Ever git that creepin' feelin' that ye can't speak as well as ye write?
I do. All the time.
I can write a beautiful scene. I can write natural dialogue. I can write believable characters.
But when it comes to talking to others in real life, I feel the odd fish out. It's not so surprising. I'm around 4 kids all day long--but for when they are at school (and it's then that I write). A few hours at church, but even at that, I'm with kids, too!!
How is it like for you?
First - I love your mermaid drawing! Loverly.
ReplyDeleteI speak a lot in public now, so that's not so much a problem for me. However, I do remember when I was surrounded by kids all day that making adult conversation seemed to elude me. Even now, my thoughts are revolving around the teen/kid issues that I write about all day! But my job as school board member keeps me fluent in adult-speak as well. :)
Hi, Susan! Wow, good for you. I guess there's a time and place for everything and now it's for me to speak child-talk. Lol, you should hear my verbal vocabulary!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mermaid compliment! :D
I know how you feel, Elizabeth! I much prefer to communicate by e-mail than by phone simply because once those words go out of my mouth, I can't revise!
ReplyDeleteWhen I say I like to talk to people, that means I like to listen to THEM talk. I like to find questions that bring out their stories, and then I sit back and listen.
I can totally relate. Not to being around kids all the time, my wife and I don't have any kids... yet. But I can write witty dialogue much easier than I can speak it. I can also write exactly what I want to say, but to speak it? Not so easy.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes stutter on certain sounds. It can be really frustrating. Trying to say something and it comes out all choppy.
It makes me think, towards my vocal cords:
Ye scurvy dogs! Arrr, ya need t' git yer act together! Quit gettin' stuck on sounds and say what ya mean, ya scalawags!
I hear you! You can always rewrite a scene, but you can never retalk a speach. :)
ReplyDeleteRebecca--oh so true! Funny how that is, hu? :)
ReplyDeleteKevin, lol! You make me laugh. It can be challenging for me to talk to others because I can't take my wrongly spoken words.
Leisha, true! Thanks for dropping by! ;)
Elizabeth, you're in the best phase to observe and write it all down. Authentic kid-speak is worth it's weight in gold in the writing world!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's the written word that goes down in history, so you're in the clear!
I know how it is! It falls under the same category as the midnight "Oh-shoot-*that's*-what-I-should-have-said!"
ReplyDeleteBut I have an advantage: a character who is Sarcasm Incarnate. Actually, he would leave blisters on the ego of Sarcasm Incarnate. Also, he is almost ruthlessly intelligent. So in order to write him properly, I spend a lot of time coming up with snappy one-liners. I have about fifteen pages of nothing but one-liners. You'd be amazed how often I manage to use them in everyday conversation, thereby garnering Witty Points I really don't deserve. Mua-ha.