2022 Anthology "Anniversary" - Discussion Thread

[W_L]

16 hours ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Damn! I just realized my anthology submission will be the 50th story I post on GA.

I'd like to thank everyone involved in this effort for surprising me and using the theme to celebrate my achievement.

That's awesome! Congrats on hitting a milestone

[Aditus]

13 hours ago, Headstall said:

I have bashed my covid brain into submission and come up with a story in the last couple of days, so you can probably count one more. I also wrote two poems today that might become a submission,

That's great news, Gary. Even a simple not Covid virus can knock you totally out as I had to learn the hard way in the last two weeks, but mind over matter lets you win against the nasties.

[Gary L]

What a great conversation thread you guys are creating.  Re editing/reviewing, red pens are banned in UK schools but not in Spain, however, so my little cherubs who do a composition in a rush get the full red pen treatment!   They claim I’m being cruel and a monster. I
can’t wait to read (and review!) the stories in the anthology.  
thank you so much from one v happy reader. 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

[Carlos Hazday]

8 minutes ago, Gary L said:

red pens are banned in UK schools

I'd love to hear the reasoning behind that one.

Are purple ones allowed?

 

[Mancunian]

It's due to political correctness going too far and over protecting children. It is considered negative and demeaning, teachers are not allowed to use negative language or comments, although it does still go on. At one point there was even a push to ban competitive sport as losing left children with negative feelings. Although education in the UK is of a good standard there are aspect like this that leave a lot to be desired.

[Carlos Hazday]

6 minutes ago, Mancunian said:

It's due to political correctness going too far and over protecting children. It is considered negative and demeaning, teachers are not allowed to use negative language or comments, although it does still go on. At one point there was even a push to ban competitive sport as losing left children with negative feelings. Although education in the UK is of a good standard there are aspect like this that leave a lot to be desired.

The PC bullshit drives me nuts often.

That protectiveness can leave children unprepared for the real world. As Cia mentioned recently, if someone doesn't tell us what we're doing wrong, we can't grow as authors. Same shit with overprotective parents.

[W_L]

46 minutes ago, Mancunian said:

It's due to political correctness going too far and over protecting children. It is considered negative and demeaning, teachers are not allowed to use negative language or comments, although it does still go on. At one point there was even a push to ban competitive sport as losing left children with negative feelings. Although education in the UK is of a good standard there are aspect like this that leave a lot to be desired.

I agree it makes no sense in writing or composition and honestly, the idea of disallowing critique is just more harmful than good. A more positive approach would be to make corrective commentary and address the issue, some people in the past have gone too far, including instances of physical assault on students with classroom accessories (chalks and rulers), so to me those should be "red-line" boundaries, not criticism in general as it is a good thing that teaches and improves.

Believe me, I know editors who would want to smack me over the head sometimes with a ruler  

Edited August 11, 2022 by W_L

[Gary L]

1 hour ago, Mancunian said:

It's due to political correctness going too far and over protecting children. It is considered negative and demeaning, teachers are not allowed to use negative language or comments, although it does still go on. At one point there was even a push to ban competitive sport as losing left children with negative feelings. Although education in the UK is of a good standard there are aspect like this that leave a lot to be desired.

Spot on, Mancunian.  As a teacher for Cambridge University English exams in Spain, I have three options: ignore grammatical and spelling errors, acknowledge errors with a circle etc., in any colour!, or indicate the error and correct with suggestions etc.  The last option is, of course, the best.  And we can see the results of this third, and best, approach, on this site with virtually no errors of any kind ( except for American spelling…….).

I know I’m the grammar monster in my school but at the end of the day I get a few hugs… 

[Mrsgnomie]

3 minutes ago, Gary L said:

Spot on, Mancunian.  As a teacher for Cambridge University English exams in Spain, I have three options: ignore grammatical and spelling errors, acknowledge errors with a circle etc., in any colour!, or indicate the error and correct with suggestions etc.  The last option is, of course, the best.  And we can see the results of this third, and best, approach, on this site with virtually no errors of any kind ( except for American spelling…….).

I know I’m the grammar monster in my school but at the end of the day I get a few hugs… 

In reality, grammar monsters are the best. A necessary evil 😉

[kbois]

2 hours ago, Mancunian said:

It's due to political correctness going too far and over protecting children. It is considered negative and demeaning, teachers are not allowed to use negative language or comments, although it does still go on. At one point there was even a push to ban competitive sport as losing left children with negative feelings. Although education in the UK is of a good standard there are aspect like this that leave a lot to be desired.

