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Working Wednesday: The Second Book Edition

We are very close to the end of the first book in the trilogy, and we’re both under a lot of stress from stuff happening outside the book, and then I lost wifi and Bob had to hit the road for family stuff, so he told me to write a doc for him about what I wanted in the second book (YEC, lots of YEC) and in particular he asked me to tell him about Nadine. Which made me happy, except it’s been a long time since I’ve written about Nadine (I think she was sixteen in Faking It) and now she’s in her thirties and having a one-night-stand with Carter Archer, so it’s just fun. And Bob was working on You Again, which was a real mess when he got it, and I’ve been reading his pass at that, and it turns out that Rosemore, the big house on the Ohio River, is just outside of Burney, and Vince stops James and family to tell them the road ahead is closing due to snow. That was fun, too. So that’s three different books we’re working on, plus a short story or novella (don’t know yet) about Nadine meeting Carter because they’ve already met in the second book of the trilogy, so I have lots of stuff to work on. And it’s all fun. My next move: Reread Faking It. Nothing but good times ahead.

So what did you work on this week?

138 Responses

  1. A novella about Nadine & Carter! Yay!
    I’m working on keeping my sanity in a country with a heinous villain for a “leader”. It’s tempting to go full on -do not engage- since I don’t know how anyway. But I’m very aware there are many good people who don’t have a choice & have to engage. So depressing.
    Otherwise the usual except I took time off so I have Sunday to Wednesday off to read sometimes in the park under a tree.

    1. I fully support going no engagement. Please don’t feel guilty about it. The antics and horrible things are strategic to some extent, I believe and meant to wear you down. Rest is resistance. Joy is resistance. Whatever it takes not to slide into numb existence. Take care of you. If we all take breaks when we can then we can jump back in as needed and let someone else rest in turn, like a relay race.

        1. As a recovering Catholic, I am trying to focus on gratitude instead of guilt. It’s hard to shift years of thinking a certain way but I made myself physically ill over Ukraine in the early days, so something had to give. I felt so guilty for looking away when so many couldn’t.

      3. My add is going strong. I read no engagement and immediately thought- so Carter and Nadine don’t have a HEA?

        Please take whatever you need. I am grateful for whatever window in your life you want to share. It’s been a tough year without hospitalizations, and tougher needing them.

      4. I love the relay race image! I also heard someone describing it as singing in a chorus- the reason that choruses can hold ridiculously long notes is that individual singers can drop out to catch their breath, knowing their fellow members will be there to sustain the overall song.

    2. Honestly, Judy, I don’t know how you all are keeping sane down there. I read the news every day from up here and I want to hyperventilate. Plus I saw the new film Nuremberg this week with Russell Crowe as Hermann Goering who is asked what happened that Germany went from a democracy to a fascist dictatorship and his answer was that democracy throws up weak leaders so the dictators have to take over. It sounded like a gong in the theatre.

      2. That movie is getting great reviews, too, and while I have not seen it so I don’t know, a lot of the reaction mirrored yours. Fingers crossed it makes a difference, and reverberates when Crowe gets his Oscar for it.

  2. It’s been a week so far – my favourite aunt died and a friend told me she has breast cancer. My aunt was 93 and in poor health, but I’ll miss her.

    I’m preparing for 2 consecutive card workshops later this month. Lots of cutting up paper into small pieces. One of the workshops focuses on Halloween cards which will be fun. I’m doing a lot of volunteering this week too.

    4. I’m sorry about your aunt. One of the biggest drags about getting older is that means your older friends and relatives start to disappear from your life.

      And so do some of the younger ones.

    10. Thank you for your kind thoughts. My friend is having surgery next week. My aunt was my mom’s best friend and my rock when my mother died 9 years ago. I’m not religious but it makes me happy to think of my mom greeting my aunt with a huge smile and an even bigger hug.

    13. I have spent part of the past several days doing some very belated spring cleaning. At this point I should probably call it Fall cleaning! All that is left to do is finish cleaning around the sink, and then concentrate on the stove and refrigerator. I have even been washing windows!

