionaire Map: Your Ultimate Guide to Creating, Enjoying, and Sharing Wealth" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1379349432m/17916251.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17916251-the-millionaire-map">The Millionaire Map: Your Ultimate Guide to Creating, Enjoying, and Sharing Wealth</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/157974.Jim_Stovall">Jim Stovall</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/799488252">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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The thing I appreciate most about this book is that the author early on emphasizes that "millionaire" means different things to different people. For some it literally means a net worth of a million dollars. For others it means not having to worry about money. Stovall allows you to pick your own definition.<br />
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The premise of this book is that it will help you devise a "map" that will lead you to a destination of financial contentment, but really it's more like an outline of principles than a step-by-step set of directions. It's more like Google Earth than Google Maps.<br />
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The advice is sound, but if you've read more than a few financial planning books, it will all sound hauntingly familiar. Understand your income. Control your spending. Invest prudently.<br />
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This is a good book. There's just not a lot in it to separate it from other good financial planning and investment books. The prose is flabby in places, with lots of repetition, and the author spends a lot of time talking about himself.<br />
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Still, the overall takeaway is that becoming a millionaire is more about your mindset and your relationship with money than it is about what you do for a living or where you invest. If you're looking to develop that mindset—a healthy relationship with money instead of a codependent one—then this book is for you.<br />
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I received a free copy of this book from Story Cartel for review purposes.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-38437121135858625562013-10-04T21:28:00.001-04:002013-12-25T19:54:43.834-05:00NET Bible: New English Translation good but not great<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6271306-the-net-bible" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The NET Bible: New English Translation" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1234998469m/6271306.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6271306-the-net-bible">The NET Bible: New English Translation</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2812388.Biblical_Studies_Press">Biblical Studies Press</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/392252332">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I got this Bible free in the Olive Tree Bible Study app on my iPad. (Love that app, by the way.)<br />
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The translation was crowdsourced, which explains why it's inconsistent in places. <br />
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The editors show a propensity toward cliches, e.g., Isaiah 64:11, "all our prized possessions have been destroyed," where a note indicates the alternate translation as "all that we valued has become a ruin." Given the choice between the two, why would an editor prefer the hackneyed old set phrase "prized possessions" over something plain, simple, and more literal?<br />
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Other times, though, the translators appear to be needlessly striving for originality. In Habakkuk 2:14, for example, they write: "For recognition of the Lord s sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea."<br />
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The footnote shows the literal translation: Heb. "for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, just as the waters cover over the sea." The poetic meter of the original has been eradicated in the translation, and for no good reason I can discern.<br />
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The translators have a journalist-like aversion to metaphor. Deuteronomy 26:8 reads, "Therefore the LORD brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power(a), as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders." Note (a) then says, "Heb. 'by a powerful hand and an extended arm.' These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God's tremendously great power…They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). Well, yeah. I suppose that's why those translations are among the most widely used. I'd rather have the literal translation with an explanatory footnote than the other way around.<br />
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Diction choices are very odd indeed. There seems to be an excessive concern about helping "modern" readers understand the text, which results in pointless things like Jeremiah 13:1 describing his "linen shorts." I trust that modern readers are not so dense as to be unaware of what a loincloth is. Elsewhere, the plans for the temple are called "blueprints," a whopping anachronism.<br />
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The translators' notes are copious, almost overwhelmingly so. But I do like seeing the thought process.<br />
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The notes often highlight occasions when the translators have taken liberties with sentence structure. The notes will cite a verse or verses and then note that they are "one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons."<br />
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In one place, they have left what they consider a "long" sentence, with this explanation: "The length of this sentence runs contrary to the normal policy followed in the translation of breaking up long sentences. However, there does not seem any way to break it up here without losing the connections." The sentence in question is Jer. 15:4 -- "I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah's son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.” Now, is that really so long? It's not unwieldy.<br />
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This aversion to long sentences and the anachronistic diction choices lead me to believe that this translation is aimed at readers with lower skill levels, e.g., young people and those for whom English is a second language. Yet the notes are highly scholarly, often delving deep into fine points of Hebrew and Greek grammar.<br />
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For example, here's the note on Jer. 31:19 -- "For this meaning of the verb see HAL 374 s. v. ידע Nif 5 or W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 129. REB translates "Now that I am submissive" relating the verb to a second root meaning "be submissive." (See HALOT 375 s. v. II ידע and J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament, 19- 21, for evidence for this verb. Other passages cited with this nuance are Judg 8:16; Prov 10:9; Job 20:20.)"<br />
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I have no idea what half of that even means, and I'm a pretty skilled reader. But not in Hebrew.<br />
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The notes are sometimes written so much for those with a seminary education that they are out of reach of ordinary laypersons. For example, on Mark 1:31, "...the fever left her and she began to serve (a) them," where note (a) says, "The imperfect verb is taken ingressively here." Not knowing Greek, either, I have no idea what an ingressive verb is or why it matters.<br />
