Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Is there such a thing as 'too many' ideas?

Agh! My head is constantly exploding with ideas. It is so annoying!
Because of this, I have at least five novels that I'm working on right now, and not a single finished novel. The closest I have to something finished is one extremely lame first draft for a novel that's about the size of a short story.
At night, when I'm lying in bed and should be thinking about how to make the stories I have better, I always end up coming up with new ones instead. And then I get really excited about my new novel ideas and ditch the old ones. RIP.
A few days ago, my older sister told me that I really had to finish at least one novel, so that I had something to show for myself.
I told her "Phooey, I have a first draft," but that wasn't enough for her.
And that's how I learned that, as much as we'd all like it to be, writing can't be all fun and games. We, as writers, have a responsibility to finish what we've already begun. You know why? Because it's doing the world a favor. We won't ever be able to put an unfinished novel out into the world, only a finished one. And so, to make the world a better place, we should do what's right and finish the stories that we began, because the world wants to hear them.

Monday, December 15, 2014

An Ode To the English Language

Okay, so this isn't technically an ode, since I am terrible at poetry, but I do want to express my feelings for the english language.
When it comes down to it, the english language is terrible if one is trying to learn it as their second. But to all of those who's first language is english, it is a dream. Especially if you happen to love writing, which I do.
The english language is a mumble jumble of a bunch of different languages smashed together, making it extremely complicated and down right huge. Like, the average native english speaker knows/uses about ten to twenty thousand words, when there's roughly a million to choose from. A million is a lot. And on top of that, new ones come out every day (thanks to me).
I am SO thankful that English is my native tongue, because I know it would just be way too scary for me to learn later in my life. It's like a huge iceberg, dark and uninviting.
But since it is my native language, I like it. Actually, I love it. Actually, I adore it.
Why? Because I'm a writer, and the english language has a perfect word for everything.
For example, the word 'walk.' I'm learning french, and in french, there are only a few different ways to say it. But in english, there are so many different ways to say it, I can't even count. Why is this a good thing? Because each way to say walk means a slightly different, slightly more meaningful way of saying it. So instead of having to use adverbs to make my walk unique, I can just say "I stride," or "I pace," or "I race." This means I can place a picture in my reader's head, without even needing adjectives. Imagine that! It's a miracle!
So yes, as a writer (and a reader, for that matter) I can say that the english language is second to none, but as a learner I believe I would rather die than tackle it.