Wow, it's almost been a complete year
Ummm! Estoy aqui en Espana, todavia. Pero, ahora, estoy viviendo en Marbella.
I miss Barcelona, the city itself. But miss the States/home for the people. Anyway, just dropping some up dates. I left Barcelona, because I was working too hard to keep a float, which would have been cool, but suddenly in June, I wanted to finish a novel right then and there. So in July, I became an au pair in Marbella. I love the kids 4yr/boy, 13yr/girl... though living with bosses and kids isn't my thing and has put a fat girl on a diet, because living off of what business working parents feed their kids was killing me.
So updates--
Relationship Wise: I had more people I hung out with in Barcelona, but here I'm back to being a recluse. I don't know if that is more because I have strong anti-social tendencies anyway, or because I feel uncomfortable inviting guest(people I don't really know), into a house that isn't mine where children live. The family here tries to incorporate me into activities they have with extended family and I dodge the bullet every time I get a chance. **romantic-wise, nothing since Barcelona, and there was only one guy to wedge his way in, only to have his nose caught in the door as I booked off to Marbella.
Work Wise: For fucks sake people don't live with your employers. There good people, but I don't feel right inviting guest (people I meet in class, on the street, or people from home/States) over for dinner, because its not my house, though they try to pretend it is (you know what people say to save face, but that underlying agreement that trumps all verbal boasting); and also, they have kids here and I just wouldn't be comfortable if I invited the wrong person over. Also, more importantly, we live different lifestyles-- thier lifestyle makes me anxious and my lifestyle makes them feel guilty and regret.
Writing Wise: I'd have a good chunk more done if I would have had a sit down with the parents earlier and explained to them that though my free time looks like me doing absolutely nothing to them and giving them the right to have me pick up/ watch kids, pick up cars from the center their to busy to bring back home, and etc. Because I can do nothing while doing these things for them. Long story short, I explained that I write in my spare time and how though failure would really suck, nothing would suck more than becoming one of those people who say there a writer, but ten years down the line still haven't picked up a pen or typed more than a few words. Really should have explained that they don't pay me for my free time and that I can't do 'nothing' while I watch their kids (oxymoron-like assumptions, is bound to piss someone off), but didn't feel like going in with guns blazing.
Book A- genre fantasy- (definitely scurrying around in the dark since, I never read it to analyze it...)
100pg written/ 500pg estimated to finish. So far, about a man who living in a Psych. Ward who has no memory of who he was. The closest thing he has had for a family is the seven members of his group, who have morning and evening group therapy together (he loves them and hates them at the same time, sometimes). Anyway, though he's made little progress in the past year recovering his memory, that begins to change when a lady committs herself to Saint Judes and is assigned to his group. She introduces herself and goes on to tell everyone she's a fairy and she's looking for her wings. Crazy and no different then his closest friend, Mouse, who is a huge guy who thinks the vampire who sired him slaughtered his family. Lunatics. Anyway, as he starts to remember things, doctors, patients, and etc. tell him he's losing his grip on reality-- Soon he and his group are unraveling plots and plans, maneuvering through the fantastic and the mundane, racing to regain his full memory before some looming battle breaks lose. Gargoyles, chimera, angels, fairies, elves, vampires, witches, wizards, sirens, new breeds, etc.
Anyway, if all goes well here-- easily see it becoming a series.
-- Yeah! something that started out fun, required so much God damn research that I feel like I already wrote the book and am already fed up with it and I ain't even close to done. The translated pieces of the book of Enoch I can get here-- is cool. The Bible is awful (mostly because I had to take free classes with the Jehovah witnesses here in order to get a free bible-- I'm so going to hell)
Book B- genre literary erotica- (not necessarily scurrying in the dark, but...) jk. Collection of short stories.
50pg/120
-- another one that isn't my genre-- but that's what I'm trying to figure out.
Book C- genre literary fiction- my genre- A history teacher is murdered, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. An ordinary guy becomes a murderer and runs off, leaving behind a wife and two children. The story follows the lives of the victim and the assailant left behind, and shows how their lives interwined and affected the small town they lived in through vignettes of family and friends, and their struggle to deal with their absences/deaths.
100pgs/300pgs
Can you tell I'm practicing writing synopses... if you think these are bad, you should of seen the ones I wrote in September after finishing the first outlines... I hate outlines, barely use the ones I keep having to rewrite, but have fallen in love with the little index cards. I'm still super Natania though, needing to work on a shit load of projects at once, believe it or not, I had another book I started, but decided to save it for later. Cause, you know, doing things later is all right too.
Spanish Wise-- I'm officially taking classes and I'm far from fluent, but I can watch tv and listen to the radio without having to translate it all back to english-- step in the right direction. Still not much of a talker and my reading and writing skills have always been pretty good, but definitely improved also.
Future Wise-- I will be back in the states July of next year. San Fran/Oakland area for a year, while I try to get books rewritten/published, take some French classes, and work on culture exchange visa for France. Also, spend the year with my sister, before she runs off to college, officially.
All right, me in a nutshell. Also, will due better to update and keep on current events with you guys, because though I'm out of sight and mind most of the time, I do care about what all of you guys are up to and are doing while I'm being spacey.
