You should see me waving those hands, as if I am flinging the words out! Tenses mangled, participles participating, verbs doing things! Mange tout, mange tout!
I love this recapping of "could do betters" and then "did do wells". I think doing that every month is a great idea rather than waiting until the end of the year.
Ahh Barrie, the French is a nightmare isn't it! But it is possible... there is only one way, IMHO to speak this complicated lingo; hang out with French friends or neighbours who don't speak English as often as possible. You can learn the basics in books and online but the nitty-gritty, the accent, the localisms not a chance. And don't be shy, just chatter away as if its second nature! Not all will correct you but that doesn't matter they will love that you are trying and don't get hung up on the grammar and myriad conjugating until you've mastered the present tense, they'll know what you're trying to say. Read the local papers too.
As for the rest Bravo! I ditched all other social networks when I started writing here, it was a weight lifted!
Have a great weekend, we have rain arriving for the day, so you'll find me indoors with pen and paper and hopefully making progress on my short fiction. First though, more coffee!
Thank you so much for the much-needed encouragement … I do happily fling words around and folk are kind enough to say they comprend! For certain, my tenses are all over the place but things get said. I just know I have to do more. Thank you.
Rain here too … I got some meadow mowed and apple trees trimmed so I can sit indoors with a clear conscience … there’ll be a quick pedal later … but first, coffee! Have a fab fiction weekend!
Just keep flinging those words around Barrie! The more the merrier…
I haven’t had to mow here yet, for which I am deeply grateful, once I start I know its every two weeks until September… unless we have another ‘canicule’ which I am secretly hoping for! As for the fiction, not a word has been written… In the words of Rhett Butler, “Never mind my dear, there’s always tomorrow”
Tomorrow - the best time to do all the things you planned for today (one of my favourite ways of peering at the world). Yes, for me the two-weekly, Forth Road Bridge task is begun!
Cold turkey? Colder outside? Yes. Now what about Taking a chance on something? I watch Youtube ONLY when it backs up a recipe I'm trying , so that I don't poison anyone, or to see how it was possible to learn to play instrument SO well that Timothee, who played Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, did it.
My weakness with the apps (YouTube was bad) was the wish to ‘fill a moment or two’ that dragged into an hour, disappeared. Add a glass of wine and I was off finding obscure music to remind me of my youth. No more. I’m proud to have dumped it!
Whoa! Wait a minute. Did I see the word wine-less?? You kidding? I cold-turkeyed on Youtube ( whew... that feels so much better ) and it was not so hard to quit as I thought it would be. But wineless? Uh.. No.
Strictly speaking, the watchword is ‘less but better’. We live in France, there has to be wine - it’s the law, and we don’t want the wine sector to collapse. Just cutting out the second bottle (which leads to the YouTube, which leads to the waste of an evening). Intentions! Much easier to stick to with less wine!
Oh, well, you got me there, Barrie. Intentions fade, impulses take command. I can testify. Glad to hear it is only the second BOTTLE you are giving up, though.
Hand waving, Barrie. Hand waving is key, I find. Somehow it unlocks all those French words you'd no idea you knew.
You should see me waving those hands, as if I am flinging the words out! Tenses mangled, participles participating, verbs doing things! Mange tout, mange tout!
I love this recapping of "could do betters" and then "did do wells". I think doing that every month is a great idea rather than waiting until the end of the year.
I just thought it would be a little gentler on myself, Diane, and we all deserve that!
Ahh Barrie, the French is a nightmare isn't it! But it is possible... there is only one way, IMHO to speak this complicated lingo; hang out with French friends or neighbours who don't speak English as often as possible. You can learn the basics in books and online but the nitty-gritty, the accent, the localisms not a chance. And don't be shy, just chatter away as if its second nature! Not all will correct you but that doesn't matter they will love that you are trying and don't get hung up on the grammar and myriad conjugating until you've mastered the present tense, they'll know what you're trying to say. Read the local papers too.
As for the rest Bravo! I ditched all other social networks when I started writing here, it was a weight lifted!
Have a great weekend, we have rain arriving for the day, so you'll find me indoors with pen and paper and hopefully making progress on my short fiction. First though, more coffee!
Thank you so much for the much-needed encouragement … I do happily fling words around and folk are kind enough to say they comprend! For certain, my tenses are all over the place but things get said. I just know I have to do more. Thank you.
Rain here too … I got some meadow mowed and apple trees trimmed so I can sit indoors with a clear conscience … there’ll be a quick pedal later … but first, coffee! Have a fab fiction weekend!
Just keep flinging those words around Barrie! The more the merrier…
I haven’t had to mow here yet, for which I am deeply grateful, once I start I know its every two weeks until September… unless we have another ‘canicule’ which I am secretly hoping for! As for the fiction, not a word has been written… In the words of Rhett Butler, “Never mind my dear, there’s always tomorrow”
Tomorrow - the best time to do all the things you planned for today (one of my favourite ways of peering at the world). Yes, for me the two-weekly, Forth Road Bridge task is begun!
Cold turkey? Colder outside? Yes. Now what about Taking a chance on something? I watch Youtube ONLY when it backs up a recipe I'm trying , so that I don't poison anyone, or to see how it was possible to learn to play instrument SO well that Timothee, who played Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, did it.
I WON'T get addicted! That's my vow.
My weakness with the apps (YouTube was bad) was the wish to ‘fill a moment or two’ that dragged into an hour, disappeared. Add a glass of wine and I was off finding obscure music to remind me of my youth. No more. I’m proud to have dumped it!
Whoa! Wait a minute. Did I see the word wine-less?? You kidding? I cold-turkeyed on Youtube ( whew... that feels so much better ) and it was not so hard to quit as I thought it would be. But wineless? Uh.. No.
Strictly speaking, the watchword is ‘less but better’. We live in France, there has to be wine - it’s the law, and we don’t want the wine sector to collapse. Just cutting out the second bottle (which leads to the YouTube, which leads to the waste of an evening). Intentions! Much easier to stick to with less wine!
Oh, well, you got me there, Barrie. Intentions fade, impulses take command. I can testify. Glad to hear it is only the second BOTTLE you are giving up, though.
Celebrate all those wins. And I'm definitely here for more "Thomson’s can’t-be-bothered-attitude" revelations. ;)
There’s some memoir writing in me yet!
That is a book I look forward to!
Haha! I’ll let you know if I get brave!