    14. I am so sorry for your loss Susan. I hope the memories you have of her comfort you during this time. And I hope your friend does well with her treatments.

    15. I’m sorry for the loss of our aunt. As for your friend’s cancer, I have 2 friends who are both 2 time cancer survivors and going strong, so we will hope your friend will be likewise blessed.

  3. I’ve been dealing with my plum & apple harvest – jamming, stewing, storing – and then drastically pruning the plum trees, which were outgrowing their spaces on the allotment, despite being on semi-dwarfing rootstocks.

    Also been prioritizing going for an hour’s walk a day, though I overdid it on Saturday – walked for four hours then found my way blocked by fallen trees, which meant backtracking and a much longer route. I called a friend instead, who very kindly drove out to pick me up from a nearby village.

    1. I know what you mean. Johnny and I walk down to the dog park and meet Pat, who drives. Sometimes we walk back, and sometimes we just look at Pat and she says, “Get in the car.”

  4. I started my new job this week, so mostly I am working on learning new things, which is hard. Everything is new and where I used to be very good at my job I now feel like a toddler trying to walk, all wobbly and gummy. It’s humbling. I know it will get better and everyone is very nice.

    Also, my aunt who teaches dance asked me for a T-shirt design for the Nutcracker this week. I’m annoyed because she always does this last minute and I hate rushing. I tried to talk to her about it in the spring but she wasn’t ready to think about it and I let it go. I can say no, but it’s complicated and I really do like doing it as part of my volunteer work. Argh. Just griping and trying to think of a somewhat interesting design that is different from previous years.

      1. I have explained in the past. She is just a scattered person. I am sure she thinks that she gave me lots of notice… People don’t realize how long things take.

        1. That’s why I’d start pressing on the number of weeks you need. And I know you know this so I will say it ever so gently, you may be rewarding bad behaviour…

        2. Lupe, a similar situation almost ruined sewing for me: a friend made me rush-sew extras for the the three kings costumes – for the kids who go around the neighbourhood on 6 January. I spent almostvmy whole new years vacation days on that stuff. I’m no seamstress, so it vexed me. And having some kids complain that their capes (or how you’s call it) were not fancy enough irked me, too (I didn’t like this specific family prior to that incident anyway).
          Keep strong! And good luck ❤️

    2. Yeah family. It’s always complicated!

      But yay for learning new things! Give yourself the grace to be not excellent at it for a little while. The excellence will come!

    3. Exciting with the new job! I’m sure you’ll find good footing in no time. And like Tammy said about the aunt: Argh. Hope you can find a way to tackle that that causes the least amount of stress.

      1. Thanks, maybe I will just turn in some really crappy work. Lol. See if I can get myself fired, but probably not since I work for cheap.

  5. Yay, Nadine and Carter!

    I’m working on a book in my head. In it, the National Guard troops summoned to Washington surround the Orange House, go in, drag the Cankleasaurus, his VP, all the Secretaries, and a few senators and congresscritters out on the lawn, offer blindfolds, and execute them all by firing squads until they run out of ammunition.

    Independant squads of militia act to terminate four of nine Supreme Court Justices and any douchebags not in attendance at Donny’s house. Instead of a blindfold, they offer Kennedy a series of immunizations. He dies by lethal injection, so appropriate.

    Lawyers have figured out how far down the snakepit they have to reach for a legitimate successor to the felon in chief. They drag her before a judge, inflict the Presidency on her, then “guard” her while she undoes the Trump regime.

    I am very nearly ashamed at how violent my thoughts run in this manuscript that will never see daylight.

    1. Wow! That was quite the image. My own puny thought after watching the news of him and the entourage entering the restaurant was that instead of screaming at him why didn’t someone yell “Food Fight”?

      1. Isn’t throwing food at a Trumpminion regarded as “felonius assault?” Unless they broke out the steak knives, it wouldn’t be worth it.

