Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A congratulations, a scroll of resurrection, and butchered French

First off, I want to congratulate Plunderpuss aka lots of other names, on his acceptance into Clarion West 2012. It couldn't have happened to a nicer fella.

Second off, I am roughly ready for my trip to Salt Lake City and the World Horror Convention. I bought some clothes, I washed them, I submitted our taxes, I renewed my gym membership, I have written at least half of the story I wanted to write before I left but hey I have until Saturday to finish... and I've played too much World of Warcraft.

Speaking of WoW, if you have the opportunity to use a Scroll of Resurrection I highly recommend it. Because my account was defunct, I was able to use the Scroll and level one character to 80, and instantly received all new level-appropriate armor, weapons, and bags. An insane bonus!

Third off... uh. I should probably pack. And practice reading my story, "British Guiana, 1853," out loud since I HAVE MY FIRST EVER PUBLIC READING ON FRIDAY, MARCH 30TH AT 11:30AM.

So, here's a funny related anecdote. One time I volunteered to read for the blind and dyslexic and they gave me a story with a lot of French words in it. I have no idea how to pronounce French words and you don't really get a lot of chances to fix your mistakes -- they're recording your reading on huge reels of tape. So I did what I always do in situations where I am in over my head. I made shit up and quickly. The only word I remember was duchy (there were others). I pronounced it ducky (or maybe dutchy now that I think of it) because douche-y just seemed wrong.

Yeah. To this DAY I feel guilty about screwing up that audio tape for the blind and dyslexic.

The moral of the story is: practice before you read text out loud.

The end.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A public reading? So cool! Be sure to post how it goes -- and include pictures. I know I'd be nervous, but I don't want to jinx you or anything...

Elizabeth Twist said...

Congrats on the reading, and have fun at the convention!

I guess if you know you're mispronouncing a word, putting on a funny voice could be a reasonable cover. Like...I know how to pronounce it...I just thought I'd amuse you with my comedy stylings. I'm sure the blind and dyslexic would be delighted.

Folly Blaine said...

Milo: There's a good chance no one will show up. :) Plus it'll be easier than all those years I sort of acted and had to memorize stuff. I get to hold the script in front of me this time. Score!

Elizabeth: Thanks! That's a good idea. I guess I also could have changed the words to involve passing the dutchy on the left hand side or something. I'm sure the laughs trump accuracy.