I honestly fear for the future. 

[Gary L]

22 minutes ago, Mrsgnomie said:

In reality, grammar monsters are the best. A necessary evil 😉

So mrs m, are you saying that your number one fan in Spain is evil?… 

love you loads xxxxx

[Headstall]

9 hours ago, Aditus said:

That's great news, Gary. Even a simple not Covid virus can knock you totally out as I had to learn the hard way in the last two weeks, but mind over matter lets you win against the nasties.

Thanks, Adi. It's been months and I still feel the effects. Concentration and short term memory (my doctor says 'foggy brain' is a common complaint in some patients of his) are the worst. Even my typing is affected... if I speed it up it's mostly gibberish, and even going slow I have to fix just about every word. 

The last week I see an improvement is some stuff, though. Fingers crossed. Cheers!

[Cia]

9 hours ago, Gary L said:

What a great conversation thread you guys are creating.  Re editing/reviewing, red pens are banned in UK schools but not in Spain, however, so my little cherubs who do a composition in a rush get the full red pen treatment!   They claim I’m being cruel and a monster. I
can’t wait to read (and review!) the stories in the anthology.  
thank you so much from one v happy reader. 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

This is actually interesting! I do NOT use red pens with my K-5 special education students on behavior cards or when editing their work (when they see it) because it does stress them out. Blue, green, and purple are my go to colors, and I let students pick their own color when they self-edit. They do use red pens in middle and high school to correct work in my district though. 

[Headstall]

On 6/29/2022 at 9:43 AM, Aditus said:

It would be weird if I'd try to write about cowboys.  I leave that to @Headstall.

I took that as a challenge, Adi.   I already wrote one for this anthology (mixed feelings about it), but I couldn't let this comment go.   Hence, we have cowboys! And Texas too! @Drew Espinosa @spike382  

[Aditus]

8 hours ago, Headstall said:

I took that as a challenge, Adi.

Well, then I'm glad I 'challenged' you, cowboys are never wrong.

[Quilah]

Maybe this was answered somewhere and I missed it: When do themes for anthologies get picked? How much time typically do authors get to work on a piece? 

I'm too late in the game this time (as I don't have an editor and I waffle at the idea of even attempting to request one officially now. It seems cruel) but I really want to give it a go next time. 

[Cia]

7 hours ago, Quilah said:

Maybe this was answered somewhere and I missed it: When do themes for anthologies get picked? How much time typically do authors get to work on a piece? 

I'm too late in the game this time (as I don't have an editor and I waffle at the idea of even attempting to request one officially now. It seems cruel) but I really want to give it a go next time. 

Themes are suggested on by members and then voted down to the set number for the next year. We used to have quarterly anthologies but authors are so busy with their usual content we narrowed it down to 1 this year and there's been at least 9 months notice to plan, write, and edit. 

[Quilah]

3 minutes ago, Cia said:

Themes are suggested on by members and then voted down to the set number for the next year. We used to have quarterly anthologies but authors are so busy with their usual content we narrowed it down to 1 this year and there's been at least 9 months notice to plan, write, and edit. 

Ah. Good to know. Thanks 😊

[Aditus]

@Headstall You showed Covid the finger, huh?

[northie]

I'm so very glad the new story system allows you to go back and edit things without prejudice. 🙄😄 Reading through my essay for the second time, I discovered two formatting things I'd completely missed before. 

[northie]

We made 20!

According to my count, @Dodger's link makes 20 stories for the antho. Yay! Maybe there's even the odd one more to come. 

 

[Carlos Hazday]

25 minutes ago, northie said:

We made 20!

According to my count, @Dodger's link makes 20 stories for the antho. Yay! Maybe there's even the odd one more to come.

One more and the anthology will be of legal age. Let's pop a few corks,

[Aditus]

1 hour ago, Carlos Hazday said:

One more and the anthology will be of legal age.

It was of legal age when it reached eighteen, at least for me. 

[Carlos Hazday]

28 minutes ago, Aditus said:

It was of legal age when it reached eighteen, at least for me. 

I know

You have to remember this is the country that tried to ban all alcohol!

But that's okay. I have this guy who I'm supporting for president, who dislikes Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and promised to lower the legal drinking age.

[Carlos Hazday]

BTW, there should have been two more I committed to editing. Unfortunately, one of the author's busy throwing clay around, and the other one keeps playing with big hoses whenever a wildfire sparks in California.

The former's fine, the latter you should keep in your thoughts.