Show, Don't Tell

I follow Nathan Bransford's blog. He gives publishing advice. Some of it is built around the writing that will get your novel noticed. No surpise, the phrase "Show, Don't Tell" pops up. Everybody says it. I hear it more from blogs than muslims hear a call to prayer in middle eastern countries.

"SHOW, DON'T TELL," says my hypothetical Kurt above.

This is me listening...thinking...okay, they must know something I don't. I better heed the advice:

Okay, Okay. I'm Listening. I too want to be a great writer. I too desire to be published!

So...yeah...I like how the entire first paragraph of Jacob Wonderbar that got published last week is Tell and not Show.  Here it is:

Each type of substitute teacher had its own special weakness, and Jacob Wonderbar knew every possible trick to distract them. Male substitutes with long hair and women with tie-dyed skirts often had a guitar stashed nearby and were just waiting for an excuse to ditch the lesson plan and play a song. The mousy ones who spoke softly and tentatively when they introduced themselves would patiently answer every absurd question Jacob asked them and would be confronting a classroom gone wild within minutes.

LOL Publishing...do as I say, not as I do