Happy New Year, Anne! I look forward to receiving your letters.
I hear you re: having another language in your head when you want a different one coming out when you speak. I'm fluent in an Italian dialect (my parents were lazy when I was growing up so didn't use proper Italian in the home), but at an intermediate level as a speaker and reader. I've never been to Sicily. My family is from northeastern Italy and I've always hesitated going south; the prejudices between north and south are the walls I have to break down.
I, too, am feeling a bit out of the water yet knowing I need to face my fears and get out of my writing comfort zone. I'm currently writing my first nonfiction book about the Italian Americans of the Pacific Northwest; specifically, the early settlers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington from 1880-1950. I am a dual Italian-Canadian citizen and moved to America (for a man, yes, there it is) as an adult. I feel a bit odd writing about people I don't know or grew up with, but my project is a way to give back to a country that accepted me as an immigrant.
So all that to say, I resonate with a lot of what you're expressing in this post. Know that you're not alone. Keep on keeping on, as we must.
Happy New Year, Anne! I look forward to receiving your letters.
I hear you re: having another language in your head when you want a different one coming out when you speak. I'm fluent in an Italian dialect (my parents were lazy when I was growing up so didn't use proper Italian in the home), but at an intermediate level as a speaker and reader. I've never been to Sicily. My family is from northeastern Italy and I've always hesitated going south; the prejudices between north and south are the walls I have to break down.
I, too, am feeling a bit out of the water yet knowing I need to face my fears and get out of my writing comfort zone. I'm currently writing my first nonfiction book about the Italian Americans of the Pacific Northwest; specifically, the early settlers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington from 1880-1950. I am a dual Italian-Canadian citizen and moved to America (for a man, yes, there it is) as an adult. I feel a bit odd writing about people I don't know or grew up with, but my project is a way to give back to a country that accepted me as an immigrant.
So all that to say, I resonate with a lot of what you're expressing in this post. Know that you're not alone. Keep on keeping on, as we must.
Ciao for now,
Tessa
Anne,
It is going to be so fun reading about your adventures in the coming months!
I am disabled and mostly home, so I will have to enjoy vicariously.
Cheers...
Jenny Hatch