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So I'm not quite sure what to make of the NET. As a Bible study leader, I find the scholarly notes helpful, albeit over my head at times. But because of the tendency of the text toward oversimplification and paraphrase, I'm not likely to use it in class.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-64780897084135547202013-09-10T05:12:00.000-04:002013-09-10T05:12:00.336-04:001DVD does one thing really wellMy Rating: <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">★★★★</span>☆</span><br />
I had a seemingly simple task. I had a collection of videos that I needed to show in a classroom equipped with an old TV (I mean it's a cathode ray tube, people) and DVD player. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBO3FLbvVh6sMVGuyZZvpRRjOrZL8EerewLXBkoNOmD1KZwE6c01nfWlXUJhxAGQBqtyvzVK-1oXylTZJcZ4O_DER5StMwy_LXayMxIBjfoQ0vPRKZU62SFrK5F9r_MgNzM3Hbnc8PvOE/s1600/1DVD+Pro+Screen+Shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mac app burn DVD" border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBO3FLbvVh6sMVGuyZZvpRRjOrZL8EerewLXBkoNOmD1KZwE6c01nfWlXUJhxAGQBqtyvzVK-1oXylTZJcZ4O_DER5StMwy_LXayMxIBjfoQ0vPRKZU62SFrK5F9r_MgNzM3Hbnc8PvOE/s400/1DVD+Pro+Screen+Shot.jpg" title="" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screeshot courtesy of DawnArk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1dvd-pro/id544638630?mt=12">1DVD Pro by DawnArk</a> did exactly what I needed it to do: Burn all six videos to a disc that would work in the DVD player (as opposed to a data disc that will work in a computer). The tools for customizing the disc's home screen were pretty easy to figure out, if a bit twitchy at times. For example, the title field didn't automatically expand to fit the text, and grabbing the frame to drag it out took a few tries.<br />
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One major, gaping omission I see is that you can't save a project and finish it later, so be prepared to set up your file and burn all your DVDs in a single session. The Burn button opens a dialog with options to burn a disc or save an ISO file. But then you need a different app to make more discs from the ISO file. So if you're making lots of copies -- say video from a wedding or family reunion -- this is maybe not the best option. But to make one DVD, yes, it lives up to its name.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-79395663145693901462013-08-25T13:09:00.001-04:002013-08-25T13:10:48.371-04:00Crucial Questions provides great Bible study material<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15953035-can-i-have-joy-in-my-life" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Can I Have Joy in My Life? (Crucial Questions, #12)" border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352758861m/15953035.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15953035-can-i-have-joy-in-my-life">Can I Have Joy in My Life?</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1250965.R_C_Sproul">R.C. Sproul</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/703473860">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I have been teaching this series to some very mature Christian ladies, and today, on the last day of this series, one of them said the whole series has been "wonderful!" All of us learned something new from it. For me, the biggest lesson in this book on joy was the difference between pleasure, which comes from worldly things, and joy, which comes from the Spirit. This is a clear-eyed view of how we can rejoice in the Lord even in the midst of earthly struggles. <br />
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The whole Crucial Questions series is available in e-book versions for free: http://bit.ly/CrucialQs. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-43398202657663671012013-05-25T22:05:00.000-04:002013-05-25T22:14:02.313-04:00'The Voice' Bible translation good for teaching 'The Way'Our Sunday school class is currently going through Adam Hamilton's new video teaching, <i>The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus</i>. It's a great series. In each video, Hamilton shows you places in the Holy Land where Jesus walked and taught.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1426752539/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1426752539&linkCode=as2&tag=kriststief-20" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1426752539&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=kriststief-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=kriststief-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1426752539" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
The lesson plans in the leader's guide call for class members to read the scriptures aloud dramatically, like a play. I found that the new translation <i>The Voice</i> is well-suited to this. It's a paraphrase written in a screenplay style, with dialog called out this way:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Jesus</b>:<b> </b>Move out into deeper water, and drop your nets to see what you’ll catch. </blockquote>
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<b>Simon</b> (perplexed): Master, we’ve been fishing all night, and we haven’t caught even a minnow. But…all right, I’ll do it if You say so.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y84ZU2/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007Y84ZU2&linkCode=as2&tag=kriststief-20" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B007Y84ZU2&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=kriststief-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=kriststief-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007Y84ZU2" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
It's almost as if <i>The Voice</i> was written for the purpose. But <i>The Voice</i> is published by Thomas Nelson, and <i>The Way</i> by Abingdon Press. So I doubt they planned it.<br />
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In April, a colleague pointed me to the <a href="http://zondervancorporation.mkt4728.com/consumerinsights/ConsumerInsights">HarperCollins Christian Publishing Consumer Insights Panel</a>. After signing on as a member of the panel, I got a promotional e-version of <i>The Voice</i> New Testament. Right about the same time, the Christian Education director at our church got a postcard promoting <i>The Way</i> and suggested it would be appropriate for my class.<br />
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That all sounds very coincidental, but I don't believe in coincidences. I think Someone planned it, but it wasn't likely the publishers.<br />
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</span></span></span> <span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some of these links are affiliate links, so if you click on one and purchase the item, I will receive a pittance of a commission. As noted, I received <i>The Voice</i> NT for free in the hope that I would promote it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe provide value. Per Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”</span></span></span>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-3789919241715753662013-04-23T16:38:00.000-04:002013-04-23T16:38:10.064-04:00Don’t trade on news—especially unverified newsA flash crash shortly after 1 p.m. today should never have happened. Usually when the market dips and quickly recovers it’s because of a data entry error—an extra zero in a sell order. But this one was the product of sheer stupidity—and maybe deliberate malice.<br />
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A hacker cracked the Associated Press Twitter feed and sent a fake news item claiming explosions at the White House had injured the president. Almost instantly, the markets dropped 1 percent, which doesn’t sound like a lot. And in the big picture, it’s not. But 1 percent was the entirety of the day’s gains up to that point.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE63U0jRvPzPnEBgmZdsZWJ_nqEYKpqnLhG4U4cDY0Ih970Ki4jmEEqc_4ZyEkiqjdJUtlvxJbT8SrgOf7cycgdjMTZtW1X3qat5oD3m8o-ZL2577MuNrvw-IPJblYHPVQAfkXuxHNQ0Y/s1600/Flash+Crash+04+23+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE63U0jRvPzPnEBgmZdsZWJ_nqEYKpqnLhG4U4cDY0Ih970Ki4jmEEqc_4ZyEkiqjdJUtlvxJbT8SrgOf7cycgdjMTZtW1X3qat5oD3m8o-ZL2577MuNrvw-IPJblYHPVQAfkXuxHNQ0Y/s320/Flash+Crash+04+23+13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">DJI = Dow Jones • INX = S&P 500 • IXIC = Nasdaq</span></span></td></tr>
