I just posted the text below on my Swedish blog. It felt right at the time, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Welcome to my world of constant ambivalence and confusion.
Follow-up post on November 3: The Upsides of English Blogging
November is a month filled with various blog challenges. I considered participating in one of them, but instead decided to create my own:
Writing in Swedish all month long.
It might not sound very challenging since Swedish is my native language. However, I've only been blogging in English recently.
Taking a break from this routine feels a bit daunting. But I still want to do it to see how it feels and if the content of the texts changes. This is the first text in a long time that I'm writing in Swedish without considering an English translation.
Even though my English texts are always written in Swedish first and then translated, it's not the same. I notice how I adapt my writing to suit the translation. I avoid ordinary language, puns and the like, and I rarely use idioms or metaphors.
The writing becomes stiff and forced. It feels restrictive, boring, and inexpressive. At least that's how it feels to me.