#i have 1200 words in one chapter and an outline for the second chapter

[lavendercoloredglasses]

someone hold me accountable: im gonna try for a double chapter day

[belletristicarts]

Ghostwriting the Wrong Way (?)

I began ghostwriting romance novels in the early days of the pandemic, when I was stuck at home and waiting for my own YA novel to make it through the traditional publishing submission process (still waiting, three revisions later!). It's been fun, but with no professional contacts I started my ghost journey on Upwork, where the pay is peanuts. It may be better for blog writers, copywriters, nonfiction writers, and memoir writers, but ghost writing for fiction pays very poorly. Luckily, I write well, and fast, and enjoy what I do. I love telling a good story. But when I'm struggling to get $0.02/word, it can be a bear. Still, it keeps our self-publishing/author services business afloat. So anyway, I just finished a contract and the client loved the novel I wrote for her, but when I started looking through the listings for another gig, it became obvious what was going on. All of these "authors" on Upwork are posting jobs for ghostwriters with the exact same specs, even at nearly the same price. I believe they're taking a course in how to launch a publishing business, throw ghostwritten novels up on Amazon under their own names, and make a fortune. I don't resent them for that: everyone is trying to make it somehow. Fine. But it occurred to me that with the experience I have at writing and editing romance novels, I can do this for myself and not for two cents a word. I wrote out character sketches and a plot outline this morning, sat down and wrote the first 4000 words, and I'm on my way to a finished MS by the end of the week. The formula that they're using is this: ~ Plot a series of three novels ~ First novel: 10,000 words ~ Second novel: 30,000 words ~ Third Novel: 30-50,000 words ~ Each novel follows the format: Chp. 1: Her POV/Chp. 2: His POV/Chp. 3: Her POV/etc. with each chapter written in alternating first person from the point of view of either the hero or heroine of the novel ~ Pay a total of $1200-$1600 for the series ~ Pay a cover illustrator a few hundred dollars to design the covers for the series ~ MAYBE get an editor/proofreader to read through (although I believe most of these people are doing that themselves) ~ Hire a formatter for $49 to set up the book ~ Post it for sale on Amazon

And repeat. I won't post the name of this particular training, but here's a screenshot of their pricing:

Pretty overpriced, if you ask me. But this is just one of MANY people offering similar courses.None of the ghostwriters are making a decent living for doing this very exacting writing/development/editing work. Maybe it buys groceries. But at two cents a word/15,000 words per week/$300 pay minus the Upwork cut, the pay is pathetic. I am going out on my own, and see if I can sell my intellectual property for myself, while waiting for my trad pub career to start. Writing is tough, I won't lie. But maybe someday it will be my name on the books I write and not someone who paid me two cents a word.

[taeyohonic]

stolen dances | chap. VII

summary: sometimes supporting the person you love is the hardest challenge you’ll ever face.

pairing: jeon jungkook x fem!reader

rating: m

warning: two swearwords, a woman is getting objectified (i like that i can put this in a warning rather than it being the norm... like it is in every day life)

additional tags: f2l, ceo!jungkook, bestfriend!jungkook, shrink!yoongi, my best friend’s wedding meets 27 dresses (if the boss/secretary couple had happened), angst-y

words: 1200

links: prev. | next  [masterlist]

note: lower case letters intended

chapter summary: you know the world is too complicated when taehyung sounds smart.

last chapter ending:

it’s like seeing an accident happening in slow motion. there is nothing you can do other than chew as fast as you can.

“yoongi?”, jungkook asks and the hot tomato sauce burns your throat as you swallow your food.

“yoongi, you know? _______’s plus one?”

“______ doesn’t have a plus one”, jungkook states with authority in his voice. now namjoon is looking at you with wide eyes – did you not tell your best friend that you’ll take your therapist to his wedding?

the new dj doesn’t want to contradict his employee two minutes after being hired, so namjoon stays silent.

before you can form a coherent thought to defuse the situation, jungkook turns towards you.

