As I mentioned in my goals post for this round, I'm taking it a month at a time. My progress on this month's goals is as follows.
Finish first draft of pseudonym's WIP2. I did make some progress on the WIP this week. *struggles to not say "but..."* A lot of the work I've been doing lately is more passive than active, meaning it's not so much about actually getting new words in the Scrivener file...though there's been a bit of that, too. I've read several other romance novels over the past couple of weeks, have done some character exploration, and have had some exciting epiphanies about certain plot points in the WIP. *runs away before she can say "but..."*
Learn some German. Two weeks of class down, two to go. An exciting moment this past week in my language-learning was when we learned numbers and the next day I understood what someone was saying to me when they told me how much I owed for my coffee. Yay! I have to say, being at the beginning of the language-learning process again is a humbling experience. Because so much of my identity (and livelihood) depends on being able to communicate well, it's disconcerting, frustrating and embarrassing to be reduced to saying the same few verbs in present tense only. On the other hand, it's also a good reminder that there are other ways to connect and communicate. Despite my severe limitations in the language, I've still managed to get a couple people to laugh with me, and it's been surprising to discover how well the ol' point-and-please technique works. "Eine, bitte," I said this morning while pointing to the Danish behind the glass. "Und eine kaffee, bitte." At least I can feed and caffeinate myself.
Get out & about on weekends (Friday-Sunday) for at least a couple hours a day. I had an unusually socially active week last week and I can feel myself wanting to pull back into Hermit Mode. I indulged on Friday by staying in all day and night; the only social interaction I had was with my flatmate. Yesterday I met up with a friend for lunch and coffee for a couple of hours, and tonight we're going to a bar that serves Tex-Mex food and where you can play boardgames.
Participate in/keep up with the DIY MFA Conquer the Craft challenge. Sigh. I've read most of the prompts. Even forwarded one to a client whom I thought would be interested. I've read a couple of articles on the DIY MFA site as a result of reading the emails.
Continue publishing two blog posts per week. Yes! I published this post yesterday on the travel blog, and this ROW80 update counts as my post this week for this blog.
How about you? How are you progressing toward your writing goals?
This is a blog hop! Check out other ROW80 participants' updates here.
Hey, to caffeinated yourself is SUPER important! :-)
ReplyDeleteSounds like fantastic time so far.
I coax the muse back to me and am making strides writing and being creative. This weekend was a bit packed with shows and festivals, one that involved some amazing friends getting hitched and the subsequent partying. Been on a reading kicking lately. Which is good, I miss being able to curl up and just read. Overall, it's been good.
Onward and upward!
It amazing how we can communicate using international sign language (the pointing kind) and just a few words. I've been to Peru and Kenya, interacting with the natives, without speaking hardly any of their language. It is a dream of mine though to speak another language fluently. I'm so jealous that you are taking an intensive class in German. I don't know how much of my high school German would come back to me - or even how much of it was correct at the time.
ReplyDeletePassive progress is better than no progress. And I try to do the same; if I'm not writing a lot then I'm reading a lot. Also when I'm on the metro I try to keep the book And its upcoming scenes in my head to try to keep the ideas fresh instead of just something I thought about ages ago.
ReplyDeleteI feel like usually, if you're able to communicate even a little in a different language then you're doing a lot better than you think you are. I see that all the time in people learning Spanish and English alike, they're usually able to speak better than they think they can. It's usually a lot less embarrassing than it feels.
And you're right that there are different ways to communicate! Although to be honest, when I first got to Spain if I didn't understand something I just frowned a lot until they start using primary school level Spanish in order to explain something to me.