On language and writing
A few weeks ago I went to Chicago for the ALA annual convention. While there, I got the opportunity to use several of my foreign languages. I spoke Spanish, German and Russian all while there. I enjoyed it so much, and I wish I could make a regular thing of speaking my languages. That's what I miss by living in a rural area instead of in a city full of different cultures.
While I was gone, I was also reviewing my kanji as often as I could. I am learning it well, thanks to the wonderful WaniKani. Every time I make a mistake I try to remind myself that if I'm not making mistakes, I'm not learning. Well... I'm learning a lot! I added a bluetooth keyboard to my toys once I got back from Chicago. So I can now do more with my tablet, especially faster kanji reviews.
This month I have been writing a story for the July session of Camp NaNoWriMo. Each time I write a story since I first became involved in November of 2009, I've tried to do something different every time. I give myself challenges, however small. My challenge for this session is that I'm actually writing it by hand on paper. I have really enjoyed doing that! Now that I have more story telling skill, I am finding the writing on paper helps me focus and feel part of the story in a new way. The other thing I am doing is making it a first person story with a male protagonist.
Last April I did another short Camp story that I need to edit. It was the complete fandom wash of my origin story for Wolfgang's parents. They are now different than I expected, but really awesome because they are their own people, not shadows of something from fandom.
Of course, the writing did weird stuff, too, because I had a character keep wanting to pop in to the story. I realized he was an author avatar of a sort (what's with me and male characters?), so I had to shut him down.
While I was gone, I was also reviewing my kanji as often as I could. I am learning it well, thanks to the wonderful WaniKani. Every time I make a mistake I try to remind myself that if I'm not making mistakes, I'm not learning. Well... I'm learning a lot! I added a bluetooth keyboard to my toys once I got back from Chicago. So I can now do more with my tablet, especially faster kanji reviews.
This month I have been writing a story for the July session of Camp NaNoWriMo. Each time I write a story since I first became involved in November of 2009, I've tried to do something different every time. I give myself challenges, however small. My challenge for this session is that I'm actually writing it by hand on paper. I have really enjoyed doing that! Now that I have more story telling skill, I am finding the writing on paper helps me focus and feel part of the story in a new way. The other thing I am doing is making it a first person story with a male protagonist.
Last April I did another short Camp story that I need to edit. It was the complete fandom wash of my origin story for Wolfgang's parents. They are now different than I expected, but really awesome because they are their own people, not shadows of something from fandom.
Of course, the writing did weird stuff, too, because I had a character keep wanting to pop in to the story. I realized he was an author avatar of a sort (what's with me and male characters?), so I had to shut him down.