“you are coming solo to my wedding, _______”, there is no question in his tone, more of an accusation as his hot stare pierces through you. you feel strangely guilty.

the seating chart is a white board in your living room – you’re the one responsible that jungkook aunt doesn’t sit next to his crack headed nephew. there is no way he knows that you’re seated next to yoongi at his best men’s table.

“no, i’m not”, you admit timidly. at your answer jungkook’s face darkens.

“since when do you have a boyfriend, _____?” your best friend really tries not to yell at you in a filled restaurant, but his tone is as harsh as his eyes. you can hear your heartbeat quicken.

“i never said he’s my boyfriend”, you argue as jungkook huffs, clearly more irritated by the second.

“you’re bringing him to your best friend’s wedding, _____. i should hope he’s your boyfriend”, he answers with sarcasm dripping from his words. you don’t like how namjoon is watching the both of you – his eyes widen at the scene before him.

before you can ask namjoon to leave – the dinner is clearly done – jungkook’s heated stare finds the newly hired dj.

“you’re friends with him, right?”

“uhm… yeah”, he nods, clearly uncomfortable with the unwanted attention.

“how long have they been together?”, your heated friend asks.

you want to object as you watch jungkook getting more upset by the second. this isn’t your best friend. you are not sure what’s gotten into him, but this is not normal.

namjoon hesitated and searches your face for help. you don’t have any – clearly overwhelmed with the situation.

“they-... they’re not... i mean they’ve only known each other for… for like five months”, he stutters.

wrong answer, very wrong, judging by jungkook’s grim expression.

“you’ve had a boyfriend for nearly half a year and you never told me?”, he accuses you and you feel your stomach clench at his disappointment.

“he’s just a friend”, you explain, but jungkook doesn’t care. he gets up from the table without responding. you watch his hunched body move with long strides to the waiter. your hands grip your hair, pulling at the strands painfully.

“please”, you say to your barista, “please don’t tell yoongi.”

you get up, too, and follow your upset friend to the front of the restaurant, not even noticing how namjoon nods in agreement. he doesn’t want to get any more involved in this mess than he already is. his fingertips trace the outline of seojin’s signature in contemplation. he should decline jungkook’s offer. he really should.

your stilettos click against the marble as you run after jungkook who already puts on his jacket, a storm clouding his face. the moment he sees you in front of him he scoffs at you.

“i don’t want to talk right now, ____”, he tells you but continues to stand there, not yet leaving. you take that as an invitation to step closer.

“jungkook, i’m sorry i didn’t tell you that i’m bringing a friend to your wedding.”

“wrong”

huh?

“you’re not bringing him to my wedding”, jungkook tells you coolly.

come again?

“he’s not invited”, he explains shortly and doesn’t wait for your responds before turning around and leaving you there.

what did he just say?

“mr. jeon, wait! your card!”, your waiter calls after him jungkook doesn’t look back.

you try to offer him a reassuring smile. “just… give me the card”, you tell the familiar staff and he nods after a second. with jungkook’s black visa heavy in your hand the waiter hesitates in his steps.

“just… he’ll be fine, ma’am.” it’s surreal that this worker is a greater source of comfort than your best friend. your smile is watery at best when you smile in gratitude.

“he’s really difficult”, you offer. the waiter nods. “aren’t we all?”

“let’s go, ____”, namjoon says from behind and you flinch at the softness of his tone. “i know a good barista willing to make you the sweetest caramel macchiato.”

the pit in your stomach lessens when you lock eyes with your dj. “will my teeth weep at the sugar level?”

the answering smile morphs his eyes into two moon crescents. “your caries is going to throw a homecoming prom in your mouth.”

***

“is it just me or is your maknae really the golden boy at being an ass?”

taehyung snorts on the other line. “honey, you’ve just enjoyed the blissful heaven of being jungkook’s maknae.”