        1. Well, it wouldn’t end up as a felony because the DC grand juries are refusing to indict for it.
          We don’t have anywhere near enough guard rails in our country to prevent autocracy but it is fascinating to see where some are.

    5. I went Biblical on my story. It takes place at the elephant convention and the ground opens up under it and everyone inside is swallowed up as the ground fills in behind them. Something like that happened when some Israelites challenged Moses to become leaders of the nation.

  6. Faking It was my gateway into the romance genre (my local library stamped it as General Fiction, thank goodness).

    Up until that point I’d partially read two romances where the physically perfect women were treated badly by the men who were forcibly kissing them, “but that was okay because he was so hot, and she was sure she could change him…..” Lots of gagging on my end.

    Anyway, Faking It had real women who stood up to men who tried to be better, and when I was at a different library that stamped a JC book as romance I panicked and almost put it back but I didn’t and I’m so glad I didn’t, and I’ve been all in on well-written romance since then.

    So I may be just a little excited for new related books and will be rereading!

    1. I judged Faking It by the cover and it paid off.

      After my kids were old enough to be in school and I finally had a bit of free time, I went looking for some fun books. The colors and the title were enough to give it a try. That led to reading all the books of course, and when I got to Welcome to Temptation, I thought the Davy guy sounded familiar. So I had to reread Faking It. Oh darn.

    2. I wrote a long response to this thanking you and then lost it midway. No idea why. It’s been that kind of week. Thank you!

  7. I enjoyed Faking It so much, and really loved the character Tilda. Love her to the point that every time you make a disparaging remark about her, I spend a good 2 minutes composing a rage-fueled response explaining that you do not understand her… before remembering/realizing that you wrote her. I assuage my embarrassment and console myself with the thought that it’s art, you put it out into the world, she’s mine now, and I’m lucky to get to feel this way about a character. Thank you for that wonderful book.

    1. I say bad things about Tilda? I love Tilda, one of my fave heroines. Her and Mare, the Queen of the Universe.

  8. At the risk of appearing stupid, what is YEC? Young Energetic Copulation? (Seems unlikely.) Yes enthusiastic comedy? (Only in half the chapters…)

    I finished and sent in a couple of Llewellyn articles, successfully installed a new modem (which seems simple, but without the activated modem, I have to drive miles to get a signal for my cell phone, then finish the activation through my Spectrum app…annoying as hell), did some cleaning and tidying so I felt less overwhelmed.

    Now I REALLY need to do some actual writing, but also harvest the basil and make pesto (and find room in the freezer for said pesto, which means eating more of last year’s pesto), and try to run a bunch of errands. Wish me luck.

    2. Good luck!
      YEC is Yucky Emotional Crap. Bob’s term. He sends me scenes with notes that say “Needs YEC.”

  9. I’m not working at all this week. I’m at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) this week, doing my annual thing watching films in the dark with strangers and existing on a diet of sour patch kids. I’m seeing about 23 films, have seen 12 so far, and it’s been a grim film festival, as per the current Zeitgeist.

  10. My pre-order is up for the final book in my 3- book series and I’m uploading today! I’m over the moon that is over because I thought of what my next series is going to be. Good times… And hard times are ahead.

    1. I’m escorting DD to bookstore discussions of her book. Which I’m enjoying and also trying hard not to criticize because I’m the mom and it would not be heard right. We are in the city my BFF lives in—the friend I did my 50th friendiversary trip with—so that’s nice.
      And I’m trying to fit the day job in the odd hours of down time.

  11. Rereading Faking It is something I highly recommend!

    My DH brought home sickness over Labor Day weekend, so I was thrilled to suffer with it last week. He tested positive, so I didn’t bother to test. I just know I’m coming out the other side of it, although I still have some residual cough.

    Once I started feeling better, I made myself tackle the sewing of the centers of my Dresden plate blocks. I just need to trim them up, and I can consider this step in my mystery done.

    I did one Nearly Insane block, just to keep my hand in. And lots of crochet. The blanket is looking good. I have some more rows to go, and then a border before I take a picture.

