Got a "locked in" project to do something you always wanted to do but didn't?
Here's mine:
My French is lousy; my German worse.
Last summer, at my mother-in-law's funeral, while giving my eulogy, I quoted a passage from Hesse's Demian that I'd translated into English, prefacing it with "Taking some small liberties with the translation from the German to get at what I think it means, Hesse wrote..."
A number of people came up to me after the eulogy and told me how much they liked what I had to say. A few people asked if I would send them a copy of it, with one or two praising the translation.
I recall some centuries ago, when I was young, I recall reading a translator's note on some book I was reading, admittedly sexist remark that has nevertheless stayed in my mind - I don't think it would be written today - that said, "A translation is like a woman, to the extent she is true, she is not beautiful." (Ok, the remark sucks, but it does express an idea.)
I've decided that to improve - better put to restore - my French, I'm going to work on translating Camus' La Peste into English. Every translation takes something away and perhaps puts too much in, but it seems like a project to undertake that I would never undertake if not confined. The thing is, that when you do a translation, you have to think about the structure of the language you're translating and of course, you need to expand your vocabulary, so it's definitely a constructive exercise.
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for afr too long and need to review. That's a good idea. I am trying to tear myself away from the daily train wreck but have only been successful in spurts.
I haven't decided what I should get going with, though, as I have three projects just sitting there waiting for my attention. I'm actually working on one as I watch videos today so I guess I'm making progress. 
