Review of Ken and Barbie book cover doll set

This is hysterically funny although decidedly irreverent. Warning. Do not attempt to eat or drink while reading this “book cover” review.

http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/barbie-the-raider-the-washboard-and-me

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

25 signs you’re addicted to books

How many are true of you?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/signs-youre-addicted-to-books-reading



Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

How Reading Books Fosters Language Development around the World

This is a long, heavy, scholarly article about reading development worldwide.
Let me give you just a few interesting points from it.

The years from birth to age three are very important to later literacy. That’s when babies learn about language so reading to preschoolers is vital. Language teaches children how to categorize things – how to organize their world so they understand it.

Using gestures with children not yet able to talk helps them learn.

Kids will learn words much faster if they’re interested in the item or topic under discussion, and they learn faster when an adult responds to them.

Children learn grammar as they learn vocabulary. This is why reading books together helps so much. They learn sentences, they are with an adult and the story is usually interesting to them.

The frequency of reading is more accurate at showing children’s educational success than socio-economic status.

Giving kids an exciting book to read is a great start. Reading it with them is even better.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdr/2012/602807/

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Ten Fascinating Obsolete Words

Sillily: In a silly manner; foolishly.
- Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon, c. 1850

Groak: To silently watch someone while they are eating, hoping to be invited to join them –www.ObsoleteWord.Blogspot.com

Stiricide: n 1656 -1656 falling of icicles from a house

Jirble: To pour out (a liquid) with an unsteady hand: as, he jirbles out a dram —www.Wordnik.com

Vocabulation: The use or choice of words.
- William Craigie's New English Dictionary, 1928

Curglaff: The shock felt in swimming when one first plunges into the cold water — John Jamieson’s Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808

Uglyography: n 804 -1834 bad handwriting; poor spelling
Your uglyography conceals the cogency and brilliance of your ideas.

Englishable: That which may be rendered into English — John Ogilvie’s “Comprehensive English Dictionary”, 1865

Unthew: A bad habit or custom; a vice [c. 900-1400];unthewed, ill-mannered, unruly, wanton [1200- late 1300s], unthewful, unmannerly, unseemly [c. 1050-early 1300s]. - William Craigie's New English Dictionary, 1926

Resistentialism: The seemingly spiteful behavior shown by inanimate objects —www.ObsoleteWord.Blogspot.com


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Record Keeping or Building a Bible of your world

I’ve spoken before about the importance of keeping records especially when writing a series. It’s often termed building a bible of your world. That way your heroine will maintain the same eye color throughout the book, Tom won’t turn into Tim in chapter six, and the green planet orbiting your world won’t suddenly become blue.
Flavorwire has assembled copies of nine famous authors’ handwritten outlines for their books.
It’s fascinating. Enjoy.
http://flavorwire.com/391173/famous-authors-handwritten-outlines-for-great-works-of-literature


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

When insults had class

These glorious insults are from an era before the English language became boiled down to 4-letter words.

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow.

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas.

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain.

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde.

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second ... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." -Stephen Bishop.

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright.

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." -Irvin S. Cobb.

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." -Samuel Johnson.

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating.

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand.

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker.

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain.

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West.

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde.

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912).

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder.

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." – Groucho


From The Nutters Cub, New Zealand.