“what?”, you ask, clearly confused.

it’s been two days since that dinner – still, your best friend won’t answer any of your calls. there was an impromptu business trip which forced jungkook to travel the next morning before the two of you could talk face-to-face. now it seems, he’s actively ignoring you from overseas.

“jungkook has always been our baby, ____”, taehyung, his former bandmate explains, “it’s like getting a really cute puppy. you’re so full of endearment that you won’t stop carrying it around. so, your puppy doesn’t learn how to walk.”

“jungkook can walk”, you snort and place the last of your watered plants back in its place. the sun is overshadowed by a cloudy sky and you’re watching the tiniest rays of sunshine dancing across the window.

“emotionally, he can’t”, taehyung counters.

“so, just because seokjin couldn’t show jungkook some tough love, i can’t take a friend to his wedding?” you try to make fun of this situation, but neither you nor taehyung are laughing.

“don’t forget that in jungkook’s eyes, you’re literally a golden maknae yourself”, he adds. “he’s never seen you as anything less than perfect… and now, you lied to him.”

“i didn’t lie”, you protest and press your fingertips against the glass.

“you should have told him about your… uhm… friend coming to his wedding, honey.”

“what difference does it make? hm? i got an invite – i myself sent to me – and i rsvp’ed it. i did the seating chart. he didn’t care. he didn’t ask. why now?”

“you know why – you’ve sent this guy more than a hundred snaps of your oatmeal for weeks, rating their consistency, but you don’t tell him about such a close friend of yours? never mention him in the last months?”, taehyung bites back without humor, “not gonna lie, honey, even i am a bit upset. and i just want to fuck you.”

his crass words are not as shocking as the amount of truth behind his thoughts.

“maybe i don’t want to share yoongi with you just yet”, you offer to deflect from the unanswered accusation.

“and maybe our maknae doesn’t want to share you either”, taehyung responds wittily. well, maybe he ought to learn how to.

_____

not my best work, but it’s honestly the best i could do right now! i hope you guys are safe, happy and loved! i am trying to update some of my fics before it’s christmas, so if you’re enjoying my other work(s), you’ll get an update soon! i... am i the only one missing yoongi in this chapter? he shall re-appear next chapter! and he shall meet jungkook! how are we all feeling about jk’s reaction? i can’t wait to hear your thoughts! till then, lots of love and the best wishes for you and your families, dana

taglist: @livewittykid  @thequeen-kat @kagami-s-void @goldenclosethobi @youwannabelostandnotbefound @jinsalpaca @bishuthot @laabellaavitaa21 @baekstans @jalexad​ @kimluvwoo​

[prettywordsyouleft]

my second question is a writing question. i always struggle with feeling like i'm not giving enough context when i write in short formats (like your drabbles). the thing i've challenged myself with most recently is "ficlets" that are under 1000 words, and i still struggle with those most of the time. it's possible that i just comes down to different writing styles. but i wonder if you had to "train" yourself to write drabbles or if you have advice on how to do better when writing less.

I definitely had to train myself to write less. It’s still a challenge for me (last week, I think only one CC drabble stayed under the limit ugh). Before starting this blog, I only wrote chaptered stories. Sure, I’d do a couple oneshots here and there but reality was a drabble seemed so unfathomable … why did I only need to write 200 words when I could do 2000?! But it’s amazing how writing drabbles can change and assist your writing as a whole. 

As writers, we often overwrite. So few have learned the skill of portraying a scene with precisely the right amount of words needed. I can tell you I just deleted 2 whole paragraphs right now that came before the sentence above, solely because they weren’t needed to help answer this! See! It’s easy to write more than what we need. So it’s really about taking an intentional look at what is needed for a storyline to work. 