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You see the markets recovered almost as quickly. The problem, apart from the fact that the AP’s account shouldn’t have been hacked in the first place, is that the drop seems to have happened without human intervention.</div>
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In this <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/100664423?__source=yahoo|related|story|text|">CNBC article about the matter</a>, Kenny Polcari of O’Neill Securities is quoted as saying, “That goes to show you how algorithms read headlines and create these automatic orders – you don’t even have time to react as a human being.” What he’s implying is that computers are programmed to sell based on news headlines, without first verifying those headlines elsewhere.</div>
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In one of the great old Tom Baker episodes of Doctor Who, <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fourth_Doctor#Robot_.5B12.1.5D">an episode about a doomsday machine</a>, the Doctor said, “<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The trouble with computers, of course, is that they’re very sophisticated idiots. They do exactly what you tell them at amazing speed. Even if you order them to kill you.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today’s flash crash is an excellent example of why safeguards need to be in place to prevent computers from doing stupid things at amazing speed. The event is just a blip on the market’s long-term radar, but anyone with an automated sell order that got mistakenly triggered by this fiasco is probably rethinking their algorithms about now.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More important still is the fact that news—even verified real news—is rarely a good reason to sell off stocks. That computers can be tricked into killing off the stock market, even momentarily, by a lie highlights the need for human supervision, but it also shows the importance of trading on fundamentals, not on </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">rumor and innuendo.</span></div>
Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-26164963133377275122013-02-14T10:45:00.000-05:002013-02-14T10:46:36.057-05:00Microsoft Office: Necessary, but frustratingMy Rating: <span style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;">★★</span><span style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;">★★</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">☆</span><br />
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Microsoft Office is one of those products one buys because one has to. Word has become the industry standard in the publishing industry, so I have to have it. But feature bloat and the fact that the developers seem to move buttons and menu options and change keyboard shortcuts from each version to the next make upgrading a real hassle.<br />
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I bought a new computer at the end of last year because even though I loved my old <a href="http://vintagemacmuseum.blogspot.com/2010/03/mdd-mania-wind-tunnel-express.html">G4 Wind Tunnel</a>, it had become unreliable, which is just not acceptable in a machine I need to do my job. It was also dead slow, especially online, and I couldn’t upgrade any software or use new apps because new versions of everything only run on Intel processors.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkB9ZP3rGo9OsBthfARMoCiEThU4co6yzDj2gOe4ptuI5lnxcEq0h-DJvD0VXjfP-L7dzzX9DOsJx6WiSEPrXQcTz4FOQmrcYq3Osccw5LJmDQu3tu5DcPiFu9WvUCmq0JD_LVM8th9E0/s1600/Microsoft+Office+Mac+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkB9ZP3rGo9OsBthfARMoCiEThU4co6yzDj2gOe4ptuI5lnxcEq0h-DJvD0VXjfP-L7dzzX9DOsJx6WiSEPrXQcTz4FOQmrcYq3Osccw5LJmDQu3tu5DcPiFu9WvUCmq0JD_LVM8th9E0/s320/Microsoft+Office+Mac+2011.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
So I bought the <a href="http://www.apple.com/imac/">new iMac with the less-reflective screen</a>. Love it. But of course my old version of Office wouldn’t run on the new Mac. For the most part, Mac users buy apps from the Mac App Store, but Microsoft is not in on this deal. Fortunately, ordering <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Office-Mac-2011-Home-Business/dp/B0064PF4ZQ">Office Mac 2011 Home and Business</a> from Amazon was easy. I got a digital download, so no need to wait for a box to come in the mail. Installation went smoothly.<br />
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Excel has some great new formatting options that make it easier to use, but converting my old spreadsheets from Office 2004 to 2011 munged much of my conditional formatting. So I wound up re-building a lot of things. Hassle.<br />
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Word is still the best word processor on the planet, but the find command is now seriously messed up. Instead of opening the full-featured Find and Replace dialog box, command-F opens a search field at the top of the window. Getting to the full-feature Replace box requires using option-command-F to open the Find dialog and then clicking the Replace tab. As far as I have been able to discern, there is no way to assign a keyboard shortcut that invokes the replace dialog directly. Hassle.<br />
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Entourage, which was originally called Outlook, is now called Outlook again. All my data transferred from the old app to the new seamlessly. It's still a very good mail/calendar/to do app, but it lacks iPad integration. No hassle, I just use other apps instead: <a href="http://postbox-inc.com/">Postbox for mail</a>, <a href="http://www.apple.com/osx/apps/#calendar">Apple's Calendar</a>, and <a href="http://www.yoctoville.com/errands-app-details/">Errands for task management</a>.<br />
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PowerPoint is a bit easier to use than before, once you get past the hassle of all the buttons being in new places.<br />
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I like the new Office, and I use it daily, but I don't love it.<br />
<br />Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-45592713974009227592013-01-18T05:30:00.000-05:002013-01-18T05:30:04.764-05:00My year in books - 2012<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/385837">Goodreads helpfully provides a snapshot of my reading from last year:</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BmI6WbE6qGDtnbW7rqIc3gdoFPR2k9Cl4qyWMyHWZL5D5uKbbmLueWDJ6RxUYae0K1T2aEpd0zuQY3SZmD0GjBQG2DX_SHjuI-pCsxG_pNBo91HSW9NEwqVRkmPaYcdxMzvizeNCFqI/s1600/Books+read+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BmI6WbE6qGDtnbW7rqIc3gdoFPR2k9Cl4qyWMyHWZL5D5uKbbmLueWDJ6RxUYae0K1T2aEpd0zuQY3SZmD0GjBQG2DX_SHjuI-pCsxG_pNBo91HSW9NEwqVRkmPaYcdxMzvizeNCFqI/s640/Books+read+2012.jpg" width="568" /> </a></div>
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I had set myself the goal of reading a book a month. Considering that I often feel like I have "no time" for reading, I clearly made time. I was tempted to set this year's goal at 24 also, but since we're halfway through the month and I have yet to finish a book, I thought I better not. So I'm shooting for 18 this year.</div>
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Now I just have to go back and make sure I reviewed all these…Well, except for <i>The Education of Amal</i>. I edited that book, so it wouldn't be proper for me to review it. I'm strongly biased. ;)</div>
<br />Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-10479359983843530902013-01-12T05:30:00.000-05:002013-12-13T14:38:55.244-05:00Kobo app great for social media; lousy for research<div class="image" style="width: 200px;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiS6iT0Tw9_-UtEfbrZ5U8n3l_L5OcaNcRKDxnIFDX0C9z6HDJmh_pPH1Ut6IebIPYD1TUot3w0hJkb-c-ao8pk7UGOiocrS1SPqsJI8RH_5Fau6NlfdHTGa4ODz_0DhF2p5SxXX2v0k/s1600/Kobo+book+shelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kobo books shelf" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiS6iT0Tw9_-UtEfbrZ5U8n3l_L5OcaNcRKDxnIFDX0C9z6HDJmh_pPH1Ut6IebIPYD1TUot3w0hJkb-c-ao8pk7UGOiocrS1SPqsJI8RH_5Fau6NlfdHTGa4ODz_0DhF2p5SxXX2v0k/s200/Kobo+book+shelf.jpg" height="200" title="Kobo's bookshelf view" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kobo's old-timey bookshelf view</td></tr>
