It’s really hard to believe that we’re now officially half way through the year. It seems like only yesterday I was fighting valiantly against a mild hangover from the festivities the night before and setting my goals on the first day of January, and now all of a sudden it’s July! I was thinking about what I’d like to write about this month, and looking at the calendar, and it struck me. Last year, I’d stumbled into a sort of rhythm, and I wondered if it might be time to formalise it a little. So that’s what I’d like to do this month – talk you through what you can expect to see on this blog for the rest of the year, and if it seems to work the way it did last year, then continuing on into the year after that, too. A way for me to encompass all of my interests while giving you, the readers of my little corner of the internet, a vague sense of what you can expect to see here. Sound good? Right, well let’s jump in.
As I mentioned earlier, the post on the first of January will be the usual loose goal-setting. Then, the following six months (February to July) will be the usual miscellany – a mixture of language learning updates, and posts not in English about things I find particularly interesting, and of course book reviews in April. Then, from August onwards, it’s time to start prepping for Polyglot NaNoWriMo!
Last year, I spent the months of August, September and October writing creatively, and posting short extracts of what I’ve written inspired by writing prompts. As there was very little wailing, gnashing of teeth and bricks being thrown through my living room window, I can only assume that the people who read these posts enjoyed them, and I found them a very helpful warm-up for the big event in November. So I’d like to do that again this year, though I’m tempted to venture from the safe harbours of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish for at least one of the months this year. As always, these posts will be as they appeared on the page of my trusty notebook, with very little proofreading, so they’re open to correction. The whole point is just to show what can actually be done if you sit down and do it, not to be grammatically perfect.
November will of course be the traditional Polyglot NaNoWriMo post, though the challenge will also be starting on that day so it might just be a short one. And then December will be the usual big reveal of whether or not I managed to complete the challenge. After last year’s success, I’ve got high hopes, but we can only wait and see what the month will bring.
So, basically… that’s the plan going forward. If you’ve any comments, queries or objections, I’d rather you didn’t chuck a brick through the window, and got in touch online instead. Much more civil. I’m not hard to find, I’m usually floating around either Instagram or Threads (as @sprakskatan) or alternatively Mastodon (as @sprakskatan@toot.wales). I’m quite nice, really; you’d like me if you got to know me. In any case, thank you for reading through this little bit of housekeeping. Next month, the real fun begins! Until then, take care!
— J.
den språkliga skatan 