The Writer's Daily Companion by Amy Peters

The Writer's Daily Companion: 365 Inspirations and Writing Tips by Amy Peters offers daily inspiration to writers of all types.  Each day of the week focuses on a different aspect of writing.

Monday: Writers on writing - Writers talk about their craft
Tuesday: Motivation - Tips for writer's block and production
Wednesday: Writing class - A writing assignment
Thursday: Editing - Tips for focused review of writing
Friday: Biography - Background on famous authors
Saturday: Books to read - Great books illustrating writers demonstrating excellence
Sunday: Writing prompt - Ideas for short essays.

Week 35: Biography - George Lucas.  I read this page while watching the Kennedy Center honor George Lucas for his contribution to the arts on the television. George Lucas suffered an accident and changed the focus of his life from cars to college/movie making.  I write these blogs because of a similar situation that temporarily reduced my mobility.  I often go back to the adage that we can not control the cards we are dealt in life but we can control how we play them. 

I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the background of specific authors and get their writing tips.  With only one page per day, the information comes in nice bite sized nuggets of inspiration.

George Lucas - Car accident changed life - 6 min.

Language learning

After taking a Coursera class on learning difficult subjects I have been working on learning French and Spanish. 

Audio recordings from the library work well while driving.  The added risk of accident is slightly more than listening to music on the radio but less than have a conversation with a passenger. This is according to the Minnesota Safety Council. 

I have been using the free Duolingo App for both French and Spanish.  It has some features of a game app. showing daily progress giving out rewards and estimating the percent fluency for the language.  It also points out when past learning is getting weak and needs a refresher.  The spaced learning works well to combine both focused and diffuse learning.  Fifteen minutes of focused learning each day allows for 24 hours of diffuse learning to occur in the brain as it rewires the neural circuits during sleep. 

Online help is available from the Living Language lab - French.  It complements the French Living Language audio course available at beginner through advanced for less than $35 US. I've been listening to the beginner's version for several weeks.  It has been helpful but frustrating as it lists a several essential phrases needed for the beginning French speaker in rapid succession with no repetition and full speed.  It is helpful giving exercises in social contexts for the home and the restaurant. 

Duolingo introduction - 2 minutes

Luis von Anh - The next chapter in human computation - 17 min.