Maddy-o is a radio star?

Well, not exactly. And apologies for that awful, truly terrible title.

I’m not exactly a radio star. I’ve had my first taste of being in a radio studio and it’s really cool! I’ve been recording an interview for a program BBC Radio Cymru are doing on the Titanic (what with the centenary approaching and my campaign for a memorial in Barmouth having received some attention recently), and it meant I had to speak in Welsh. It was a challenge for me – at first, it felt slightly like my Welsh GCSE speaking and listening exam, an experience I hoped to never have to repeat – but when I relaxed and settled in, it seemed to go quite well.

I’m, technically, a Welsh learner. Yes, I’ve been learning since I was three and a half, but never speaking Welsh at home – and only speaking it sporadically at school, i.e since the age of seven I’ve only spoken it during Welsh language lessons, which weren’t exactly frequent either at primary or secondary schools. I’ll never speak it as well as people who’ve lived here all their life and speak it at home, but I am fluent, and was considered to be first-language – i.e on a par with those who speak it at home with their parents – at secondary school.

I think the main problem is that I haven’t spoken it for a while, other than the odd snippet thrown here and there in conversation, and used on Facebook. I think a lot of people hear my accent and assume I can’t speak Welsh – it still seems fairly strong, especially when I do speak Welsh – when really, I’m fluent, but sometimes it just doesn’t flow as well as other people’s seems to – there are certain words I struggle with because of the pronunciation and others, where they’re easily confused with others and I get confused.

Still, I’m fairly pleased with how I did today, and when I find out when it airs, I shall let you all know – although, if you don’t speak Welsh, you probably won’t understand it, but at least you get to hear my voice! And my (doubtful) Welsh abilities! So, all in all, a good day. Let’s see what tomorrow – the dreaded results day and UBER evening drama rehearsal – brings.

The editing process is getting more complicated!

It seems I am not actually finished writing the first book, even though I’m now approximately halfway through writing the second! I realized that even though the two main characters are supposed to be the main characters, it seems more like an ensemble “cast” – I haven’t really done anything to make the two main characters stand out, so I’m going to add in a few more chapters that focus solely on them, and possibly a few more exciting battles too.

As for the second one, they aren’t the main characters in this one so I don’t have that worry. They feature in it quite heavily, and are definitely the secondary characters, but the main characters are two of the ones whom I have tortured/will torture the most in literary terms – the young girl with the very troubled past, and the man who is covered in battle scars from his life and the torture hasn’t yet stopped for him *evil grin*. I find them quite easy to write about, which is good. For the third book, that will certainly be an ensemble cast, because of the nature of it, and then the sequel to the trilogy introduces entirely new characters!

As for new characters, they continue to keep inviting themselves in and deciding that they want a bigger slice of the literary pie than I was going to give them. One has now decided he wants to run off and fall in love with another character (I’ve managed to deny the whole “falling in love” thing, but they have run off together, which I hadn’t planned for. Maybe I should have planned this story a bit better….