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Dutch Blitz + book adaptations+ Simone Biles
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Dutch Blitz + book adaptations+ Simone Biles

Amy Tector
Aug 8, 2021
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Dutch Blitz + book adaptations+ Simone Biles
amytector.substack.com

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May I recommend

Dutch Blitz.

Did you ever sit on a creaky cottage floor, your arms lightly sunburned, your left knee scabbed over from a tag-related fall, your hair still wet from the lake and your entire focus zeroed in on the array of cards in front of you, as your desperately… DESPERATELY tried to beat your older brother at the fast moving card game, Spit?

Yes?

Did you love that feeling of slight panic, as you rapidly laid the cards down on their piles, constantly scanning the deck in front of you so that you could gloriously put the last card down and triumphantly shout “SPIT!”

Well, you will love Dutch Blitz, because it’s pretty much Spit, but more complicated and up to four people can play.

It takes a while to figure it out, so don’t despair if the first couple of rounds are a bit muddled. As with most things, if you persist, you will crack it. One of the glories of Dutch Blitz is that one game only takes about 5 minutes to play, so it’s not a Risk/Catan level of time investment, but trust me, you can play multiple, multiple games.

Throughout the Pandemic Winter of 2020 we had a Sunday night ritual of Blitzing. Our cards are thin and frayed from the amount we’ve played. Andrew and Violet are better than me (infuriating). Andrew has a strategy that is actually pretty smart, but I get too panicked and confused by my own competitiveness to apply it regularly. Violet’s small hands and cunning tween brain make her a formidable foe.

Have I sometimes wondered aloud about the sexism of the Dutch Girl/Dutch Boy imagery on the cards or the subliminal reinforcement of colonial values present in the strict segregation of colours? Yes, I have. Is that why I lose all of the time? Probably. Does it make me irritating? Undoubtedly.

What cottage games do you love? Tell me in the comments below!

How TV adaptations are changing publishing

The Rise of Must Read TV

I clicked on this article lickedy split because my publisher, Keylight Imprints, was founded with the express purpose of finding and publishing content that had a shot at screen adaptation. This means that my book has a (very very very thin) chance of getting adapted to the screen, which is obviously beyond thrilling.

Television adaptations are influencing every stage of a book’s life, including how it’s acquired in the first place. Scouts from networks and streaming services are talking more and more with publishers about big- and small-screen options at earlier stages of negotiations, in many cases before the ink on a book deal is even dry. Production companies such as Anonymous Content are bringing publishing-industry veterans on staff, and agencies and scouting firms are hiring specialists in literary development.

Again, not a fan of the Olympics, but this was satisfying

Are you allowed to criticize Simone Biles?

I love a decision tree, and this has an excellent payoff.

English is weird, yo

Typos Tricks and misprints

I do like these deep dives into the quirkiness of English

English spelling is ridiculous. Sew and new don’t rhyme. Kernel and colonel do. When you see an ough, you might need to read it out as ‘aw’ (thought), ‘ow’ (drought), ‘uff’ (tough), ‘off’ (cough), ‘oo’ (through), or ‘oh’ (though). The ea vowel is usually pronounced ‘ee’ (weak, please, seal, beam) but can also be ‘eh’ (bread, head, wealth, feather). Those two options cover most of it – except for a handful of cases, where it’s ‘ay’ (break, steak, great). Oh wait, one more… there’s earth. No wait, there’s also heart.

Inspiring writing story

I’ve been poor for a long time: after many rejections Karen Jennings is up for the Booker.

Publishing is hard, and this woman seems to have defied the odds to get long-listed for the Booker. It’s a neat story.

“It was incredibly difficult to find a publisher,” she says, via video chat from Brazil, where she has spent the pandemic alongside her Brazilian husband, a scientist. Due to being essentially stranded there, she has yet to hold an actual physical copy of the book in her hands. “I finished the novel in 2017. And no one was interested. When I did finally get a small publisher in the UK and a small publisher in South Africa to co-publish, they couldn’t get anyone to review the book. We couldn’t get people to write endorsement quotes, or blurbs.”

Twitter

Twitter avatar for @ian_mendesIan Mendes @ian_mendes
If we end up naming a school after our newest gold medalist, the most Canadian thing would be to call it De Grasse Junior High.

August 4th 2021

1,804 Retweets15,439 Likes
Twitter avatar for @svershbowSophie Vershbow @svershbow
The dining table at our rental house is glass. This is what I see for the entire meal.
Image

August 5th 2021

1,736 Retweets24,597 Likes
Twitter avatar for @MediumSizeMeechMeech @MediumSizeMeech
Just got a message from my boss about something I very CLEARLY put in an email and I replied on my Apple Watch but then said aloud “did you not fuckin read?” And it SENT THAT TOO
Image

August 4th 2021

7,823 Retweets126,548 Likes
Twitter avatar for @SketchesbyBozeOwl! at the Library 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze
just a gal and her cat in fancy dress, circa 1900
Image

August 4th 2021

1,363 Retweets7,131 Likes
Twitter avatar for @dog_ratesWeRateDogs® @dog_rates
This is Alfalfa. He’s had a little sprout on his noggin since he was a puppy. Used to be self conscious about it, but has learned to love himself just the way he is. 14/10
Image
Image

August 4th 2021

7,259 Retweets91,733 Likes
Twitter avatar for @jwPencilAndPadJeremy Woodcock @jwPencilAndPad
Every container is microwaveable if you’ve made peace with your god.

August 1st 2021

16 Retweets171 Likes
Twitter avatar for @BO_sciBeyond Our Science🔭 @BO_sci
A gentle reminder
Image

July 30th 2021

70 Retweets208 Likes
Twitter avatar for @ericfellEric Fell @ericfell
Hey you know when you're walking down the street and see a spilled ice cream cone and it's totally not a horrifying omen or anything?
Image

August 1st 2021

1,028 Retweets7,482 Likes
Twitter avatar for @Baileymoon15out of context bailey moon @Baileymoon15
just watched someone speed eat 4 hard boiled eggs out of a plastic bag because they didn’t want tsa to confiscate them

July 31st 2021

3,881 Retweets109,304 Likes
Twitter avatar for @stephstephkingStephanie King @stephstephking
Why do women's pajamas still have the little vest pocket? I'm not carrying my business cards to bed.

August 1st 2021

8 Retweets234 Likes
Twitter avatar for @ZREllorZR/Zabé Ellor @ZREllor
cancel Brooklyn Nine Nine and then bring back the same cast playing the same characters but they’re all librarians now

July 30th 2021

4,901 Retweets50,393 Likes

TikTok

Writing is hard

Hippopotamus

Sidewalk celery

Dog number 2 sells it

Pro Athlete

I loved this

Rachel Maddow

Follow up from the above

Hole

Dummies

Corgi

All Things Plymouth

Sketchy sketch

Millie


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Cdpetes
Aug 23, 2021Liked by Amy Tector

That Simone Biles flow chart was amazing. There should be one for people who don’t understand vaccines (or science in general) and think looking at articles on “Google” qualifies as “research.”

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