    I know you’ve been missing Charlie pictures, so there are several in this array
    https://www.instagram.com/p/DObIvfDDhSx/?img_index=1

    He loves to “help”, and he loves to go outside. We’ve got him on a leash, but unlike Teddy, Charlie is very interested in exploring. While Teddy and I were sitting outside on the front steps (and DH was walking Charlie elsewhere), I spotted Stanley across the street in a neighbor’s yard. I think he was trying to relax without getting attacked by my very enthusiastic kitten. The photos have a distant picture and then a close up.

  12. Big news is that the biopsy came back benign from the polyp removed in my recent routine colonoscopy. Odds were in favor of that all along but biopsies are always a worry.

    Otherwise I’m deep in chores (backlog from previous heath problems; stamina still not fully back) and seeing if I can write up one more book before GBTh.

    4. Patrick, high five for good health news! I also got good health news so we can celebrate together 🙂

  13. Reading through a previously published book, making tiny edits as I attempt to compile it all in my brain for a bigger edit. It’s sort of, what’s the word, smaller stories instead of an overarching plot, though it’s all leading to an HEA. Also: I was apparently much hornier 15 years ago, before menopause.

    And day job, always day job.

  14. You and Bob have no idea how to just do nothing, do you?
    Your readers are happy.
    As it happens, I’m also re-reading Faking It and enjoying it as much as ever.
    Plus it keeps me from washing and re-painting the patio furniture,
    which is what I need to be doing!

    1. I’m mostly making notes on Nadine at sixteen since she’s now in her thirties, so I need to age her based on what she was then. One of the interesting things is that she’s beautiful, and I don’t do beautiful heroines, and she’s walking into the second book of the series as a supporting character, so that will be fun. Also rereading, I remembered that Nadine takes no prisoners, so I can swing wide on that since, again, she’s a supporting character. So much fun.

      1. The characters who take no prisoners are so much fun to read because they are doing what I wish I had the courage to do.

  15. Honestly Faking It is my favorite of yours, (do you think we fall hardest for the first one we read, or is something else at play here?) so I’ll reread it along with you!

    1. I read Cinderella Deal first and then sat down and read it again back to back and then dived into everything Crusie. But Faking It is also my favorite. I am biased because good portrayals of artists is so rare. Usually they are either tortured or geniuses. And I read it while I was in art school and struggling with the fact that my art wasn’t conceptual enough for the current trend… But I think Faking It is just magic. Now I may have to reread before my annual spooky season revisit of Maybe This Time.

      2. I LOVE the Cinderella Deal. I give it as gifts sometimes because the idea of story changing your life, the story you tell yourself and the one someone else tells you, is so powerful and true.

    2. Faking It is my personal favorite as well. It’s the first Jenny Crusie I read and I have enjoyed every one since then.

    3. That’s an interesting question, because I read Welcome to Temptation first and I think it is still my favorite. But whichever one I have most recently read is also my favorite.

    4. My first Cruise was “Bet Me.” It’s tied for favorite with Welcome to Temptation, Faking It, and Agnes.

  16. I am packing for an artist residency at a lodge in the Alaska Wilderness (Chulitna Lodge) which I am looking forward to a great deal. I have books (John McPhee’s Coming Into the Country) and art supplies and a journal and a camera and a bunch of ideas. I get to take the Alaska Highway System Ferry from Bellingham Washington up to Juneau, which I am also anticipating (BOAT!!) and it all starts tomorrow with a 6am flight.

  17. I’ve been back working on the WIP. I was stuck and couldn’t figure out why until I mentioned my hero’s backstory to a writer friend. She asked what he’s doing to overcome it and my reply was uh…nothing because evidently his author was ignoring it. LOL! Then my Mermaid sisters brainstormed with me and came up with things to deal with his residual anger. He and the heroine go on a date to a batting cage. Turns out swinging a bat helps especially when you make contact with the ball.