Things that you can take out most of the time or just don’t do, as long as it doesn’t affect the flow: 

First, don’t write a complex idea for a short story. If you need more than 1-2 sentences to explain the idea, then it’s not suitable for a shorter story. Simple ideas like “A and B cleaning out the fridge together” as opposed to “A cleaned out the fridge in her apartment with her roommate B for one last time before moving out. When she finally moved out, she realised she missed B and this wasn’t the opportunity for her like she thought it would be. A approaches B because of her feelings.” Of course you could still write the latter but it’s going to need way more words than the original, more simple idea would.

He/she said/replied/commented etc after your character has spoken so long as the reader knows who is present in the conversation.

A new scene if your goal is to remain limited to a short amount of words (ie under 500) - keep it locked to that key scene only. 

Internal dialogue if it really doesn’t benefit being there. Equally a string of feelings when it could be portrayed in their actions.

Lots of description on the setting. Use those words for your character’s development instead. 

Write until you think the scene is done. Don’t focus on word count or anything until you’re done. 

Biggest advice: Don’t plan it out before starting. I know some people need outlines for everything before they write, but for short pieces, the more you plan, the more you’ll write. Get your idea and start it. 

Example to this last one: say your idea is A is in love with B but thinks B loves C. You don’t need to plan out why A thinks this in a small story. A can explain it in its own way. You don’t need to explain in detail (or at all) C’s role in B or A’s life unless it directly affects the storyline. In a drabble that is under 500 words, all you need to do is choose where the confession will come out (or equally not and why) and what B and A’s reaction to this knowledge is. If you plan out all the things and include C’s role in everything, then you’ll lose the chance to be concise on what the main target was for your story. If it’s a ficlet, then of course, there’s room for more information but I’d be more inclined to showcase what A or B does to lead up to this confession and the result and all that as opposed for more of their world. Does this make sense? 

Things I do after:

Leave it alone for at least 24hrs if I can. For CC, I tend to write so basic now that I’m used to the format and editing is easier since I don’t write many words. But if it’s not for CC, I’ll leave it to get it out of the freshly in my head zone.

Look for unneeded sentences first, then read through again looking for unneeded words. Can your sentence structure be altered to maintain it’s message but with 1-3 words less? Take out things we naturally do in longer stories, ie: each and every time, and make it concise: always / every time. You just cut it down by changing such a little thing. 

Be mindful of the flow. Sometimes removing words ruins the integrity. It’s okay if it’s a little over, but challenging yourself to write regularly with a word count makes it easier for you to know what words need to be there and what don’t. 

The more you succeed, the more you will challenge yourself. I always recommend drabbles for success. They can be used as mindless writing tasks and you’ll feel the satisfaction of finishing one. I like to think 500 is a happy medium. 300 is tough and 1000 when under a word crunch to me now feels too much and makes it easy to get carried away and end up with 1200. 400-600 is a really safe zone. You’re going to push to keep it concise so you’ll find yourself feeling you can complete a scene within this space well. It’s one of the reasons I created Challenging Words ( @challengingwords ) with Sem and we decided on 500 words being the word count if people want that as an extra challenge.

The more drabbles you write, the more your series/longer pieces will benefit from it. You’ll start to erase unnecessary words out of habit and be able to focus on all the parts that need attention. You’ll have trained yourself out of this over the top explaining we sometimes can do (not saying we all do it, but I’m sure you get me) and each part will have function and purpose to being there. 

I hope this advice helps! I wrote a lot about little stories! Let me know if you need any help structuring things. I think a beta reader or someone to bounce ideas off is equally vital, especially when it comes to challenging yourself. Good luck Xxx

[it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined]

gemini, capricorn, pisces??

gemini: how often will your plot change throughout the course of writing?

I don’t know if it changes so much, as I pretty much make them up as I go along? Now I’ve picked up with the ghosts of wolves and passerines again after a year, I’m thinking it’s about to change kind of significantly from the kind of non-plot I had in mind when I started writing it (before the second season of The Punisher aired). I’m kind of done with trying to follow canon now, so actual plot stuff can happen :)

I have a couple of more complicated fics in waiting that have actual plots and they keep shifting as I’m trying to write them down because they’re still settling in. The thought of outlining anywhere outside my head kind of fills me with dread though...

capricorn: what does your writing schedule look like? how often does it take you to write a chapter?