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My rating: 2 of 5 stars<br />
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Since getting my iPad, I find I do most of my book reading on it. Which kind of surprised me, because I thought I would use it mainly for news reading and web surfing. Which I do, but that’s beside the point.<br />
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Amazon’s Kindle app is still the Ma Bell of reading apps -- they have a virtual monopoly but nobody much cares because they’re so much better at what they do than everyone else. Nevertheless, I do check out other e-reading apps to see what they have to offer and to support those who are trying to compete with Ma Bezos. <a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/">Kobo</a> is one of those.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGsiF2sGvVHh98pbK07_jIxN9j0lhyphenhyphenOjWCxPOSJ9iMTh2mEZ7xULTODjqMKcaBoKoF7s0AFXMohchRdNVWS6IsaXPfRAljxh79SfCb2fAOe02OyuCFLnzu3XYJXED-WcHu4IRrejrDEo/s1600/Kobo+book+list.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGsiF2sGvVHh98pbK07_jIxN9j0lhyphenhyphenOjWCxPOSJ9iMTh2mEZ7xULTODjqMKcaBoKoF7s0AFXMohchRdNVWS6IsaXPfRAljxh79SfCb2fAOe02OyuCFLnzu3XYJXED-WcHu4IRrejrDEo/s200/Kobo+book+list.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newfangled list view</td></tr>
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It's an attractive app. You can customize the library view with either the quaint old skeuomorphic bookshelf or the more computer-y list. When reading, you can highlight and make notes, and a tab in the table of contents window shows your annotations.<br />
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But Kobo’s focus is solidly on social media. It’s all about sharing what you’re reading and earning badges. I don’t need no stinkin’ badges, I just need to be able to find a passage in a book.<br />
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One of Kobo's main benefits is its huge library of free books, including most of the major classics. But good luck if you want to find a single passage in a book. Every time the Kobo app gets an update, I open it up, looking for that magnifying glass icon. It’s still missing. So I can download Emily Dickinson’s poetry, but if I just need that poem about Hope, I have to look for it page by page (it’s on page 138, by the way). This is especially frustrating because in the help section of the Kobo website you can find instructions for searching within a book on Kobo’s hardware. So it’s not like they think no one needs this feature. They just can’t be bothered to add it to the iPad app.*<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3RzBsZw3mWDhoKO2XsKq5IBD-NFrylQS2imfOWOAzaIZd_YQLJ-mJR38sEL9yrSpF5WDLQXuAksAIScO9GohwzgNBFsAzB2jdzrFs5HKEEQZpwFBbnFJ-OqPwkfIHluEEb7iRdrViRE/s1600/Kobo+badges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3RzBsZw3mWDhoKO2XsKq5IBD-NFrylQS2imfOWOAzaIZd_YQLJ-mJR38sEL9yrSpF5WDLQXuAksAIScO9GohwzgNBFsAzB2jdzrFs5HKEEQZpwFBbnFJ-OqPwkfIHluEEb7iRdrViRE/s320/Kobo+badges.jpg" height="320" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Badges are cute, but I'd rather have a search function.</td></tr>
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</div>
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Because of the missing search feature, I rarely use Kobo. But recently, I needed to reference a text, and knowing it’s an old book in the public domain, I started in the usual places. Kindle had a version, but not for free. Apple’s iBooks, same thing. OK, hold that one for Plan B. Plan A for public domain works is to find a free version. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> didn’t have it. Next stop Kobo. There it is. Of course, to download the free book I have to log in.<br />
<br />
Kobo is now closely entwined with Facebook, so much so that you can’t log in to a Kobo account without using Facebook, unless the two accounts are associated with different e-mail addresses. If you use the same address for both, when you try to log in to Kobo, you get a dialog that says “Your e-mail address is linked to an existing Facebook account. Would you like to sign in with Facebook?” <i>No</i> is not an option. Your options are <i>yes</i>, sign in with Facebook, or <i>cancel</i> and don’t sign in at all.<br />
<div class="image" style="width: 250px;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOCCW-Lhz6CWEDFvIUqBJZtQ4eWjrUKwT818DxyMsBpAALdJEzpO7Quti-Zxoi2SCbU_-M_wjLPoYLlTVRIlcBYJVuX1mdZKsKuwDfgIzb_ZFwY6FSUaXYa6Z9Vfdr6Hnn6_hE6VO07k/s1600/Kobo+user+comments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOCCW-Lhz6CWEDFvIUqBJZtQ4eWjrUKwT818DxyMsBpAALdJEzpO7Quti-Zxoi2SCbU_-M_wjLPoYLlTVRIlcBYJVuX1mdZKsKuwDfgIzb_ZFwY6FSUaXYa6Z9Vfdr6Hnn6_hE6VO07k/s320/Kobo+user+comments.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the social media "feature" is being able to read other peoples' comments. Which would be great if they actually had some intellectual substance.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
I asked Kobo’s help desk about this and was told you can sign in without Facebook. But the trick is, you have to sign in with Facebook first, then unlink Facebook from your Kobo account. That’s like, if I tell the waiter I don’t want broccoli in my soup, and he says, “We’ll just put it in at first, and then you can pick it out.”<br />
<br />
Of course, if you like having every data point of your reading life funneled through Facebook’s marketing machine, this is a non-issue. And if you’re clever enough to sign up for Kobo with a different e-mail than you use for Facebook, it’s a non-issue. For me, though, it’s an issue.<br />
<br />
So I found the book I was looking for in Google Play, and am reading it there. Kobo just dropped down a notch on my list of e-readers.<br />
<br />
*—A Dec. 9, 2013, update added a search feature to the Kobo iPad app (version 6.2).Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-87592217727126695322013-01-06T05:00:00.000-05:002013-01-06T05:00:09.530-05:00The parable of the sower in 21st-century AmericaWhen we’re taught evangelism or church development, the early church is held up as an example. One church development movement, <a href="http://vitalchurchesinstitute.com/pages/acts-16-5">The Acts 16:5 Initiative</a>, takes its name from this verse:<br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16&version=NRSV">churches were strengthened in the faith</a> and increased in numbers daily.</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFY45HRn2LRRUp-1p6yQBymwC4PHFE9q_0zMAokgJf0qPRZZfGY78VB9eo7p_KVqJuIvOhJxgXleeJjd0u6YDH9UcUqkc5IKLlMPY6iK7R-5xbqh5XNfebqrY6KG_mDWw_u3K082ihcKY/s1600/Seeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="seeds sower parable word of god " border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFY45HRn2LRRUp-1p6yQBymwC4PHFE9q_0zMAokgJf0qPRZZfGY78VB9eo7p_KVqJuIvOhJxgXleeJjd0u6YDH9UcUqkc5IKLlMPY6iK7R-5xbqh5XNfebqrY6KG_mDWw_u3K082ihcKY/s320/Seeds.jpg" title="Seeds" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Razief Arlie • bit.ly/sxc-hu-adlie</td></tr>
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<br />There’s a fundamental problem, though, with modeling 21st-century congregational growth on the first-century model. And the problem is the church.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%208:4-15&version=NRSV">In the parable of the sower</a>, Jesus taught that the seed of God’s word can fall on different sorts of soil, and different types of soil yield different results.<br /><br />
<h3>
Peter</h3>
