More Folklore is Coming

October to me is folklore season.

Up till now, my Patreon has been set up on a pay-per-project basis, and I’ve usually posted folklore about once a quarter or so. 

Starting this past equinox, I changed to a “monthly support” format. I have long wished to translate much more folklore from a wider variety of time periods, regions, and lengths. Being supported on a “monthly charge” basis will help me to sit down more often for the hours of research each tiny folktale takes and also to tackle longer tales that might require more than a few days of translation time. I’m eyeing folklorists like Adolphe Orain, for example, who, as far as I know at this point, never recorded a short folktale but who collected an array of fascinating longer tales. (I could be wrong, of course, I will need to do more research). I’m curious about how well I can translate some medieval lais that have sunk into my soul at this point, as well. 

Since 2014, I have only translated two fairy tales: Persinette and Fairer. I would like to translate more fairy tales, too, even if I don’t currently have the funds to produce more professionally edited e-books. (Production for the first cost $500 and the second cost $800). In the meantime, I might also translate fairy tales behind-the-scenes over the course of a couple months and then post them for you to enjoy without the extra gloss of multiple rounds and layers of editing. Or, if I receive greater patronage, another professional e-book could be forthcoming. (We will see what the fairy godmother says, but in the meantime, ash and soot and dreams of ballgowns.)

Two new tiers have sprung up out of the ether, as well, both related to merchandise. If, like me, you have always had a hankering to read a complete tale on a print, mug, or tote bag, then consider the new $5 and $10 tiers.

-Laura/folklore translator

House-warming gifts :)

I have some really good news!  Today is the day I move in to a new apartment.

This year has been extremely surreal. Aside from the pandemic which is surreality in itself, (yes, that’s now a word), this year so far I have

• healed enough to accept a full-time work position
• been hired full-time as a librarian’s minion
• found a one-bedroom apartment and am finally moving out of living in other people’s homes

I have been disabled for ten years. I’ve been living in other people’s homes–either with relatives or via pet/housesitting–for all of that time.  But today is the day that changes. I am so excited.

To celebrate, I am giving away a free party-favor. Fairer will be free through this Friday.

Since I can’t actually hold a house-warming party, please enjoy a lovely reading session curled up in your favorite reading spot, sipping your favorite beverage.

If you would like to give a house-warming gift in return, I would love it.  After unwrapping gifts, we could sit at my low table on pillows and play card games and enjoy whimsical conversations full of folklore and our favorite books and writers.  What are you reading now? Have you watched The Mandalorian?

I’ll admit, the first two proper pieces of furniture I bought for my new apartment are a writing desk and chair. I can’t wait to assemble them and start using them! It will be great to have a workspace all my own again. 🙂

See you around!

-Laura

2019 in review

In 2019,

• I wrote 3 short stories, 2 poems, and most of a short prequel novel.
• One of the poems I wrote was published at NewMyths.com.
• I translated and posted a folktale.
• I finished and published Fairer, the next e-book in my French Fairy Tales & Folklore series, at long last!
• I re-posted most of my translated folktales here on this blog, in preparation for moving them to a new home.
• Switched hosts and moved littletranslator.com to a new home where it has a brand new look, theme, and folkloric feel.
• Continued on Patreon.

This year’s new release:

Here be Folklore….

As you may or may not know, I’ve been translating French folklore and posting it online at www.littletranslator.com since 2014.

The website I created in 2014 I wrote from scratch in HTML and CSS, mostly so I could organize it any way I wished and avoid the blog-scroll format as the main focus.  However, I haven’t really invested in developing my HTML/CSS skills since the 90s, and unfortunately you can really tell. When Google changed its rules about highlighting mobile-friendly sites’ design in search results a few years back, I luckily did get some help from a patron who was much more experienced at coding websites than I was, and for that I’m immensely grateful.

However, five years later it’s December 2019 and an overhaul is long overdue.  Not only have I been yearning to redo my website’s theme and make it more visually folkloric to match my current emphasis on folklore translations, but my website hosting costs have steadily climbed, and while I’ve been disabled my income hasn’t been all that great. It’s time to change themes, change hosts, and scale back my costs considerably in preparation for self-publishing my upcoming folkloric fiction series which will have higher costs for editing.

Starting tomorrow until the Winter Solstice, I’ll be posting a folktale translation everyday as a way to mirror my site and keep a”back-up copy” while I change things around. It’s long past time for me to merge my literary translator of folklore and fairy tales and my folkloric writer parts of me, in any case, especially since my upcoming fiction series is inspired by the folklore I’ve been reading and translating. I needed that separation once, but perhaps no longer.

Enjoy the folklore!

