Mini Project: 日本語の翻訳

Only a minor update to make today, and it's not quite as writing related as the previous posts.

Today I'm simply announcing the new mini-project that I've started. It won't be done in a short amount of time and I'm not dedicating myself fully to it, working on my novel ideas and short story ideas remains my priority. That said, I'm looking forward to using it as a way of studying and breaking up my writing. It is my current intention to attempt an amateur translation of the short story I entered into the BNZ Literary Awards into japanese. It won't be easy, and I'm really not sure how it'll turn out in the end, but I'm going to give it a go anyway. Wish me luck!

Plethora of Poetry/詩歌の茄多

If I keep this up, I'm going to run out of things to say very quickly. Still, a few daily posts to start things off seems like a good idea. Eventually it'll eventually drop down to one or two posts a week though. Still, here are two more original poems from my ENGL118 assignment. And once again, keep in mind I'm no poet.

Pride

Do I sin? For I am proud.

King of the jungle, royalty

But not in charge. Different.

Exempt? No. Excluded? Perhaps.

Is pride such a terrible thing?

I do not sin, though I am proud.

This is who I am, so why should I change?

You can't fight your nature and

I am what I am, I shall never change.

The Fury of Tranquility

Green as far as the eye can see

Air so fresh it's a pleasure to breathe

Gentle moonlight illuminating the grove

Silver-mailed fish swimming deep below

Crystal clear water, unbelievably pure

Yet within this scene so tranquil

With everything so still

Nature's fury roars forth

Falling with a resounding splash

Two sides of the same coin

Both visible at once.

Poetry Practice/詩歌の練習

Seeing as my first post contains very little writing-related information, I thought I'd make a second one here to get things underway.

Back in January 2009 I did ENGL118 (Creative Writing) at UC. Admittedly, it wasn't at all what I expected, but I did quite enjoy it. For one of the assignments we had to write several pages of poetry and song lyrics, most of which was based on previous works, but some of it was completely original. I thought I'd post one of my original poems here for everyone to see. If there's interest, I'll post the another couple at some point. Keep in mind; I'm definitely no poet, I'm a prose man through and through. So, don't go expecting a masterpiece. Regardless, here's one for you:

Stone Sentinel

It sits there silent,

Never moving

Only watching those below.

-

Filled with knowledge,

A modern day Athene.

It never speaks,

Never sleeps.

-

It does not guard its secrets,

They are there for all to see.

What does this sentinel guard against?

-

Ignorance is bliss,

Or so they tell me.

The truth however,

Will set you free.

Introductory First Post

Basically, this is just a random blog for me to 'publically' post random ideas for my writing and whatnot. I probably won't update very often or anything, due to stop people from stealing my thoughts or... whatever. Just seems like something decent to do every now and again, keeping those dedicated few fans I already have (and thanks for that btw guys) up to date on what I'm up to writing wise. And I may use it for randomly using Japanese. Just because I can.

Recent news in the world of writing: I submitted my first fully completed short story into the BNZ literary awards this year. Won't share too much about it here, not yet anyway. Once the winners have been decided/announced I'll share some details about it. And if I don't win (and admittedly my chances of winning are slim) I may post the entire story here or elsewhere and link to it, for anyone interested. Even if I don't get it published via the competition, I would still like to look into getting it published somewhere. We'll see what happens.