<br />When Peter preached in Jerusalem, he was working with fertile soil; the Jews were prepared and waiting for the Messiah. When they gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of first fruits, what we call Pentecost, Peter could convert 3,000 people with <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%202&version=NRSV">one sermon</a> by quoting the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=joel%202:28-32&version=NRSV">prophet Joel</a>, because his listeners all knew exactly what he was talking about.<br /><br />We focus on the Jews who rejected the Messiah, but we forget that most of the early followers in The Way were Jews who accepted the Messiah. They did not see themselves as Christians, but as what we would now call <a href="http://shema.com/messianic-judaism/what-is-it/">Messianic Jews</a>.<br /><br />The main objection Peter had to overcome was, “How do we know this Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Messiah we’ve been waiting for?”<br /><br />
<h3>
Paul</h3>
<br /><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017:16-34&version=NRSV">When Paul preached at the Areopagus</a>, the soil was not as fertile. It was rocky ground, cluttered by a profusion of deities. Rome was similar, having imported all sorts of gods from other cultures, including Greece and Egypt.<br /><br />We get all worked up about mimicking the church-planting practices of the early apostles, but we forget that they were talking with people whose culture was inclined toward philosophical and religious inquiry.<br /><br />The main objections Paul had to overcome were, “Jesus of Galilee? Never heard of him. Who is he and where is Galilee?” or “How is your one God any better than all the gods of Olympus?”<br /><br />
<h3>
Us</h3>
<br />When we preach in 21st century America, we don’t have soil. We don’t even have rocky ground. We have pavement.<br /><br />We focus on our God of love and forget that for many people, the worst hurts they’ve received have come at the hands of people who called themselves Christians. They were ripped off by a televangelist, or bullied in a church youth group, or were shunned by churchgoers who disliked their dress or lifestyle or ethnicity.<br /><br />The main objections we have to overcome are, “You Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites,” and <a href="http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2012/11/24/sectarianism-the-charge-we-cannot-deny/">“How can we believe you when you can’t even agree amongst yourselves?”</a><br /><br />People in America have been so hurt by the church in so many different ways that they have paved over their wounds. They are armored in asphalt. They won’t be converted by sermons or teaching or tracts passed out on street corners. To reach people like this, we have to wait patiently for the cracks to appear. That takes patience.<br /><br />Of course, sometimes God plows under people’s pavement with a great crisis: illness or unemployment or some other tragedy. When that happens, we can be there to provide support. But only if we’ve already been walking authentically, living out a faith devoid of hypocrisy and full of love.<br />Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-20012792946602756422012-12-31T06:00:00.000-05:002013-01-02T11:24:25.265-05:00Moving my website, just a little too late<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVuYYRElG2lA5OSFZGYjQCxRNaDYcwpxFvUeBiz9gugUB3AzZB6o_doatgd99mBiDNN4ThLx2FGY8dvMYWl2S0_mz4IoXYHgsRLqknloG_Uia86RTFB1ILVefvGIYOZAzilmSdHP2ljZY/s1600/December+31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVuYYRElG2lA5OSFZGYjQCxRNaDYcwpxFvUeBiz9gugUB3AzZB6o_doatgd99mBiDNN4ThLx2FGY8dvMYWl2S0_mz4IoXYHgsRLqknloG_Uia86RTFB1ILVefvGIYOZAzilmSdHP2ljZY/s1600/December+31.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by Ayhan Yildiz • sxc.hu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I’ve never been one for new year's resolutions. If a change is going to be made, one might as well make it now as wait for some arbitrary date on the calendar. But it just happens that a change I’ve been planning for a while coincides with the turning of that page from December to January.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kristenstieffel.com/" target="_blank">My website</a> has needed an overhaul for ages, and I have heard from <a href="http://www.authormedia.com/blog/" target="_blank">Author Media</a> and tons of other sources that WordPress is the way to go. Since I’m already familiar with WordPress because it’s what <a href="http://newauthors.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">New Authors’Fellowship</a> is built on, it seemed like a great idea.<br />
<br />
I’ve also been wanting to shift to a different website host, because having my site hosted by AT&T has not been a good experience. For example, I sent the help desk an e-mail asking how to set up WordPress on my site. I was told I couldn’t do that under my current hosting plan. This was not a surprise, because I was on the lowest-cost plan available. But the help desk did not say, as a helpful person would do, “We’ll need to upgrade your plan, which will cost an additional so many dollars per month. Shall I go ahead and do that for you today?” The answer to this question, had it been asked, would have been, “Yes, thank you.”<br />
<br />
But in one of many Great Fails, The helpless desk said, “Your plan doesn’t support WordPress. You’ll have to contact the sales department for an upgrade.” So I e-mailed the sales department and asked how much an upgrade would cost.<br />
<br />
Three weeks later, I got an e-mail back that said, “Did you ever get that upgrade you were asking about?”<br />
<br />
No, because I was never told how much it would cost. At this point my answer was “never mind,” because I’d already decided to switch to a new host.<br />
<br />
By the way, when I asked my new host, HostGator, how to set up my account for WordPress, I was given detailed instructions. I got off to an OK start, but when I ran into a snag and e-mailed the help desk again, I was sent another set of directions followed by "or, if you prefer, I can do it for you." To which the answer was, "Yes, thank you," and the job was done quickly.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, I then got hung up on the design.<br />
<br />
Coming from a print page design background, I knew what I wanted my website to look like, but not how to make it happen. While with AT&T, I tried several different web-building apps, but none of them were ever as intuitive to use as they claimed, and none were as flexible as InDesign. I mean, using InDesign, I could place a graphic exactly where I want it, and overlay or run around text, and … well, anyway, every other page layout program pales by comparison, and web design apps are just not in the same league.<br />
<br />
While I fiddled about on the design end of WordPress, AT&T “upgraded” my website and e-mail services. This “upgrade” produced two e-mail outages within three weeks. If only I had switched to my new host in October, instead of waiting. Oh, well. That’s what I get for being fussy about appearances.<br />
<br />
I finally gave myself a deadline and picked up a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Launch-WordPress-com-Blog-Dummies-ebook/dp/B0083WCGGS" target="_blank">Launch a WordPress.com Blog In A Day For Dummies</a>, though I've spent more than a day on it. I'm taking advantage of the end-of-year slowdown to migrate my site. I hope to have the shift completed by January 2. After that, articles related to writing, editing, and publishing will appear at <a href="http://www.kristenstieffel.com/">kristenstieffel.com</a>. Some of my articles about the writing journey, faith, and publishing will be at New Authors’ Fellowship. I’m going to try increasing the frequency with which I blog about business topics at <a href="http://www.cfchristianchamber.com/chamber-blog" target="_blank">Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce</a>. Anything left over will go here.<br />
<br />
I pray your new year will get off to a great start, and that if you have any changes to make, you will make them now, and not delay while waiting for another page to turn.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-26268092872578761672012-12-24T13:00:00.000-05:002012-12-30T16:04:16.881-05:00My Christmas prayer for you<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