    1. Ugh, moving is stressful and horrible at the best of times. Yours are NOT the best of times. Sending lots of hugs!

    2. I moved five times in 1991 -1996 and swore never again. Then I moved three times in 2012 to 2014 and swore never again. I feel your pain .

  20. Must reread Faking It. My favourite Cruisie, I think… but it’s hard to decide.

    I’m not working this week,or the next two 🥳. I’m on holiday in windy, rainy Scotland. Currently lying in a tent in the rain, listening to an audio book and knitting when I feel like it. Perfect!

  21. I’ve been alternating between quilting (finishing the tops that were UFOs until my last marathon of quiltmaking) and harvesting tomatoes. No pix of the quilts yet, but here’s the harvest from a couple of days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOWmhd-Ei1S/

    It’s a little hard to see the correct colors of the tomatoes, but there are Sun Golds and Black Cherries, along with grapes (unspecified variety) and paste (not sure of the variety). The “black” tomatoes are more noticeably purple (sort of red with a black haze), really striking, but the flavor isn’t as emphatically tomato-y as the grapes or as sweet as the Sun Golds.

    My freezer is full of paste tomatoes to be made into sauce, and I’m drowning in the Sun Golds — they’re incredibly prolific, even after feeding the whole neighborhood and the nurse who gives me my monthly injections and anyone else I can foist them off on. At least people actually like cherry tomatoes, so it’s not like sneaking zucchinis onto their porch (although I did some of that earlier in the season).

    1. The number of tomatoes you picked must explain why so many made it into the picture. If I was lucky enough to have ripe tomatoes still warm from the sun, not many of them would make it into the house.

  23. Our daughter was married last weekend, so we have been busy, busy, busy. It was a very joyous garden party event in which everyone adhered to the “No speeches” request and just had fun.

    3. Oh what a great idea “no speeches”! I cringe every time my FIL gets up on a chair or a table at random gatherings and weddings and starts to give a speech. So painful!

  24. Wow, can’t wait for all the stuff you guys are working on! Remind me again what You Again was about/connected to? I don’t remember it for some reason.

    Any chance you guys will pick up Nita sometime in the future? Loved that one.

  26. Working on rereading Faking It sounds like the best kind of work. I should join in.
    I’m working on physio-exercises to ease the pain in my hands and back/shoulders/neck. The most recent exercises are to use minimum force/power to grab, grip, pinch, lift, push, pull etc. Reprogramming brain and muscles is hard. I need my hands very much though, so I really have to try to fix this.
    I have finished the knitting-part of a dachshund. It took ages because I wanted to make it half size, AND change so the tail is knitted directly onto the body instead of knitted separately and sewn on, which meant I had to knit and unravel and knit again and change the pattern accordingly. Stuffing, adding eyes and nose and sewing up is up next. I want to knit a poodle for a friend, and the dachshund-pattern had some techniques I wanted to learn in preparation, so I hope(!) to be able to make one now/soon. There is no poodle-pattern, meaning I will have to make things up as I go, so it’s gonna be a fun challenge.
    I have so many projects of different kinds lined up that I don’t know where to start. Not just knitting, other stuff as well. But… How? When? HOW?! So many ideas, but aaaaargh.
    I’m still working on accepting that gaslighting has happened. I am stuck on the Acceptance-chapter and have now read it thrice, because I keep shying away from the more confrontational exercises (such as writing down the things that feel wrong), which is a coping-thing but not what I’m supposed to do. My whole system goes into lockdown if I try to talk about it out loud. Also trying to accept that I can not save others from the most recent manipulative person, which is very very very hard. Perhaps even harder than accepting it’s happened to me.

    1. Shass,
      When I was in the loony bin (aka the psych ward) we would go to the weekly women’s group where they made us repeat, “I can’t do anything for anyone else if I don’t take care of myself first.” You can’t help anyone when you are emotionally paralized by your own pain and fear. But maybe it would be easier to get farther into the book you are having trouble reading if you look at it as something you are studying so you can discuss it with others rather than as a manifesto for the rest of your life. It may turn out to be that important in the long run, but you only have to deal with it a little bit at a time. You can always go back and reread parts of it later when it feels less emotionally fraught.

