…and to my European friends, happy Monday! I get the day off (for those of you who don’t work in a call center, public holidays are not guaranteed) today, so I am going to use this day to write some more on the novel at a leisurely pace to day. I’m going to hit the word count, but I am not going to do it with an eye on the clock like I normally do. First, I am going to finish the dishes and run off to the grocery store to get the chicken for the dinner tonight – I am so happy that I am getting dinner not only at 6:00 PM, but it’s not a sandwich! I am getting a half pound of orange chicken and a half pound of General Tso’s chicken (love the General as much as I love the Colonel) and cook up some rice. I might even have enough cash (chicken is going to cost about $7.00) to get some lettuce to make a salad as well. I certain that the shock of a healthy dinner won’t kill me, however – I will see if they have tapioca pudding to ameliorate the effects of all those toxic vitamins being put into my body. 😀

The novel creeps about as it wants. The group has managed to get into the friendly village and now I am trying to figure out (and I know this is the least of my problems at the moment) how the language that the humans speak should sound. I am thinking about using Gothic language since the names I am using for the humans are Germanic in origin. I just need to get my hands on a couple of dictionaries and make up a grammar – like I did with Tyro’s language that we’re only going to read two paragraphs of in the whole book. The reason why I am picking a dead language is that for a region in the world (and this does come into play in the book) I used Russian names and Googled translations from English into Russian. My thinking was: hey, how many people are going to speak Russian and read my stuff? The same thought process I had when I decided to use Hindi as a language for the Rahsaya, but make my own grammar. I’m not Tolkein. I can’t make a language out of whole cloth. I’m neither that smart, nor am I an Oxford Don (which kinda go hand in hand – see? Not smart at all).

Did I mention that we have one person who speaks Russian and another that more than likely knows Hindi? Why can’t I hit these kinds of odds in the lottery? Seriously.

Anyway – in an effort to keep going, I am writing what is to be in the foreign language in red bold to remind me that I need to add it in later on. The villagers are friendly and going to give the ushabit food which they really don’t need and clothes to protect their modesty (I keep forgetting they are wearing loincloths and wrappings across the women’s chest). I am hoping that today I can get them through the chapter and maybe start to work on the chapter where the ushabit starting learning about the habits of the villagers – particularly about working.

Well, I should get to work… on those dishes and more than likely scoot to the store to get everything. Hopefully the deli won’t close early. If it does…well… there is always Penn Station.

Have a good Labor Day y’all.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy