How Not to Bomb at a Reading (from Gotham Writers Workshop)

A couple of years ago I took a class from Gotham. Since them, they’ve been sending monthly emails, which can be very interesting. This article, on their site, I found to be compelling (not that I do readings). I pressed “Share This” and it keeps saying it worked, but nothing seems to happen.

Douglas Bright’s main points are

• Set goals for the reading.
• Gauge the audience.
• Fulfill your contract.

but how he lays it out, and his experiences, are worth the read.

See the whole thing here.

Language Lunes: Japanese

My friend Sachiko says that I have a very good accent in Japanese. Sadly, I only know about six words (not counting gung-ho or kara-te) and all of those are verbal; I can’t read Japanese at all. When her Japanese friends write on her Facebook page, I have no idea what they’re saying. Or rather, I had no idea what they are saying.

Lately, however, I’ve been using Google Translate to find out what people are saying. Sometimes, it isn’t very helpful. With short words and phrases, though, it’s great. And, in order to wow any Japanese friends I might have in the future, I have started to compile a list of words that you, too, might want to use to amaze and wow your own Japanese friends. Here they are:

• Awesome   すごい～
• Amazing  すごい
• Crikey  わあ
• Good job  いい仕事
• I’ll surprise you  びっくりしますよね
• Sorry  すみません
• Zowie, interesting!  きゃー面白い！

And, last but not least, the Japanese way to express is (^-^).

Of course, you might find this word list more helpful:  http://www.japanesewords.net/downloads/kanjivocablist.pdf

And with that, I will say さようなら or, as they say in the good old U S of A, sayonara!

 

Unfounded Relief; Interminable Task

 

For 18 sweet hours, I thought I’d completed the second part of my huge, possibly never-ending project. I was wrong.

 

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The Red Writing Hood prompt from Write on Edge was to write a story in 140 characters.

Fiction/Memoir: I’ve Semi-Joined “Write on the Edge”

My sister has had a blog for a long while now. She used to only blog about things she thought about or that happened to her/people she knew, but some time ago, she started to include fiction/memoir writing by following prompts on Red Writing Hood, now named Write on the Edge.

I have thought about joining her for a while, and now that they have posted their easiest prompt EVER, I will do so.

You Can Catch More Flies With Honey Than With Vinegar

But I have yet to need to catch flies.

 

And We’re Off . . . .

Glee Prom

[some spoilers below]

I belong to what I call the Astoria Glee Club. As you might have guessed from the title of the post, we are not a club that sings, but one that watches the show Glee.  It stated out as just having dinner on Tuesdays, but the first time someone suggested that we eat dinner in from of a huge flat screen TV while watching Glee, our primary motivation has changed.

Lately, I have been finding Glee less engaging than last year. For the most part, though, I really enjoyed last night’s episode. The reason is that it actually had to do with high school. Glee takes place in a high school, but these past months have had no one acting like they were actually in high school. At any rate, although I did enjoy it, I did have a few problems with the episode.

1. How come there was only one chaperone at the prom.
2. Where has the undercurrent of gay bashing been that would have led to tonight’s big scene? Since the guy who had been the leader has since reformed, there hasn’t been any thing at all. How was the [xxxxx] organized with NO ONE from the Glee Club finding out about it ahead of time?
3. Why was the orchestra there if only the Glee Club was getting paid?
4. Why was the AV club painting the set for the Prom?
5. Why was [that guy you didn't expect to come back] back? It wasn’t really explained?
6. Who thinks they can hire Air Supply for $400?
7. Most striking of all, why did Mr. Schuster arrange to have one of the kids who was running for Prom Queen scheduled to sing the song that the Prom Queen and King dance to?