Another Unexpected Break

Yet again my computer decided the middle of Camp NaNo was the perfect time to stop working. It couldn't be fixed, so I had to get a new one. Obviously I wasn't able to finish NaNo. So next week I'm going to try to finish my project. Whether I succeed or not, hopefully I'll get back to reviewing afterwards.

(Not Really a) Review: My Top Three Writing Sites

July is approaching, which means I'm preparing for the next installment of Camp NaNoWriMo. So here are my personal favourite sites for writing.

1. Wattpad

This is one of the best-known writing websites. When I first started using it, it had a reputation for terribly-written fanfiction about whatever band was currently popular. Since then the amount of fanfiction has lessened and it's become better-known for original fiction. Unlike FictionPress and Critique Circle it allows users to write on the website itself, instead of having to write on Word/Office or copy and paste stories onto it.

Its main drawbacks are how difficult it is to get readers, and covers are required. If you're like me and aren't able to make your own covers, you have to go to the forums and ask someone else to make one for you. Getting people to read your story is even more difficult. Again you'll have to go to the forums and look for people who offer to read and give feedback.

2. FictionPress

This was the first writing website I used for original fiction. Compared to Wattpad it's easier for readers to find stories here. But it has no tags, so if you're looking for a specific sort of story you're on your own. You have a much higher chance of getting readers and reviews, though.

3. Critique Circle

This website is especially for writers who want to get published and are looking for feedback on what needs to be changed in their stories. Users aren't able to submit stories without credits, which you get by critiquing other people's works, so every story submitted is certain to get at least one critique. Of course, the quality of the critique depends mainly on the person who writes it. Almost every crit I've received has been very helpful and polite, but there are one or two that stick out as being at best useless and at worst downright rude. I've received literally hundreds of crits, though, so the unhelpful ones are a tiny minority.

If you're a writer looking for websites to use, hopefully this is helpful to you 😃 And if you aren't a writer, you can always check out the sites anyway and find some new stories to read 😉

(Not Really a) Review: My Four Favourite Sites for Learning Languages

How is it March already?! Seems like Christmas was only yesterday 😮 Anyway, I'm back, my cold is gone, and life is slightly less hectic.

Instead of reviewing a book, series, or film, today's post will be about one of my favourite things: learning languages. More specifically, the sites I've personally found are helpful for teaching languages.

No. 1: Memrise

If you know me in real life you may already know that I'm learning German. It's an uphill struggle that's lasted at least two years, and I'm still nowhere near fluent. I've tried several different language courses, including books (verdict: not helpful; I need to hear words before I know how to pronounce them), CDs (verdict: more helpful), and websites (verdict: depends on the website). Memrise's German courses are the most helpful I've found.

In addition to German, it also has courses in almost any other language you can think of. To say nothing of courses in history, maths, geography, astronomy, and basically every subject imaginable. I haven't tried any of those courses, though, so I can't say how helpful they are.

No. 2: Duolingo

The helpfulness of this site depends on what language you want to learn. It's good for learning something like French or Spanish. It's nowhere near as good for learning languages with non-Latin alphabets, like Korean or Japanese. I tried both those courses a year or two ago. Unless they've changed something since then, the courses lack a transliteration option. That means that when learning Korean you'd better be able to memorise hangeul characters instantly, and when faced with Japanese kanji -- and no hiragana 😣-- you have to copy and paste the kanji into a Japanese dictionary just to figure out how it's pronounced.

Duolingo is also prone to making you learn very strange sentences. There are at least two Tumblrs dedicated to the weird and wonderful phrases it thinks every language-learner should know. They include "Insects can't speak Spanish" (you don't say!) and "The bee writes a letter".

No. 3: Forvo

Forvo is slightly different from the other three sites on this list. It isn't actually a language course. Instead it's a multi-language dictionary. Look up a word in, say, Norwegian, and you'll find an audio clip of a native Norwegian speaker saying that word.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have many words in lesser-known languages. If you want to know how to pronounce something in Georgian, for example, the word probably won't even be on Forvo.

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No. 4: JapaneseClass.jp

This one will obviously only be helpful for people who want to learn Japanese. I'm not actually studying Japanese (yet), but occasionally I'll do a few lessons to make sure I remember hiragana/learn a few new kanji/guess at what the actresses are saying in a Takarazuka production. This is the most helpful Japanese course I've found: it provides the hiragana or katakana for kanji, it teaches both kanji and vocabulary, and it actually shows how to draw kanji.

If you're interested in learning languages online, I hope this post is helpful! And if you already are using online language courses, feel free to comment with your favourite ones!

A Short Break

You may have noticed that there was no new post on Sunday. Unfortunately there won't be one today either. I've caught a cold and I'm too busy sneezing and feeling truly dreadful to think of writing reviews. Real life has been incredibly stressful lately even without illness, so this was the last straw. I'm taking a break from posting, and the next review will be up on 1st March. By then my cold will be just an unpleasant memory (I hope!), and real life may be less chaotic.

The Curious Case of the Disappearing Reviewer

...Or, why this blog has been so quiet lately.

Sorry for not posting any reviews for a few weeks! I was so busy trying to finish NaNoWriMo that I had no time for anything else. Now that NaNo's over for another year, I finally have time for the blog again! Reviews will restart as normal on Wednesday.

A Slight Change of Plans

Just a quick update to let my readers know there won't be a review today. The biggest culprit is NaNoWriMo. Most of my days lately are absorbed with panicking about word counts and what should happen next 😑

There may or may not be a review tomorrow or the day after. The Untamed's spin-off film will be released some time tomorrow, and if it's humanly possible for me to find it and watch it online I'll do so and write my thoughts about it. (Fair warning: Those thoughts will probably be incoherent screaming.) Failing that, I've a few book reviews to write. So there will probably be another post before Sunday 😃

An Unexpected Break

A quick update to explain the sudden shortage of new posts: computer problems and holidays have joined forces to make it nearly impossible for me even to get online, let alone update this blog 😣 Hopefully normal posting will resume in August.