Kristen Hall-Geisler

Author: Kristen

  • How I Became a Book Editor

    How I Became a Book Editor

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    I’m realizing now, after working as some variety of editor since 2004, that people take many different paths to become book editors. There are degrees and certificates, and there are internships and mentors. I went the DIY route, but only because I didn’t know any better. This isn’t a blueprint or a life plan I…

  • How Many Licks

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    The Science and History of the Healing Power of Dog Licks When it started, I thought my ten-year-old dog, Danny, had a sore hip. He was trying desperately not to limp on our walks and even in the house. He’s old but he’s active, and he’d been running more with me in the fall of…

  • Life’s a Beechnut

    Life’s a Beechnut

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    Lesson thirteen brought such useful vocabulary as le verger (orchard), the difficult for me to pronounce yet slightly more likely to come up in conversation l’écureuil (squirrel), and the very unlikely term la faine (beechnut). There were many sentences to write about squirrels gathering beechnuts in the autumn in this lesson, which was actually about…

  • Does the Carriage Driver Have Your Cane?

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    My great-grandmother Velma was not a rich person. She lived all her life in small communities in northern Pennsylvania, teaching in tiny schools, raising a bunch of kids, and running a small farm with my great-grandfather. Not fancy, but educated for sure. The first few lessons in the Shorter Course focused on classroom vocabulary: pens,…

  • Des Mots Gros et Petit

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    That title is “Words Big and Small,” if you were wondering, but I bet you figured it out. I posted on Instagram (@kristen_hg) about my adventures in century-old French, and an online friend in France offered to help me “with the big words.” I told her that it’s not the big words that are the…

  • Tools Old and New for Learning French

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    I’m using a book published in 1913 as my French refresher course, but I’m not against modern technology. I mean, I am creating blog posts as I learn, which are the height of internet fashion in 2019. I am writing these posts on a brand-new Microsoft Surface Pro. I even sprang for the fancy Alcantara…

  • Diving into French c. 1913

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    I spent a couple of days on the intro of the Shorter French Course. It had the alphabet, a guide to accents, and an extensive pronunciation guide. It was a good reminder for how those nasal vowels are formed in the mouth, and now I’m less lazy about it. Or maybe more lazy, actually, in…

  • Velma: Twentieth-Century Student

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    I have spent more than a decade researching and writing and fact checking and editing, so you know I couldn’t just dive into French lessons from 1913 using my great-grandmother’s college textbook without looking some things up. Like, for example, the fact that she went to college during World War I. I grew up one…

  • Shorter French Course

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    For every plan or project I start, three more pop up. Same with books — while I’m reading one, I buy five more. And Netflix — every time I log in to watch one thing, I add two to My List. I am positive that I am not alone in any of these things. One…

  • Digital vs Physical Media

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    How I’ve decided to consume media and support creators Last summer, City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty was on sale for something like two bucks for Kindle. I had heard good things about the book, so I picked it up and eventually got around to reading it. Not only did I love it, but…