      1. Aunt Snack, that is a great idea, thank you! I have managed to tell my siblings, via text, that I am reading it, but still can not say it out loud. I have been prepared to to a few different people, but no words come. Your suggestion is very good, I will try to use that. Hugs and thanks!

        1. Do you think Switzerland would want to read it with you? You trusted her judgment on the other issue.

        2. Who says you have to say it out loud? In these days when many people communicate only by text, many people would prefer to see it in writing because that means they have time to think about their reply. But if you are still having trouble reading further in the book, perhaps it would be less pressure-filled to concentrate just on the reading, for now.
          I remember telling my brother that I was terrified that when I went into the hospital they would find a huge number of things that were wrong with me and I couldn’t face that. He pointed out that whatever they found would still be less than what I was afraid of, because it would be only one or 2 things of while my fears were infinite.

          I apologize for repeating this story, but it is the only thing I have to offer. Lauren Child wrote a picture book called “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book?” which I found delightfully funny, but since it is about fairy tales and a boy who fell into a book, I doubt if it would offer much more than a laugh.

          Do you think asking Switzerland to read it with you might help? You trusted her judgment before so she might offer a safe person with whom you could explore this book.

  27. I am working on keeping my strength to take care of my new granddaughter. I forgot how tired your arms get after a couple hours of rocking. But it’s the best kind of tired to be!

  28. My poor brain has given up on me today (I feel like that a lot, but it’s always true.) One of my recent projects at work is being featured in a local newspaper, I’m passing on the reins to another project, I was asked to collaborate on yet another project, the first project I mentioned is receiving an extension that I am using to leverage my favorite coworker out of work he doesn’t enjoy.. and I’m starting a project-based course for my PHD 🙂 At this rate I’m losing track of just how many projects I have going on. I should probably count them all up at some point. And there is of course the full-time project of being an American in the current political climate.

    At least I got news that my liver doesn’t have significant scarring, just some fattiness. So yay!

  30. Oooo! Nadine and Carter Archer? Andie’s kid? I can’t wait! I still love to reread Maybe this Time. When life gets a bit much, I think about Harold telling some character not to F with the spirit world lest she get her head handed to her, and I quote the line to myself, “Andie began to wish for a Harold of her own.” She’s so delightfully described in that book, btw. No “cornflower blue eyes” nonsense. Just vibrancy and soft edges and dancing. I love how she’s described so well without any hint of exposition or cliches.

    As for me, I am slammed with my Master’s and becoming a band mom. Who knew that games end at midnight sometimes and that kids still play at halftime in the rain. Oof! But said kiddos happy, and my degree is important for us, so it’s nothing but good times ahead.

    In the little pockets of free time I have (where I am stuck at a game and I can’t access my class really well), I have been working on my writing. I remember all of the Argh posts on collages, and I have been making covers for my WIP. It’s nice to be able to create visuals as a kind of place holder for the work, especially when I am surrounded by football game cheers and unable to really throw myself into the writing. I’m making magic systems, too. It has helped me feel like my passion isn’t lost… just simmering away on a back burner for another few months, slowly chugging along.

  31. What am I doing? Walking Pixie-always the priority-and keeping up with the minimum housework and meetings, always meetings. Actually, two of them will be really short and the other is a fundraiser, so food.

    And trying to stay away from the news.

    Last week was our county fair where the Dems had a booth (promoting our candidates in Trump country). I volunteered for a couple of hours for two days. Saw some lovely quilts and other needlework. And some animals, including three llamas.

