The Problem Is…
…most of what’s on my mind, I don’t want to blog about yet. So blog thoughts just aren’t coming. These snippet posts seem to be all I can do, lately.
Writing Fast
I’m a little envious of people who both write full-time AND take a year to write a book. Wow. Just think of all the research you could do, and how leisurely you could write! You could feel proud and on track for having written 400 words a day, AND take 65 days off a year! (Or use 65 days for brainstorming or research, etc.)
Or maybe I’m just upset that my novel for “real name” is going slow as freakin’ molasses. And I’m writing it amidst pounding out words for pseudonym.
Honestly, I’m just sick of the pressure to always write faster. But what can you do? Gotta pay the bills. And really, I’m not real fond of that pressure, either. They’re close to the same thing.
Learning Spanish
I’m learning Spanish. It’s hard, as I’ve never worked with a Romance language before (just the barest of Italian). I’ve been dreaming in Spanish, which is encouraging. One of the things I’m using to learn is LiveMocha, which is great. It’s a bit like Rosetta Stone, except it’s online and free.
It’s like learning a language on Facebook, because once you submit an exercise, three or four people will write and tell you that you suck and need to try again. (Okay, not really that bad, LOL!)
What’s funny is that I grade TOEFL tests now and then, since I speak English. And WOW. I’d heard they were… ridiculous, but they really are. The last one I graded was on the study of etymology throughout history, written in unreadable college textbook style. (And NOT the applicable kind of etymology. Just long terms that I’ve NEVER used in my ENTIRE life, used in thick and sludgy prose I had to read three times.)
Real useful. *eye roll*
I’m also using Fluenz and a wonderful book called Listen ‘n’ Learn Spanish with Your Favorite Movies. The last one is definitely my favorite, and my Netflix account is getting a good workout, too. 
I also dabble with the free courses written by the Foreign Services Institute. Useful, but “hard” learning.
My goal is to be conversing at Intermediate level by the end of February.
Contact Form
Lastly, I’m getting a lot of blank contact forms. Could a couple of you contact me, just so I can see whether spammers are blanking me, or if my contact form isn’t working? Thanks so much!
So what’s up in your world? Any blog ideas for me, LOL?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats and husband. She spends summers camped near her niece, because, well, her niece is her favorite girl on the planet.
I’m impressed with your learning another language. I might have to try that out.
I’m taking 2 years to write SCAR, but I’ve had some breaks now and again. It’s not requiring the research as much as it’s requiring the deep thought. That’s my time suck.
But I wrote a lot of other stuff in between too, so I guess it’s okay. I’m about to write another book for pseudonym too.
It’s fun, Betsy! I’ve been wanting to learn another language for awhile, since I stopped going to the sauna and learning Russian.
Living here inspired me to learn Spanish.
Deep thought is a time suck! Good luck on pseudonym’s book!
Good for you for learning Spanish! My dad has been using Rosetta Stone and I’ll see in a week how well it worked for him. Watching movies with subtitles is a wonderful idea, especially (for me anyway) if you’re already familiar with the movie. Then you know what’s going on & can pay more attention to the actual words.
Good luck with your writing. I’ve yet to write fiction this year, ugh.
Oh cool, Melanie! I’ve been doing it with Harry Potter, but it’s slow going: every time through, I recognize a couple more words. With this book, they give the vocabulary and help you through it, so it’s fantastic.
My writing this year has not inspired me, either.
I think it’s cool that you are learning Spanish. I took three years in high school and four semesters in college, but I never dreamed in Spanish. I used my Spanish twenty years later in Mexico. I was surprised at how much I could remember with a little self-refresher.
I took an Italian class a couple years ago. Tons of fun but I’ve forgotten almost everything.
Good luck with your WIP!!
That’s awesome, Paul! I’m learning fast, so I’m immersing myself, so it’s not surprising I’d dream in it. I dreamt in German after I went to Germany. I think it just takes immersion.
Italian is fun! I forgot; I did learn a bit of Italian! (Family and worked in Little Italy, for a time.)
Good for you for learning Spanish. My sister took a Spanish language course a couple years ago, and she stayed with a host family in Mexico for a few weeks. That worked out well for her.
The first half of my wip was slow too. I kept stopping to do other things, and it takes a while to get back into it. But even when I got back into it, I was bleeding out the words, drop by drop. Then came the second half, and I flew through it.
I saw about that! That would be cool. I’d love to do that. If I can save up the money, I’d really like to go to Guatemala for a month in 2011. Well, I’d like to go in 2010, but were getting into lottery-winning odds, there.
Awesome, Edie! Are you on a new WIP?
That’s great learning Spanish. I wish I knew French so I could read French literature in its original form rather than just the translations. Alas, I had French in both high school and college and it never stuck.
Lack of writing time is always a problem. A lot of us must wonder what we might do or might’ve done if we had been able to devote all our time to writing just what we wanted. Of course, maybe the answer wouldn’t be what we expected.
I was just thinking the same thing, Eric! And I was thinking that, in Spanish, I’ll get to read Pablo Neruda poetry in Spanish!
I’m a big fan of those “Learn Blah Blah On the Go” tapes that you put in the car. I like learning things while I drive. Maybe that’s why I’m such a crappy driver. A well-informed crappy driver.
Oh nice! I’m not in the car much, anymore. When we had a CD player, I loved to listen to Stephanie Plum and laugh.
Oh, and I forgot to say, that I’m impressed you can even make a living by writing. Not many people can, so that is incredibly cool, and I demand that you give yourself a high five this minute.
Hah! It’s a very small living. But I was thinking that I can now pay all the bills… but I can’t seem to cover the gas, food, etc stuff. That adds up. It costs $100 to step foot outside of my house, it seems! But that’s what Glenn’s for!
What’s up in my world?
Just finished two short stories for my blog, one was in a genre (light horror I guess you can call it. another would be like the slasher flicks from the 80’s) that I never touched before and the other was finishing up a serial that I last worked on in August.
I think that the both of them were just the think I needed to snap out of my current funk with my WiP, which I haven’t touched in a couple of weeks.
Oh fun, G! Short stories get things rolling. For me, it feels good to END stuff, while a novel takes FOREVER!
Blog about Glenn! Blog about butterflies! Blog about what your cats think of Arizona. Blog about how HUGE the bugs are, or that scorpion in your boots, or any cool restaurants you’ve been to, or southwest sunsets, or People of Walmart, or the olympics or your pedicure or where to find snow in your state or where you’re moving to next or…
Or post some photos! I always like to see where you are.
*taking notes*
My camera broke! I have an old one, but I can’t find the cord to hook it up to the laptop. It’s on my to-do list!
One of the reasons I’m probably still a small press writer is that I just can’t produce quickly because of the heavy work load I have at school. I experience constant interruptions and there is very little thinking time, and yet I’m a relatively slow writer by nature who needs to take the time to think and polish.
I get that, Charles. Besides, teaching takes a lot of thinking and creativity. I’d be up nights, when I was a teacher, at least one a week. That doesn’t leave a lot of mental room for writing, I found.