I am very bad at schedules. And writing. And concentrating on anything when I finally get home from work. The fun of writing angst is that you need enough emotional energy to actually deal with making the characters suffer for a bit, and wow, it’s tiring? I mean saying it took an entire year to write the last tiny chapter I posted of passerines isn’t... strictly inaccurate? It took me two seven hour sessions last week to write and then completely rewrite 1200 words for the next chapter of and grace is just the measure of a fall out of various snippets of dialogue and odd lines. I wrote the same amount as that for the prequel in about two hours last year because I had a deadline of the episode airing. I wrote the first half of the only one whose broken heart over the whole of 2018, and then finished the second half of it over a few nights this time last year, because I had a deadline of TPs2 dropping on Netflix (but I also basically just didn’t sleep for days). It’s still not even 15k total, and I find that hilarious.

pisces: how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

There are... a couple of different elements to it, and I usually can’t get at least one of them to play nicely.  My brain only wants to come up with dialogue when I’m doing something non-writing related apparently, and I seriously doubt I’m the only person who mumbles away while washing dishes and then makes a grab for my phone to write it all down...  There’s the visualisation part, which is usually what the character is experiencing about the setting in close third person. It’s not just visual as such but more sense memory (passerines is probably the most noticeable for this because I was basing it on places I remembered quite vividly, so the light and the temperature are very specific and I really really wanted to catch that sensation of Karen just laying her hand on the dog’s belly) and also snippets of types of light and sound and touch that are a starting point. 

I don’t see it like a movie as such because I only write close third, so it’s more details of what feels like to that particular character, and what they would notice around them. I kind of want to cry thinking about how many times I feel obliged to mention firelight in grace because yes it’s thematic and relevant and preying on Jaime’s mind but good grief it also feels hackneyed at this point. And then you have to incorporate movement and placement into it...

Thank you for the ask!

[shirleycarlton]

About writing

So I wrote this in the notes at the end of a chapter of the novel-length S4 fix-it fic I have been working on for over two years:

To which I received the following rather peculiar comment:

It took me a while to figure out how to respond.

I was fairly certain that the person commenting hadn’t meant their comment to come across the way it did. They were probably just trying to say they were enjoying my fic, which is great!

The thing is, I realised that this comment perfectly illustrates the entirely different perspective of the reader versus the writer, which is interesting in its own right.

So I told them that. And since I’d been meaning to write something about my own perspective of writing a long story like this one, I figured this was actually as good an opportunity to do so as any. So I answered very elaborately, and once I’d written all that down, decided it might be interesting to post it to tumblr as well, so below is part of that reply. :)

(After acknowledging that we were both looking at the same fic from a very different - and therefore very interesting - perspective, in my reply, I set about explaining this different perspective, which I’ve copied and pasted below.)

“I’ve done a little math. I estimate that in the past 2 years and 4 months (which equals 122 weeks), I have been working on this fic for AN AVERAGE of about 10 hours per week, so around 1200 hours in total. In that time, I’ve published 31 chapters. That means that every chapter has nearly 40 hours of hard work invested in it.

Now, I can wholly understand that this is hard to imagine! Forty hours for one chapter?! So let me explain. Out of those 40 hours it costs me to “write” one chapter (around 4000 words), a lot more than “writing” is involved. To give you an idea, these 40 hours consist of: -plotting the story outline -writing the first (very rough) draft -editing that draft -editing that draft again (and again) -looking up all sorts of information and double-checking stuff. (This varies from looking up the exact meaning of words or phrases in various dictionaries and other online sources, to finding realistic names for British streets, shops or groceries, to finding and talking to actual doctors about realistic recovery scenarios after a coma.) -more editing -more fact-checking (This includes waking up in the middle of the night to make an entry in my voice recorder, that I keep next to my bed at all times, about something I realised I should check.) -and more editing still (between 5 to 10 times in total on every part of the text) -sending it to my betas and then discussing their suggested changes and how to implement them -implementing those changes (sometimes merely grammatical issues, sometimes issues regarding realistic character development, sensitive transgender issues, or sometimes cultural differences between the US, UK and mainland Europe - which is where I'm from) -sending it to my Brit-picker and going through a similar process with him once more -implementing the final changes -posting it online