  32. Very busy with the day job: two events to organize to take place at the very same day (early afternoon and late afternoon), one a nice easy networking event, the other the closing multiplier event on the topic of well-being for a research project. We not only met the KPI target for the latter (we have none for the former), but really nicely exceeded it. The room was packed, the presenters were great, the atmosphere was nice, my prof colleague with whom I’ve been closely collaborating is just a great woman overall. My job description strictly speaking is admin, but for lack of colleages avaliable I ended up being rather deeply involved content-wise in this project, yet if the topic is interesting and above all the people you’re working with are great, it’s a nice change.

    The other networking event was on the topic of teaching languages and the modern take on it.
    And since I was asked to report on this event, here’s a bit more info than I’d have shared normally:
    At our uni, the language modules are not limited to only teaching grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, speaking etc, but are complemented by lessons on culture as well. They’re very interactive and make use of the diversity and internationality of our student body. The coordinator of our language department is author of language textbooks as well, a Spanish-Katalan lady with linguistics degree in English whose German is flawless and only has a very slight accent. In short, she’s great. So was her presentation and the discussion afterwards.
    Some light-bulb moments: that eg in romance language cultures interrupting people signals being highly interested in the topic and the person talking about it.
    Totally different in the Germanic culture where it’s a sign of disrespect. Which also has to do with the different structure of our language where the meaning-distinguishing noun completes a sentence so you have to wait for it to understand. If you don’t, you’re not interested in understanding, ie in what’s being said. No need for it in many other languages as you get the noun early on.
    Or that based with which language we grow up with we might not “hear” sounds, In Spanish, the 5 vowels have clear sounds and length (so our lecturer told us) while in German we’ve got 3 more, Our lecturer nicely illustrated this with her struggles to “hear” the distintion between eg. the vowels u and ü – this can make for embarrasing moments when you call some humid weather “schwul” ie. gay instead of “schwül” i.e. humid and heavy).
    If you’ve grown up with the wide array of vowel sounds, it’s no big deal to identify if the vowel is a U vs Ü or O vs Ö etc or if a vowel is short or long vowel (example: easy if it’s written, but less easy to pronounce for some is “Polen” the country Poland vs “Pollen”, the pollen that make heyfever people suffer. In my dialect there’re at least 3 more vowel sounds, “left overs” from Middle High German, and easy to pronounce for a dialect speaker like me, but others struggle (and so make fun of it). I find it immensely enriching to have a broader spectrum of language skills in my own language and am glad that scientific research backs up my believe that having more than one language skill sets/levels in my own language makes everything more interesting. It adds to your skill set, activates more regions in the brain than having only one language. Yet I remember vividely how badly dialects were disregarded not long ago and still people make fun of those who speak dialect or have an accent. Okay, I’ll step down from my soap box now.

    We also learnt how musicality can help in hearing and discerning sounds and the melody of another language. A pity of you’re not very musically gifted (like me), got tipps on how to work on this with certain teaching theories. Also the different perception of silence – while in romance cultures, that’s a sign of discomfort and lack of harmony, in other cultures being able to be silent in company can be a sign of the highest form of harmony and connection.
    So, a very satisfying event and discussion.

    1. Dodo, that event sounds absolutely fascinating. If my university course had included things like that, I might actually have graduated.

      1. The languages are mandatory at our uni although the degree is in Business. The students are meant to get a rounded education and languages are essential tools to do business internationally.
        But yes, I took Italian for some semesters and then switched to another minor – for me, the purely language oriented approach was not enough either.

    2. I loved reading this. Thank you so much for sharing! Languages are truly such a marvellous and interesting thing. I’d love to hear more about anything and everything you want to share. I’m thoroughly fascinated and wish I could tag along to the lessons.

      1. Shass, sadly it was just a one-hour-event and though we talked about the topic afterwards for a bit, I don’t have too much to share on top, only that I’ll try to find out more about the Thomatiz-method (sp?) that another colleague mentioned that seems to help with the tonality to better learn languages.

    3. Dodo, Interesting.  On interrupting: from what I’ve read and experienced, in the US, reactions vary depending on region, ethnic subculture, and possibly gender and individual personality on whether and when interrupting is a sign of interest or of rudeness.  It seems to be an area of active study by some specializations within American linguistics.

