Maxwell Book Launch 10am cst!!1!!!

[Jana814]

I read the sample from Steve & Teri's book. The 1st example didn't make any sense w/ the child. Now a days parents don't want their kids talking to strangers unless they know them.

[danvillebelle]

Sweet baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Great CONVERSATIONALISTS? Are they freaking serious? :wtf:

I can just see it...a list of conversation starters....

99 ways to inform someone they're going to hell

Advanced bean burrito making

Smoothies: healthful drink or yuppie tool of the devil?

How to take the most boring photos imaginable

Sisters dressing alike past the age of 20, yea or nay?

Fun: the devil's playground

Courtship: we have no idea what we're talking about but we're going to tell you anyway

And great-googly-moogly, that sentence from the Moody book...I'm beginning to seriously doubt that Sarah ever cracked open any grammar textbook, ever. They did say she only used textbooks for her senior year, and they don't do any advanced English in high school...

Edited to add: I just read the sample pages from the conversationalists book. My eyes are going to roll out of my head. It should be titled "Teach your family to talk just like ours". Hey Stevus, if your kids READ BOOKS and INTERACT WITH PEOPLE OUTSIDE THEIR HOME, they become good conversationalists naturally.

[Daisy4]

From the preface:

"This book was conceived after many discussions our family had in the past ten years about the difficulty of having meaningful conversations with others. We realized this was because of a lack of conversation skills on the part of others."

I love how they blame the other party for the lack of conversation skills.

Also, they said they used a professional proofreader (weird wording, shouldn't that be an editor)

"Sarah invested hours proofreading the book both before and after the professional proofreader."

titus2.com/making-great-conversationalists-preface.html

[Black Aliss]

He wished he had soap and water to wash the buffalo’s slobber off, but that wasn’t available at the moment, so the sanitizer would have to do.

I don't know why this particular line cracked me up but I'm sitting here with tears rolling down my cheeks trying to get a grip on myself.

[Loveday]

From the preface:

"This book was conceived after many discussions our family had in the past ten years about the difficulty of having meaningful conversations with others. We realized this was because of a lack of conversation skills on the part of others."

I love how they blame the other party for the lack of conversation skills.

It couldn't possibly be their fault! Jesus tells them what to say, after all! :shock:

Also, they said they used a professional proofreader (weird wording, shouldn't that be an editor)

"Sarah invested hours proofreading the book both before and after the professional proofreader."

titus2.com/making-great-conversationalists-preface.html

It's clear that they don't know the difference between a proof-reader and an editor. A proof-reader only checks for spelling, punctuation, and obvious grammar mistakes--the mechanical aspects of writing. An editor will help you wrestle with the actual content of your story, helping you express your ideas in the best way possible. Stevus obviously doesn't think Sarah's his ideas need any help.

[Odd1Out]

From the preface:

"This book was conceived after many discussions our family had in the past ten years about the difficulty of having meaningful conversations with others. We realized this was because of a lack of conversation skills on the part of others."

I love how they blame the other party for the lack of conversation skills.

titus2.com/making-great-conversationalists-preface.html

Oh good grief! Seriously Steve? It's everyone else who has a hard time? There's no way it could be that your family has absolutely nothing interesting to talk about!!

[Trynn]

It couldn't possibly be their fault! Jesus tells them what to say, after all! :shock:

It's clear that they don't know the difference between a proof-reader and an editor. A proof-reader only checks for spelling, punctuation, and obvious grammar mistakes--the mechanical aspects of writing. An editor will help you wrestle with the actual content of your story, helping you express your ideas in the best way possible. Stevus obviously doesn't think Sarah's his ideas need any help.

I guess I don't know about the world of fiction, but my dad works as an editor in the computer book industry, and he says that grammar and spelling mistakes are caught by what's called a "copy editor," not a proof reader. My dad, however, is... I'm not sure what you call it, but he edits the technical stuff.

Actually, I'm very socially awkward (I sympathize with Sarah on this) and could probably use a book on conversational skills. Unfortunately, I don't think the Maxwell's book will be of any help :(

[treemom]

I am taking a quick break from work for a second. I just can't....I can't believe they wrote that book.

[sparkles]

I'm really dying to read this book now. Given that the Maxwells have virtually no contact with "outsiders" and rarely venture forth into the big, bad world (with the exception of chain restaurants and Costco), pay no attention to world and current events, have no knowledge of popular culture, limit their reading to the bible and select Christian biographies, WTF could they POSSIBLY talk about day after day after boring day that they would become such sparkling conversationalists? And now it's OTHER people's fault that conversation falls as flat as a piece of paper? The arrogance astounds.