So, in short: for EVERY HOUR you spend reading, I have spent A HUNDRED HOURS writing.

And because I feel really bad about letting my readers wait so long between updates, I have sacrificed most of my social life for this fic, simply because I find I have to use (almost) every free minute I have working on this, or else it would take a lot more than two years to finish!!

So yeah, that’s why I’m looking forward so much to having it finished. :) I can have my life back and finally sit back and READ some fic myself again, hurray!

Also, I know that most people wait until a WIP is finished before they start reading it. And as much as I enjoy writing (despite it being really HARD, HARD WORK), I’m not doing it for me. I’m writing in order for other people to read and enjoy it, and that will largely happen only AFTER I’ve finished it.

So I hope you now understand that I’m not some monstrous spoilsport for wanting your “reading party” to end. :)

(By the way: of course, it’s not like this for every writer. Firstly, the more experienced the writer, the faster they write. (This is only my second novel-length fic.) Also, native speakers have it much more easy!! (Naturally; as they don’t need to spend hours and hours looking up the exact contexts in which a certain phrase can or can’t be used, or trying to figure out how to phrase something in the first place, and whether or not it might have a double meaning that might be misunderstood by the readers.) And then the fact-checking: not every writer bothers with that, and that’s fine! Some fics don’t need any of that to begin with (PWP, lol), but let me tell you: this fic did! From intensive care procedures to rules and regulations in UK prisons; from the side effects of various hard drugs to flight routes from Canada to Finland. And let me be clear: I *chose* to do this myself, and I *enjoy* doing it. But nevertheless, I think I am allowed to say that because of the hundreds and hundreds of hours it literally costs me, I am looking forward to the final result and getting a little/lot more free time!)

P. S. In response to your actual question I was going to say that I have indeed been known to pick up my children from parties, rather than letting a 7- and 8-year old walk home across a motorway, but I’ll admit that’s probably just me being silly, LOL. ;) ”

[rigelmejo]

Progress made over past few months June - Sept 2020

I think it’s time I make an updated study plan I’m more likely to follow/that’s more in line with what I’m doing now. But first, I wanted to post some things I did manage to get done! I didn’t stick exactly to my original study plan, but I did make some progress! ovo)/

Goals met these past few months:

Chapters of chinese read: 45+. Chapters read since start of September: 30+ (Breakdown of novels: Tamen de Gushi, Hanshe - pingxie fanfic, 818 - pingxie fanfic, Modu - priest, some random short fanfics, and a lot of manhua strips which I ended up counting as just ‘1′ chapter combined. What is worth noting to me is I did much better with consistently reading when I jumped around reading whatever I wanted, instead of sticking to a specific story until finished. I did not end up reading any of the novels I had originally ‘planned’ to read. Also by the end it could’ve been closer to 40+ since September, in September I stopped remembering to count)

Episodes watched in chinese (no english subs), since start of September: 19.5 (Breakdown of shows: Guardian rewatch, Bureau of Transformers rewatch, Love and Redemption, The Lost Tomb Reboot, The Lost Tomb 2. Again, worth noting that I do better just randomly watching something I want in chinese instead of trying to dedicatedly stick to doing this for certain shows etc.)

