First, there's the Frye Festival. As the site says, it's "Atlantic Canada's largest literary gathering"- rough translation: mecca, for reader/writer-folk like me.
As if that weren't enough, my friend Rachel and I got tickets to the interview with all different writers, including awesome fellow Canadian, Margaret Atwood! She is like the Lady Gaga of Canadian literature- it's impossible to set foot in any bookstore or writing seminar, without seeing her work, or hearing about her. Her website is full of great advice for aspiring novelists (such as, say, Yours Truly), and I'm bringing in one of her books for the signing- maybe she'll even tell me who her agent is!
Mucho stoked for Saturday night!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
On Slovakia, Lesbians, and Words That Rhyme With Orange.
Finally, after close to 3 days of staring at my computer, I managed to write two whole sentences. Getting this far has been a stretch of late, so I'm proud of myself- two sentences may not seem like much to most people, but it just so happens that every single, itty-bitty one counts, when you are a writer.
In truth, I owe those two sentences to the wonderful music I've been listening to lately. Learning the language helps, but speaking Slovak to yourself (with an Italian accent, no less) doesn't help much, especially if the first words you learned in it were "pork" (bravčové), "ugly"(škaredý/a), "secret" (tajný/a), "tomato" (paradajka), and a few obscenities. That said, playing with Audacity (my voice-changer toy) and the sound-recorder also works wonders- it gives my characters a voice, and it's easier to be 'in the moment' with them that way.
On a brighter note, I've recently discovered (thanks to Horkýže Slíže and their wonderful L.A.G. song) that Slovak has a lot of great words that rhyme with "lesbian" (that must mean that there's a word out there, other than door-hinge, that rhymes with orange, right?). Unlike most of the English-speaking world, I also know that Slovakia's 2010 Eurovision song is called Horehronie and, as M. says, has nothing to do with prostitutes.
Aiming for two more sentences before the night is out!
Writer's Blocked, Me Arse!
It's one-thirty in the morning; boyfriend is passed out drunk, and I am staring at my manuscript, trying to make it write itself. Not going to happen.
If I were awesome, like K., I would put my kick-ass imagination to good use and write an entire chapter about myself and how great I am. Alternately, were I like M. (read: moody, selfish, and practically bipolar), I'd drink myself into a stupor, then complain about how much my life sucks and write about that instead.
On that note, maybe I should just go back to my old job and stick my head in a fryer for inspiration- hey, it worked for both the title AND the tagline of this blog-thingy, so don't knock it 'til you've tried it. That, and it's a lot easier to channel your inner emo when your life actually DOES suck and you have something to whine about, like the cold and crappy weather we had last week- perfect for sparkly vampires; not so much for me.
Off to stare at the computer screen some more,
L.
If I were awesome, like K., I would put my kick-ass imagination to good use and write an entire chapter about myself and how great I am. Alternately, were I like M. (read: moody, selfish, and practically bipolar), I'd drink myself into a stupor, then complain about how much my life sucks and write about that instead.
On that note, maybe I should just go back to my old job and stick my head in a fryer for inspiration- hey, it worked for both the title AND the tagline of this blog-thingy, so don't knock it 'til you've tried it. That, and it's a lot easier to channel your inner emo when your life actually DOES suck and you have something to whine about, like the cold and crappy weather we had last week- perfect for sparkly vampires; not so much for me.
Off to stare at the computer screen some more,
L.
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