I miss Barcelona, the city itself. But miss the States/home for the people. Anyway, just dropping some up dates. I left Barcelona, because I was working too hard to keep a float, which would have been cool, but suddenly in June, I wanted to finish a novel right then and there. So in July, I became an au pair in Marbella. I love the kids 4yr/boy, 13yr/girl... though living with bosses and kids isn't my thing and has put a fat girl on a diet, because living off of what business working parents feed their kids was killing me.
So updates--
Relationship Wise: I had more people I hung out with in Barcelona, but here I'm back to being a recluse. I don't know if that is more because I have strong anti-social tendencies anyway, or because I feel uncomfortable inviting guest(people I don't really know), into a house that isn't mine where children live. The family here tries to incorporate me into activities they have with extended family and I dodge the bullet every time I get a chance. **romantic-wise, nothing since Barcelona, and there was only one guy to wedge his way in, only to have his nose caught in the door as I booked off to Marbella.
Work Wise: For fucks sake people don't live with your employers. There good people, but I don't feel right inviting guest (people I meet in class, on the street, or people from home/States) over for dinner, because its not my house, though they try to pretend it is (you know what people say to save face, but that underlying agreement that trumps all verbal boasting); and also, they have kids here and I just wouldn't be comfortable if I invited the wrong person over. Also, more importantly, we live different lifestyles-- thier lifestyle makes me anxious and my lifestyle makes them feel guilty and regret.
Writing Wise: I'd have a good chunk more done if I would have had a sit down with the parents earlier and explained to them that though my free time looks like me doing absolutely nothing to them and giving them the right to have me pick up/ watch kids, pick up cars from the center their to busy to bring back home, and etc. Because I can do nothing while doing these things for them. Long story short, I explained that I write in my spare time and how though failure would really suck, nothing would suck more than becoming one of those people who say there a writer, but ten years down the line still haven't picked up a pen or typed more than a few words. Really should have explained that they don't pay me for my free time and that I can't do 'nothing' while I watch their kids (oxymoron-like assumptions, is bound to piss someone off), but didn't feel like going in with guns blazing.
Book A- genre fantasy- (definitely scurrying around in the dark since, I never read it to analyze it...)
100pg written/ 500pg estimated to finish. So far, about a man who living in a Psych. Ward who has no memory of who he was. The closest thing he has had for a family is the seven members of his group, who have morning and evening group therapy together (he loves them and hates them at the same time, sometimes). Anyway, though he's made little progress in the past year recovering his memory, that begins to change when a lady committs herself to Saint Judes and is assigned to his group. She introduces herself and goes on to tell everyone she's a fairy and she's looking for her wings. Crazy and no different then his closest friend, Mouse, who is a huge guy who thinks the vampire who sired him slaughtered his family. Lunatics. Anyway, as he starts to remember things, doctors, patients, and etc. tell him he's losing his grip on reality-- Soon he and his group are unraveling plots and plans, maneuvering through the fantastic and the mundane, racing to regain his full memory before some looming battle breaks lose. Gargoyles, chimera, angels, fairies, elves, vampires, witches, wizards, sirens, new breeds, etc.
Anyway, if all goes well here-- easily see it becoming a series.
-- Yeah! something that started out fun, required so much God damn research that I feel like I already wrote the book and am already fed up with it and I ain't even close to done. The translated pieces of the book of Enoch I can get here-- is cool. The Bible is awful (mostly because I had to take free classes with the Jehovah witnesses here in order to get a free bible-- I'm so going to hell)
Book B- genre literary erotica- (not necessarily scurrying in the dark, but...) jk. Collection of short stories.
50pg/120
-- another one that isn't my genre-- but that's what I'm trying to figure out.
Book C- genre literary fiction- my genre- A history teacher is murdered, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. An ordinary guy becomes a murderer and runs off, leaving behind a wife and two children. The story follows the lives of the victim and the assailant left behind, and shows how their lives interwined and affected the small town they lived in through vignettes of family and friends, and their struggle to deal with their absences/deaths.
100pgs/300pgs
Can you tell I'm practicing writing synopses... if you think these are bad, you should of seen the ones I wrote in September after finishing the first outlines... I hate outlines, barely use the ones I keep having to rewrite, but have fallen in love with the little index cards. I'm still super Natania though, needing to work on a shit load of projects at once, believe it or not, I had another book I started, but decided to save it for later. Cause, you know, doing things later is all right too.
Spanish Wise-- I'm officially taking classes and I'm far from fluent, but I can watch tv and listen to the radio without having to translate it all back to english-- step in the right direction. Still not much of a talker and my reading and writing skills have always been pretty good, but definitely improved also.
Future Wise-- I will be back in the states July of next year. San Fran/Oakland area for a year, while I try to get books rewritten/published, take some French classes, and work on culture exchange visa for France. Also, spend the year with my sister, before she runs off to college, officially.
All right, me in a nutshell. Also, will due better to update and keep on current events with you guys, because though I'm out of sight and mind most of the time, I do care about what all of you guys are up to and are doing while I'm being spacey.