Got through 1000 cards in 2 months (0-1000 most common words, 6/14/2020)

Got through 1200 words (6/28/2020)

Got through HSK 4 flashcard words (1400 words, 6/3/2020)

Got through 1500 most common words (7/18/2020)

Got through 1750 most common words (7/23/2020)

Got through 2000 most common words (7/26/2020)

(You may notice a pattern, I motivated more when I counted by smaller intervals, seeing DONE in my progress notes really motivated me and kept me studying)

Get through 250 Heisig characters

get through 500 Heisig

get through 750 heisig

Get through 1000 heisig (8/30 - also FYI I do think it’s helped my reading speed/comfort noticeably)

Read through Mandarin Companion Sherlock (this was an interesting experience, the only thing I read that was on my original list - when I started it the reading was a bit difficult, but I’d already read 14 chapters of tamen de gushi. Once I was done with this it was easy, and i went back to tamen de gushi and THAT was noticeably easier too. This showed me extensive reading does help improve my skills, and also doing something hard makes other things easier later).

Watched 3 tprs chinese videos on youtube (i like tprs videos, i have zero ability to focus on youtube though and just procrastinate)

It wasn’t a goal, just an experiment, but I ended up doing some Listening Reading Method in September. Silent Reading: 5 Chapters, Daomubiji: 1 Chapter, SVSSS: 2 Chapters. So a total of 8 chapters studied with l-r method. This is only counting chapters I’ve done Step 3 Listening in Target Language, Reading in English. It does not count time spent on Step 1 or 2, or any repeated steps I did. I am aiming to do more in October, as I plan to switch my study method up a lot. In addition, with several of my chinese-novel chapters, I’ve been reading them intensively, then going back and listening to the audio, to work on both reading and listening more. 

Personal goals met these past few months:

Finished writing WMMSD - which amounted to writing 60k words this September! And finishing my first ever long piece of writing at 266k words! I’m really proud of myself, and now I know I can finish long projects! The key is an outline of major events in each chapters/arc, apparently. And playing kingdom hearts ost instrumental music, and just getting in the right focus to write. I did about 1 chapter every 2 days (so 20 pages every 2 days). Also toward the end I started learning to be a bit more concise at 10 pages a chapter, which I was happy about.

Completed Chloe Ting 2 Week Workout Shred, doing 2-4 exercises a day but not always the extra ones. I lost no weight but noticed significant improvements in my stomach and arm muscles, which was nice since my surgery/health had made my stomach muscles very weak. So its good its more up to what it used to be now.

Things I noticed:

Not a surprise, I don’t stick to flashcards long. I am going to stop kidding myself - and probably will not go back to them except to cram through some section on an as-needed basis. For example, if I need to pick up X more words concretely, or if I need to study more hanzi concretely. This past September I totally dropped flashcards, despite doing them through the summer. That said - my summer flashcard study proved to me my brain is good at retaining the crammed info (or remembering it quickly) so I am not too sad over missing reviews. I’ll make it up later, if I need it and go back to cards.

I really want to work on listening skills more. These past few months, my focus went into dongchinese’s tone trainer and pinyin/tones guide (which I’ve found very helpful and am still going through meticulously), into the Spoonfed Chinese Audio files I have (which seem to be helping me much more than the actual flashcards - I focus more on listening, and analysing what I hear - and this is good since the cards are more for reading which I practice by actually reading a lot already). I have also been adding just random listening to audiobook chapters, shows without subtitles, and Listening-Reading method in attempts to improve listening skills more. I very much want to drag up listening comprehension closer to my reading skills. L-R Method I have been seeing potential in... I already notice it improving my listening comprehension a bit, and if I do Step 2 with word lookup (or after Step 3 with knowledge of the meanings fresh in my head), or do an alternative extra-step 3 which is english audio with chinese text (like with DMBJ on MTLnovels with siri voice), then I can use L-R to work on reading skill as well.