ETA, Sarah's writing reminds me of when I was learning a foreign language way back when. Everything was taught through rote memorization of "dialogs." (Recite with me now! Hola, Isabel. Como esta?... and the same for French, German or whatever other language you were studying). It was all formal, even in conversation. In fact, we barely even bothered with conversation, the result being if you actually had to converse with a native speaker, they'd look at you like you had two heads. The way we learned to speak was completely useless in real life situations. (The only things I remember 40+ years later are "Pass me the meatballs, please" and "The record player is broken." Helpful, no?) Sarah's writing is just like that, stilted, boring and rote, only she doesn't have the advantage of learning proper grammar and sentence structure. She doesn't study other authors, she has no one to provide honest, construction critiques, and absolutely no frame of reference on which to model her own storytelling. She hasn't got a clue about what it really takes to craft a children's story that's both entertaining and educational. Everything she writes about is drawn from her limited, sheltered personal experience and she doesn't have the imagination to create interesting situations out of whole cloth, nor--more importantly, I think--does she have the INCLINATION. Her books are merely vehicles to reinforce what it means to be a Good Christian, Maxwell-style. So she does what all Maxwells do, decide which bible quote they want to focus on, and the tailor a situation to fit.

[WonderingInWA]

I sure hope they haven't sent their order to the printer yet. Awful, awful, awful.

I can't believe they consider themselves experts on conversation. They talk AT people, not WITH them. That's not conversation.

[Burris]

For crying out loud, would it really be so ungodly to hire a decent copy editor and keep a grammatical monstrosity like this sentence from seeing print? Or are the Maxwells like Laurell K. Hamilton and too important to be edited anymore?

I've read those parts of the Moody books the Maxwells put online, and even discussed them on FJ before: The Maxwells were always too important for a copy editor.

[AuntCloud]

If Making Great Conversationalists is available on Amazon Prime, I'll take one for the team. I can only imagine how enthralling it must be...

As for the Moody Books...Comic Sans? COMIC SANS??!!111?!!!

That's all I'm sayin'

Go wash your screen with soap!

(COMIC SANS?! In all seriousness?)

[Jana814]

I can't believe they consider themselves experts on conversation. They talk AT people, not WITH them. That's not conversation.

Very true. I seem to remember during a speaking tour w/ Christopher (I think it was his last trip) he "witnessed" to a person who was doing a dog show. They seemed very proud of him for doing that.

[gustava]

Pepsi and Prejudice

All Quiet on the

---

Maxwell MaxHell Front

Fixed that for ya :D

[VooDooChild]

I don't know why this particular line cracked me up but I'm sitting here with tears rolling down my cheeks trying to get a grip on myself.

Oh, maybe it's because it makes no sense following the preceding sentence where dad realizes that mom has not fed any of the animals. The rest of that paragraph is nonsensical, also. Where the fuck did dad and grandpa take the children when they are all still clearly on the tram?! At least, I think they are still on the tram. With Sarah's writing, who even knows?

[AKay]

They wrote a book...about making conversation. Is this a joke? Are we being pranked?! *looks around suspiciously*

[ILoveJellybeans]

I dont care Steve. The only thing you can ever do that I would care about is letting Sarah get married.

[AuntCloud]

"Are you there, God? It's me, Sarah"

"Zen and the Art of Ceiling Fan Maintenance"

[Justme]

It is absolutely unbelievable how VAIN the Maxwell's are, especially Steve. "Their" children make perfect conversation, "everybody" else is wrong. It's how they started down the rabbit hole. Stevie was part of a men's bible study group. He COULDN'T STAND listening to anyone else's opinion, he had to ALWAYS be correct. So they left.

It's so sad for their children who were raised is such an environment. They just don't have a fighting chance. :(

[Duggarlicious]

At least we now know why Sarah remains in her season of singleness. She couldn't court because the boys are terrible conversationalists!

[RachelB]

Ha! I didn't catch that either until you pointed it out just now.

If it's CST I'll be out of my meeting, sweet...

Alternatively, maybe Stevehovah has religious objections to Daylight Saving Time: http://steamtunnelpilot.blogspot.com/20 ... nited.html

The link is satire, but-- Poe's law!-- nearly indistinguishable from fundie "logic."

[gardenvarietycitizen]

How the hell can Teri and Stevie write a book about conversations when their children are so sheltered, thus would have no idea how to have a normal let alone intelligent conversation? :angry-banghead:

Honest answer?

They think their kids are great conversationalists and not shy because they don't hesitate to witness to people. They're comfortable walking right up to people and starting in with the "where will you go when you die?" stuff, or busting out with some preaching.

Personally, I think they're so willing to do that because they've been SO sheltered that they have no earthly idea how the rest of the general public finds such talk extremely awkward and strange.

[freejugar]

of all the topics to write, they chose this?!

“Mr. Simmons, I feel the Lord has been telling me that it is time to

get married, and He keeps putting your daughter, Katie, on my heart

as the one He wants for my wife. Sir, I wanted to share that with you,

so that you might prayerfully consider my interest in courting Katie.

is that even a word? :evil-eye:

[AuntCloud]

It's pretty real - almost as real as Sarah's marriage prospects.

[Snarfblatt]

Also, they said they used a professional proofreader (weird wording, shouldn't that be an editor)

"Sarah invested hours proofreading the book both before and after the professional proofreader."

titus2.com/making-great-conversationalists-preface.html

So Sarah spends hours proofreading and then it is sent to a professional and Sarah spends countless more hours proofreading? That seems like a lot of proofreading when some editing could be useful.