      My listening skills are not completely fluent even with the Mexican-style standard Spanish mostly encountered in US broadcasting on the Spanish-language outlets.  Some other regional pronunciations of even standard Spanish tend to cut off the ends of words and those give me even a worse time, although when the vowels are spoken at all I generally find them comprehensible.

      I have found that with broadcast standard German, if I hear an unfamiliar word I can generally find it in the dictionary, although occasionally I might have to try multiple spellings.  That seemed much harder with Russian, because so many of the vowels in unaccented syllables are reduced to schwas or other ambiguous sounds.

      1. On cutting off word-endings: I recently noticed that this happens with some words in German, too: especially the endings for words in the accusative. And you see it increasingly in written text, too, which annoys the heck out of me. I’ve got several colleagues who do it and since we work for a university, this SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. Those colleagues who learnt German as a second language are aware of the grammar much more. But the signs are strong that the grammar will eventually change to accomodate laziness and lack of awareness.

    4. There’s been a complete about-turn on regional accents over my lifetime in the UK. Whereas in the 1950s and 60s ‘received pronunciation’, or the idea that there was a correct way to pronounce words, was still strong, nowadays local variants rule. Even the Queen softened her extreme upper-class accent to fit in a bit better.

      1. I remember an interview between Michael Parkinson and Patrick Stewart where they divert into the Yorkshire dialect of their childhood – completely unintelligible to a non-speaker. And fascinating.

        1. I’m usually pretty good in understanding dialects as I love them and have a good one myself. But Yorkshire dialect is a whole different world. I follow Sam, the farrier, on insta and youtube. It’s wonderful to watch him care for the horses, but it’s nearly impossible for me to understand what he says thanks to his very strong Yorkshire accent. Thankfully, the clips are kind of self-explanatory.

      2. Yes, when learning English at school, there was still this notion of the proper way, but I love it that the regional accents are now less frowned upon in the UK.
        We’re not as evolved yet, at least that’s my impression: my city has become very multi-cultural and it’s rare to hear our own dialect or even accent anymore. My father-in-law had the proper Munich dialect – wonderful to my ears. Most kids here now have a very harsh high-German way to speak and it grates to see e.g. my kiddo adopt the clipped harsh accent from those whose parents came from other parts (of the country or elsewhere). In kindergarden those kids ridiculed away her local accent. This hurts.

    5. This is so fascinating. My dads first language was German and his English was so good that I never realized he had an accent but my DH who has a more subtle ear picked up that my dad couldn’t tell the difference between w and v and pronounced them both the same
      Sort of in between.
      I read somewhere that babies who don’t hear sounds by a certain age —1?- have a certain pruning back of brain neurons and can’t recognize them. It was a while ago so I don’t know if that’s current science

  33. Memorizing lines for play #3. Started going to rehearsal, but I’m not doing much there. Fixing the sleeves on my Glinda costume, as I made some up and they didn’t work. I did some cool stuff involving online videos at work, now my boss is all “that’s enough” and I’m all, hey out of work stuff until I have meetings again….sigh.

    Oh, and I went to my first theater board meeting and it was a trainwreck as expected, but more minor trainwreck than usual. I successfully got a guy to shut up at my knitting in the meeting (muahahahah) and talked people into working on a new project.

    1. My son knits so I got him a t shirt that says Knitting takes balls (with needles and balls of yarn).
      You might want one to wear around this guy .

  34. Welcome to temptation and faking it are my absolute two favorite Crusie novels! Followed closely by Maybe This TIme. So I’m very much curious how this book will turn out! Carter’s childhood was obviously going to make him…interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing him as an adult. And Nadine was delightful in Faking it. Although if she’s having a one night stand with Carter, I guess her best friend Ethan is out of luck in his crush on her. (I can’t quite remember why Nadine didn’t date him. He was a total muffin.) I listen to the duet at least once a year. Love them! I also love it when you say “Nothing but good times ahead.” Quotes from favorite books are my love language.

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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