Over at New Authors' Fellowship, I wrote about the <a href="https://newauthors.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/mayan-doomsday-fail-christ-win/" target="_blank">Mayan Doomsday Hoax and Christmas</a>, which aren't as incompatible topics as you might think. Christ's second coming will herald the end of this world as we know it, and his first coming is what we gather to celebrate this week. Here's a summary of what I said over there.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdM9q3Fr0igT4AzXHan37MjMZNOFgKIQCv-a1lLQA6mznZIeD5Qf4asbIDIIIIST39ctic-2WmpbdEu-naINECQBGthDwF5TpxHm1ejQVW5Z699V0QXSLFKW9sNfureZxlVAQUcY_IQA/s1600/Holy+Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdM9q3Fr0igT4AzXHan37MjMZNOFgKIQCv-a1lLQA6mznZIeD5Qf4asbIDIIIIST39ctic-2WmpbdEu-naINECQBGthDwF5TpxHm1ejQVW5Z699V0QXSLFKW9sNfureZxlVAQUcY_IQA/s320/Holy+Family.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© jurand - Fotolia.com</td></tr>
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Christmas is incomplete if we forget <i>why</i> <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201:1-17&version=NRSV" target="_blank">God put on flesh to dwell with us</a>.<br />
<br />
It wasn’t because he thought it would be personally fulfilling
to be born in a pen with the livestock and grow up poor and learn to
work for a living.<br />
<br />
It wasn’t because it would be great fun to walk along
dusty roads from one end of the country to the other preaching to
people, most of whom wouldn’t even listen, let alone take his words to
heart.<br />
<br />
It wasn’t because he thought everyone would believe him if only
he could be tried on trumped-up charges and get executed in the most
brutal way ever devised.<br />
<br />
It was because having gone through all that,
his rising again on the third day demonstrated his ability to overcome
anything — all opposition, all sorrow, even death itself. The cost of
teaching us that lesson was the incarnate Word that governs the universe
debasing himself to our level — to the lowest of the low, even into the
grave. If he’d do that much for us, how much more will he meet all our
earthly needs?<br />
<br />
<br />
I pray that whatever opposition you face, whatever needs are weighing
on your mind, whatever sorrows are breaking your heart, you will find
comfort in the one who faced more opposition, poverty, and sorrow than
we can imagine — and overcame them all.<br />
<br />
Happy Christmas.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-91866806384884808252012-12-19T15:19:00.000-05:002012-12-21T13:02:13.524-05:00Blog Hop: The Next Big ThingLists of questions are often used as conversation-starters on the Internet. Lately, this is the string that's been running around my circle. Each writer answers these questions about her book, and then passes the baton, as it were, to five more writers. Pretty soon everyone who ever even thought of writing a book will be tagged.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.splashdownbooks.com/fantasy/star-of-justice" target="_blank">Robynn Tolbert, author of </a><a href="http://www.splashdownbooks.com/fantasy/star-of-justice" target="_blank"><i>Star of Justice</i></a>, tagged me as part of a string of authors promoting their Next Big Thing. <a href="http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-meme-next-big-thing.html" target="_blank">Her post went up last week</a>; now it's my turn.<br />
<br />
1) What is the title of your next book/work?<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri-OtWjL6raYHCcoyWkF3Rq65TDaLGlWYqVVgGksfrKt5KrXNbP7wiq86NMzjKnyPo8SJEh_OmKgfJfX2GgZmJH_DlfMGusVLXxexQNw9_-xCInoOVriccj0QllY_aF3mwV-82VYbnoc/s1600/Alara+chronicle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri-OtWjL6raYHCcoyWkF3Rq65TDaLGlWYqVVgGksfrKt5KrXNbP7wiq86NMzjKnyPo8SJEh_OmKgfJfX2GgZmJH_DlfMGusVLXxexQNw9_-xCInoOVriccj0QllY_aF3mwV-82VYbnoc/s320/Alara+chronicle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© Anyka -- Fotolia.com</td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Alara's Call</i>, Book One of <i>The Prophet's Chronicle</i><br />
<br />
2) Where did the idea come from?<br />
<br />
I had a kind of vision -- almost like watching a movie -- of troops riding through a gate, flags flapping in the wind. I started writing to find out who those troops were and why they were there. There's only a bare vestige of that scene -- the flags -- left in the book.<br />
<br />
3) What genre does your book fall under?<br />
<br />
"Sword Opera," which is like fantasy only without the magic, elves, and dragons. Thank you, Caprice Hokstad, for coining this term.<br />
<br />
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?<br />
<br />
I have yet to see any actors who could play the heroine, Alara, or the hero, Dorrel. The only role I've been able to cast so far is Alara's mentor, General Rariden, who will be played by Harrison Ford.<br />
<br />
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?<br />
<br />
Alara is called to prophesy to world leaders -- starting with her father.<br />
<br />
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?<br />
<br />
Agents seem utterly unwilling to represent this genre. They say there's "no market" for that, but since I know plenty of people who read this genre, I know that what the agents really mean is "the market for that is too small to be worth my time. I am hoping to place the manuscript with a small press that doesn't require agent representation. <br />
<br />
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?<br />
<br />
A few months, but it was horrible, and sat in a drawer for ages before I took it out again and rewrote it. Several times. Eight, actually.<br />
<br />
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?<br />
<br />
The <i>Blood of Kings</i> trilogy by Jill Williamson<br />
The <i>Legends of the Guardian King</i> series by Karen Hancock<br />
<i>The Duke's Handmaid</i> by Caprice Hokstad<br />
<i>Prophet</i> by R.J. Larson<br />
<i>Daughter of Prophecy</i> by Miles Owens <br />
<i>Star of Justice</i> by Robynn Tolbert<br />
<i>Amberley</i> by Mary Elizabeth Hall<br />
<br />
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?<br />
<br />
The aforementioned vision. And, I like to think, God. At least, I hope this book honors the gift he's given me.<br />
<br />
10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest? <br />
<br />
Although most fantasy worlds are medieval (you can thank medieval expert J.R.R. Tolkien for that), Alara's world is more like 19th-century Europe. And although there's some swordplay, it's more about political intrigue.<br />
<br />
I'll tag <a href="paul:%20http://www.pabaines.com/page9.htm#129050" target="_blank">P.A. Baines</a>, who has already done his homework, <a href="http://www.raleneburke.com/" target="_blank">Ralene Burke</a>, <a href="http://dianemgraham.com/" target="_blank">Diane Graham</a>, <a href="http://avilyjerome.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Avily Jerome</a>, and <a href="http://williamtramirez.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Will Ramirez</a>. Yes, I picked all <a href="http://newauthors.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">New Authors' Fellowship</a> members. Because a fellowship sticks together.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-15242972026732634962012-12-14T06:00:00.000-05:002012-12-14T06:00:07.888-05:00A weird way to celebrate Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV_XBCo-783758RQ4MfgIpUeGV8GzrTXcYRNq7DIP1DF4TI9Xd30gK7ine0c5hmkymrC94O_f6xLoLtbrNGrRyXzzbmo8LrTMVgurofFxxnrP-0s_iicu0GPkENjEkmd0vRq1anQpjLEQ/s1600/MightyFortressSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV_XBCo-783758RQ4MfgIpUeGV8GzrTXcYRNq7DIP1DF4TI9Xd30gK7ine0c5hmkymrC94O_f6xLoLtbrNGrRyXzzbmo8LrTMVgurofFxxnrP-0s_iicu0GPkENjEkmd0vRq1anQpjLEQ/s320/MightyFortressSm.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<a href="http://thefactotumsrostrum.blogspot.com/2012/12/story-published-five-years-after.html" target="_blank">Last week, I described the long trip "Mighty Fortress" took to publication</a>, and I promised to explain how I came to write two drastically different Christmas stories.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/116807" target="_blank">"The Feast of Stevens"</a> is a science fiction Christmas comedy about turkeys on a space station. <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/263585" target="_blank">"Mighty Fortress"</a> is about the persecution of Jews in Austria in the 1930s. Yet both have a common origin.<br />