I’ve been very motivated by reading lately as well. So I’ve been reading a lot. I’ve been switching between extensive reading and intensive. I plan to keep doing this generally, and see if it helps. With Hanshe (the pingxie fanfic), the first 4-5 chapters were brutally hard and I intensively read them. Then I went back and extensively read them and just looked up problem words I still couldn’t remember - while listening to the audio and trying to follow along. So the first time I’m intensively reading, then the second time I either practice extensive reading and/or practice listening. After the first 4-5 chapters I noticed myself picking up some new story-specific words, and getting better at reading some parts extensively. So I do think overall this experience is helping me. With the audio-addition I don’t think its helping my listening skills much, but it is helping me attach sound to new words/characters. I am picking up new characters but more slowly (compared to new words spelled with hanzi i already know).

In general, I’ve noticed improvements from reading. So I’ll continue reading. I’d like to keep working both intensive/extensive practice in, and in listening to audio to help keep listening skills matched to new words.

In general, I plan to add more Listening-Reading Method and variations on the method. I think its helping me a lot with listening, and to some degree with reading just because in Step 2 (before or after Step 3) I often read the chinese and start noticing some words, especially when I look up a few problem words. Just in general though, the repetition of subject matter and words is helping me to pick up a lot. And I REALLY want to drag up my listening comprehension. I noticed with dmbj, which I did L-R steps 2-3 over and over a few times with, that I know nearly every word in chapter 1 now lol. So something about those steps, although I’m still not sure which order would be most effective, definitely improves listening and reading skills.

I need to continue to do some extensive reading. While I think I pick up less new words, it consolidates the things I’ve learned (which is why I’m trying to reread Hanshe chapters extensively after doing it intensively). And I think it makes me actually practice the problem solving of reading - like when i read MoDu physical copy. 

I do still think mnemonics for characters will help me with new words, so I’d still like to read through Alan Hoenig’s Learn Chinese Characters book... as for my mnemonics flashcards, I may go back to them when i either feel i need to cram them to boost my abilities, or when i feel in the mood to focus on flashcards.

new ios Speech Screen feature is great. I can open up MTLnovel.com, can put on ‘show raws’ to see a parallel chinese/english text, then swipe 2 fingers down from the top of my screen for a screen reader. The chinese voice sounds almost as good as Pleco, and it ALSO READS the english. So I can look at chinese when hearing the english, look at english when hearing the chinese, or any combination of ‘listening-reading method’ approaches! I can also play it as background audio, to hear sentences compared in chinese then english. This is something I’ve wanted - english/chinese audio of novels, in the same format as my Chinese Spoonfed Audio files. I know that audio has been helping me - hearing the comparisons. So I think listening to these novels parallel text in the background is also good ‘comprehensible’ input to study from. I don’t even have to record it (although I could if I wanted to). I can just play it then listen. And I can also play it while reading. It’s very useful. I’ve been desperately wanting a tool to allow me to do this - make audio of both chinese and english read in sequence without the automated voice skipping half. 

My goals for October will likely be: listening to comprehensible audio in down time like Chinese Spoonfed Audiofiles/MTL parallel texts with Speech Screen (so in the bg walking, at work, etc), Reading (intensively mostly, but also extensively rereading chapters sometimes or as desired with random stuff), some manhua reading extensively if desired, Listening-Reading Method (try to do it earnestly for a while since I’ve got several stories to do it with), and maybe read some of Alan Hoenig’s book (just reading through - don’t be a perfectionist!). Knowing me... I’ll probably be able to do at least some of these, I doubt I’ll read the Alan Hoenig book because reference books are hell to me but we’ll see... I do think it’ll help. Regardless, I think as long as I do some of this I should at least maintain progress and improve a bit. A lot of this is what I’m mostly doing currently. I plan to track chapters read, and listening-reading chapters done. I won’t track audio files - but ideally I’d like to go through something (With Chinese Spoonfed audio I think I should listen to 1 new, and 1 older as ‘spaced review’ as I progress. With mtlnovel I think I should just progress through a novel since words often repeat).