P.S. As a warning, many of the footnote links won’t work with the move onto this blog, but that’s okay, I’ll fix them again once they reach their new home. 🙂

Fairer released!

Once upon a time, there was a princess so beautiful that her people named her Fairer-than-the-Fairies.  Of course, with a name like that, Fairer was destined for trouble.

When the wicked queen of  the fairies hears of Fairer’s reputation, the wicked queen swears to avenge her fairies’ pride. She captures the princess and condemns her to complete an impossible task by daybreak on pain of death.

But while Fairer is held prisoner, she meets a fellow captive—another mortal  princess—and the rebellious fairy prince. Together, they must complete  the wicked queen’s tasks and rescue the good queen of the fairies or all is lost.

Read two translations of this lesser-known 1698 French fairy tale, with commentary, and discover a tale featuring the power of friendship and love in its many forms. Come for the princesses and princes, queens and fairies. Enjoy the poetry, ancient history, and mythology. Stay for the friendship, and, perhaps, fall in love.

~

Fairer is now released on Amazon/Kindle Unlimited:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2oTanw8
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08114LL9T/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08114LL9T/
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08114LL9T/
Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B08114LL9T/

Universal link to all Amazon stores worldwide: Fairer.

With more retailers to come!

And it looks like the algorithm gods have provided us with a page for Fairer on Goodreads.

Next Fairytale E-book

I’ve been hard at work translating, researching, writing, and revising my next fairy tale translation e-book, to sequel Persinette.

Feel free to follow my progress on Patreon! Or else stay tuned, my next post here will likely be in celebration of its release. 🙂

“I Will Never Be in Doctor Who”

So far this year I’ve mostly paused working on my novel to dive into various applications, including writing and submitting shorter pieces.

Today my poem “I Will Never Be in Doctor Who” has been published on NewMyths.com quarterly magazine.  It explores the intersection of disability and science fiction.

Go forth and read.

(I seem to also be sharing an issue with a fellow World Weaver Press sister-writer. This writing world is small indeed.)

2018 in review

In the spirit of accomplishments, this year I

• wrote over 100k words on my novel (probably over 120k?) written this year, increasing my overall writing pace.
• hit 245k three times as I wrote, unraveled, and rewrote large sequences. Yep, I like big books, I cannot lie.
• translated 5 folktales
• completed another translation draft of “Fairer”
• applied for several grants and a residency program in France.  A girl can dream, right?
• renewed my passport and driver’s license, and got back to driving again, yay health improvements!
• with driving comes A LIBRARY CARD and going to the library!
• continued being a moderator for ELTNA.org

From coniferous forest to….

https://vimeo.com/98674770

Currently pausing forward progress on my novel rough draft by going back and readjusting/revising generic mountainous forest setting description to…this.

Aka I did my research wrong in the beginning and I need to go back and adjust several chapters to be more awesome.

(Current wordcount: 245k)

200k and other milestones

So, last week I hit a few milestones!  Unlike my 100k blog post where I went into all kinds of detail about my novel-writing journey to that point, this post is going to be fairly short.  I think.  <.<

200k reached April 19, 2018 😀

I hit 200k on my novel wip.  The day before, I also wrote the scene I’ve been writing towards since April 2015–so, three years.  I wrote it all in a day, so that means I ended up writing 3k: 2.5k that afternoon and another 500 words of tinkering and adjustment in the hour before bed.  I don’t think I’ve ever written 3k in a day before, especially not while sick, but probably not even when I was healthy.  I’ve written much more than that in collaborative writing sessions, but writing solo where all pieces on the board to figure out are mine is different.

Honestly? I’ve been kind of exhausted and reeling ever since.  This scene is a crucial turning point.  The fall-out of this scene would also traditionally be the spot for a cliffhanger, since it changes everything for the protagonists up to that point, but I’m not going to split this into two books, so I’m going to keep going.

Nevertheless, reeling.

At this point I have no idea if I’ve pulled it off.  I’m sure the answer is both yes and no,  and that I will need to adjust things that come before, during, and after the scene to make it really clinch.

However, let me just say, it was EXTREMELY WEIRD to feel both the relief and satisfaction of having completed The Scene and the sadness and anguish for the characters and the turmoil they are now in.  I’m not a writer who cackles gleefully or otherwise enjoys putting characters through a difficult time, so…WEIRD.

~

In any case, my other bit of news is that I’m on track for this month’s Camp NaNoWriMo.  I’m working on revising the fairy tale I’ve chosen to be my sequel to Persinette.

The fairy tale is 96 old book pages, and I’m retranslating/revising another 30 of them this month.

~

If you want to check out my novel’s first chapter, join my fiction mailing list.

If you want to support my fairy tale and folktale translations, see my patreon.

Till next time!~