<br />
Years ago, the editors at <i>Orlando Business Journal</i> developed a contest for the staff called "Twisted Christmas." The idea was to write a Christmas story that was, in some way, not what one usually sees in Christmas stories. The stories were distributed, without names on them, to anyone on staff who cared to participate in the judging.<br />
<br />
I was overconfident, figuring I had studied fiction most of my life and the others were deeply steeped in boring old journalism. But year after year, I lost to my editorial colleagues<i>,</i> always to stories that were macabre or gory. So I mistakenly tried to write that way. I put way too much pressure on myself for a contest that had no prize at all other than an announcement at the company Christmas party.<br />
<br />
An earlier version of "Mighty Fortress," called "Ein Feste Burg," came in second or third one year. I honestly don't remember which and can't find it written down anywhere. It's dark, being set in Nazi Austria, but still lost to something more macabre.<br />
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Realizing I would never produce my best work by writing to what I thought judges liked, and that I was never going to write horror, I decided to go totally the other direction and write a comedy. The year I wrote "The Feast of Stevens" was the year I finally, finally, won that stinkin' contest.<br />
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I got a little vindication when "Ein Feste Burg" won First Place at the 2007 Royal Palm Literary Awards in the Best Short Story Unpublished category. And more still when "The Feast of Stevens" was published by <i>The Cynic Online Magazine</i> and subsequently won an Honorable Mention in the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Awards in the “short story, published” category.<br />
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When <i>Cynic</i> took "The Feast of Stevens" offline, I published it on Smashwords. And this year, unable to find a home for my award-winning historical, I published "Mighty Fortress."<br />
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After "The Feast of Stevens," I wrote one other Twisted Christmas story that won by default because I was the only one who entered the contest that year. A hollow victory, indeed. We stopped holding the contest after that. I haven't written any short stories since. I prefer to concentrate on my novel-writing, and on writing what comes naturally and what I love rather than trying to meet the expectations of judges.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-63032563250195327752012-12-10T06:14:00.000-05:002012-12-30T16:10:22.521-05:00Story published five years after winning awardLast year at about this time, I launched my first e-book, "The Feast of Stevens," though it's hard to call it a "book" when it's less than 5,000 words.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV_XBCo-783758RQ4MfgIpUeGV8GzrTXcYRNq7DIP1DF4TI9Xd30gK7ine0c5hmkymrC94O_f6xLoLtbrNGrRyXzzbmo8LrTMVgurofFxxnrP-0s_iicu0GPkENjEkmd0vRq1anQpjLEQ/s1600/MightyFortressSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV_XBCo-783758RQ4MfgIpUeGV8GzrTXcYRNq7DIP1DF4TI9Xd30gK7ine0c5hmkymrC94O_f6xLoLtbrNGrRyXzzbmo8LrTMVgurofFxxnrP-0s_iicu0GPkENjEkmd0vRq1anQpjLEQ/s320/MightyFortressSm.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
This year, I'm releasing another e-short-story, "Mighty Fortress." This story, under its previous title "Ein Feste Burg," won First Place at the 2007 Royal Palm Literary Awards in the Best Short Story Unpublished category. So here it is, published, after five years, a title change, and a <a href="http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/recovering-journalist-syndrome/" target="_blank">kick-tail edit</a>.<br />
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It's not as if I spent the last five years collecting rejections of this story. No, I gave up even trying to place it because I could not find a venue that would accept a 4,000-word historical short story. Every publication I could find required lower word counts than that. And as my aforementioned tail-kicking editor, Kat Heckenbach would tell you, this story was already too sparse.<br />
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So it was liberating when Kat told me I needed to <i>add</i> things. With no concerns about arbitrary word count limits, I was able to reveal much more about Pastor Gottlieb, the story's hero.<br />
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This is the great thing about e-publishing. It doesn't matter whether I call it a book or not. The story can be, as a pastor of mine used to say, <a href="http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/make-your-book-as-long-as-a-piece-of-string/" target="_blank">"as long as a piece of string."</a> Which is to say, as long as it needs to be.<br />
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I now have three stories on Smashwords, two of which are Christmas stories and all of which can be downloaded for free through January 6:<br />
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<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/263585" target="_blank"><b>Mighty Fortress</b></a><br />
Pastor Gottlieb helps a Jewish family escape the Nazis, but their elderly grandmother must stay behind. He hides her in the church, caring for her and learning from her, until one fateful Christmas Eve.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4Uu8JYzUtZFzVyVHJPenoAXLuqp_Rt1On9EslxkKVy-SBJA6swg2vZwArYpdteQ2GE3RHsZSZ6pCVhvmfpP_pHQLf-TF4o05qjLnXz50PwgwuVFpP9ULxd2gcephIrUq_U4qCByhbBU/s1600/FeastStevensSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4Uu8JYzUtZFzVyVHJPenoAXLuqp_Rt1On9EslxkKVy-SBJA6swg2vZwArYpdteQ2GE3RHsZSZ6pCVhvmfpP_pHQLf-TF4o05qjLnXz50PwgwuVFpP9ULxd2gcephIrUq_U4qCByhbBU/s200/FeastStevensSm.jpg" width="142" /></a><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/116807" target="_blank"><b>The Feast of Stevens</b></a><br />
On a space station far from Earth, animal liberationists inadvertently jeopardize thirty-eight innocent turkeys. The station’s cook, Stevens, ensures the fowl shall not have died in vain. In this science fiction Christmas comedy, cultures clash, hearts are won, and dinner is served.<br />
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<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/161546" target="_blank"><b>The Last Buffalo</b></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_T83-R4IXyY_5-RikmbMUkPIFtVhIPM_EvDIuaYkx_gn2dGwnKkw_wrks3mxpKRBYbVHtbHNpfr6LCVHKM_WdCBG1thdBKD7GRBxLNJRNX1dHEZ7V3Rcp3O1KWQpCxEC5GhieFRUED6Y/s1600/BuffaloSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_T83-R4IXyY_5-RikmbMUkPIFtVhIPM_EvDIuaYkx_gn2dGwnKkw_wrks3mxpKRBYbVHtbHNpfr6LCVHKM_WdCBG1thdBKD7GRBxLNJRNX1dHEZ7V3Rcp3O1KWQpCxEC5GhieFRUED6Y/s200/BuffaloSm.jpg" width="131" /></a>The legendary White Buffalo Calf Woman said that when the last buffalo dies, the world will end. The zookeeper caring for the only remaining American Bison is about to see that prophecy fulfilled.<br />
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Next time, I'll discuss how I came to write two such drastically different Christmas stories as "The Feast of Stevens" and "Mighty Fortress."</i>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-52478160051420169412012-11-26T06:30:00.000-05:002012-11-28T11:25:56.553-05:00This book doesn't quite live up to its billing<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13746646-a-sustainable-presbyterian-future" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A Sustainable Presbyterian Future: What's Working and Why" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1340807242m/13746646.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13746646-a-sustainable-presbyterian-future">A Sustainable Presbyterian Future: What's Working and Why</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4694550.Louis_Weeks">Louis Weeks</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/447891646">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Disappointing. This book is loaded with anecdotes, which I suppose are meant to inspire one to try similar activities in one's own congregation. The writing is academic and a bit stiff in places. Each chapter closes with a set of study questions, but this book provides few answers. I borrowed it from our presbytery library, and I'm glad I did. As a leader in my congregation, I felt a duty to read it. But I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The early chapters on Presbyterian identity and culture and the description of the "new Presbyterian ecology" were helpful, but from there the book kind of coasts.<br />
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The subtitle, "What's working and why," is half right. Weeks gives many examples of congregations doing things right, but offers little analysis as to why some programs work and others don't, or why some congregations flourish while others die. There are few "action items," by which I mean key takeaways that a church leader can implement. It's one thing to show a congregation with a successful ministry, and another to explain what another congregation would need to do to replicate those results.<br />
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One characteristic of this book struck me as particularly odd. The author notes that the "new Presbyterian ecology" he's studying "employs digital technology and social media more than printed and published literature." Yeah. More than. Direct quote. But this book is <i><b>not</b></i>, so far as I could discover, available in any digital format.<br />
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UPDATE: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Presbyterian-Future-Working-ebook/dp/B009NF5LQ6/" target="_blank">This book is now available on Kindle.</a> This is the first title published by Geneva Press I've seen on Kindle. Hopefully there will be many more. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5786223-kristen-stieffel">View all my reviews</a>Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-53601688373687914692012-11-19T12:22:00.002-05:002016-10-10T17:34:17.001-04:00Fiction Q&A: How to style royal and noble titles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9AP5IwcEAZY9Dt-C727IrQXyPvY13qW-ZcGlII0viuxeltIyRc0hUV7sQNpvZOY-yMCG0ftXacrADuzJe2gHg0mKxrh5yDmyaaJ43f-A_y0_1z64iLz42DpnptttcyKOfv4CFlTR26c/s1600/Fotolia_37487220_XS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9AP5IwcEAZY9Dt-C727IrQXyPvY13qW-ZcGlII0viuxeltIyRc0hUV7sQNpvZOY-yMCG0ftXacrADuzJe2gHg0mKxrh5yDmyaaJ43f-A_y0_1z64iLz42DpnptttcyKOfv4CFlTR26c/s320/Fotolia_37487220_XS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Q:</b> When referring to a king or lord, when do you capitalize--if at all--for sire and your majesty and such? For example:<br />
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All we can do now is wait and pray that you and your healers can help my sister, your majesty.</blockquote>
I'm so confused. Thanks for your help.<br />
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A:</b> Titles are tricky, because it depends how you're using them.<br />
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Generally speaking, the title will be capitalized if it's being used with or in place of the person's name. So in your example, Your Majesty would be capitalized. That's what we call "direct address." But if you and I are talking about the king, "king" isn't capitalized because we're talking about him, not to him.<br />
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<i><a href="http://kristenstieffel.com/fiction-qa-style-royal-noble-titles/" target="_blank">See more at my website.</a> </i><br />
Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908985667965041183.post-31234044122440084002012-11-05T14:38:00.001-05:002012-11-19T12:23:38.633-05:00Fiction Q&A: Representing multiple languages <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9AP5IwcEAZY9Dt-C727IrQXyPvY13qW-ZcGlII0viuxeltIyRc0hUV7sQNpvZOY-yMCG0ftXacrADuzJe2gHg0mKxrh5yDmyaaJ43f-A_y0_1z64iLz42DpnptttcyKOfv4CFlTR26c/s1600/Fotolia_37487220_XS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9AP5IwcEAZY9Dt-C727IrQXyPvY13qW-ZcGlII0viuxeltIyRc0hUV7sQNpvZOY-yMCG0ftXacrADuzJe2gHg0mKxrh5yDmyaaJ43f-A_y0_1z64iLz42DpnptttcyKOfv4CFlTR26c/s320/Fotolia_37487220_XS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Q: </b>I have several languages in most of my stories and I have yet to really decide how to denote the switches and whether to italicize when the word is spoken but not translated. When I use only two and switch sparingly, I just note that they said whatever in the new language. But repeatedly mentioning the switch becomes tedious to reader and writer.<br />
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Since I use up to four languages at once in a scene where not everyone speaks all the languages (yes, that creates chaos, which was the intent), how do I create the feel of switching languages for the reader, when the POV character does speak them all?<br />
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At one point I used single quotes for one language and double quotes for another (the two main languages) but there are not enough quotes types for more languages in order to be consistent. <i>-- Shae</i><br />
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<b>A: </b>For single foreign words, even if they are from an invented language, you only need to use italics the first time you introduce the “untranslated” word. Back in the day, Tolkein italicized <i>lembas</i>, for example, throughout <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. These days, we would italicize it only on first use, give the reader enough clues to figure out what it means, then leave it in plain type the rest of the book.<br />
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Using different fonts or quotemark schemes for different languages isn't advisable. Since it's not an established convention, readers may not know what to make of it.<br />
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The best way to signal that different characters are speaking different languages is to use different word choices and syntax for each language. You can see this in <i>Shogun</i> by James Clavell and <i>Kim</i> by Rudyard Kipling. They each had characters using "thee" and "thou" when speaking in Latin or Hindu, respectively. You don't need to use thee and thou if that doesn't work for you; there are other tricks you can use to give languages a different feel.<br />
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Syntax is a good way to do this. Think of Yoda's "accent" in <i>Star Wars</i>. Or the note Sherlock Holmes receives in the story "Scandal in Bohemia." The note reads, "This account of you we have from all quarters received," leading Holmes to remark that a Frenchman or Russian would not write a sentence that way, as only a German "is so uncourteous to his verbs."<br />
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In the same way Holmes could discern the language of the letter-writer, readers can pick up on the nuances of the different “languages” in a novel if you write each one with a slightly different vocabulary and syntax. Early on in your book, you'll establish which POV characters speak which languages, so by one-third or halfway through, you should be able to stop writing "'Line of dialog,' someone said in his native language," and just tell the story. Readers are smart; they'll get it.Kristen Stieffelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716097889143393543noreply@blogger.com0